“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography“Living as a poet in Kyoto”
The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography“Living as a poet in Kyoto” is a retrospective of the photographer Kai Fusayoshi who has been
capturing Kyoto for half a century. The exhibition took place in the world heritage site, Nijo-joCastle, from September 21st to October 6th 2019. The event received 18,000 visitors and drew
the attention of various media outlets. Those who knew Kyoto of years ago reminisced throughKai’s photography, and tourists were impressed with an honest side of Kyoto, which is different
to the Kyoto presented as a tourist destination. Kyoto is becoming a cultural capital both inname and substance, with the relocation of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, but through Kai’s
photography a glimpse was offered of the breathing of the everyday people of Kyoto, somethingthat could never be found in a tourist guidebook. Kai Fusayoshi is also known as the owner ofBar “Hachimonjiya” and (formally) “Honyarado”, both famous cultural bases in Kyoto. His works
are loved by people both in Japan and abroad. For this exhibition, Pascal Beausse, the head of
the photographic collection at the National Center for the Visual Arts in Paris, who had always
admired Kai’s unique and special sensibility, curated and introduced Kai’s works from aperspective of a “Photographer as a Visual Poet”. This exhibition was a unique opportunity tocomprehensively appreciate the works of Kai, who will go down in the history of photography.
SummaryExhibition title (Japanese) : 「京都詩情」写真家 甲斐扶佐義 初回顧展Exhibition title (English) : “Living as a poet in Kyoto”
The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography
Exhibition title (French) : “Vivre en poète à Kyōto” Première retrospective de l’oeuvre photographique deKai Fusayoshi
Curator: Pascal Beausse (Head of Photographic Collections, Centre national des arts plastiques.)
Planned by: MUZ ART PRODUCE
Web：​https://muz-art.jp/kai-exhibition/​Trailer：​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwNRvDxWuqM&t=2s

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

1.Curatorial Statement by Pascal Beausse
In the bar where artists are gathering
Beauties and cats are harmoniously coexisting
While kids on the streets are playing
And Grandma leaves to go shopping
In the summer’s rain, falling
Make it through a century to another, day after day, by photographing Kyoto.
From the years of freedom, counterculture and protest to the start of our uncertaintimes.
Kai Fusayoshi developed a style which is unique for it is out of its time, out of fashion,and yet precisely taking place in the daily life's current affairs of the city. He fashioned
visual chronicles of Kyoto's small and big events. No one else is able to see this town
the way he does. With tenderness. With gratitude. With a deep humanity knowing torecognize beauty wherever it is, that is to say in each corner of the city and at each
moment of the alternating rhythm of the Japanese society, daytime and nighttime.
For Kai, taking photos is like breathing. His practice is existential: at each moment, his
poetic spirit is in alert. The click of the camera seems to come from an amazement infront of the unexpected things of life, where the beauty lies.
It's a wistful gaze, the eye of a poet on each shot, and therefore on each moment lived.
2. Contents / Display Configuration Plan
An exhibition of the 50 year journey of Kai Fusayoshi, from 1970 to present day, with
about 150 mainly unseen photos selected by Pascal Beausse, the exhibition curator.
Pascal Beausse, selects a trajectory from 50 years of Kai Fusayoshi’s works, 1970 topresent day. 68 framed works were selected and exhibited with five themes: “Living asa poet in Kyoto”, “Child’s play”, “Town of cats”, “Women’s everlasting beauty”, and “Theplace where artists gather”. In addition, an installation which reproduces the photoexhibition Kai has repeated since 1978, titled “the Demachi neighborhood, Are you also
captured? / If you are in the photo, I will give you the photo on the last day”, on a wallwith a total length of 9 meters and a height of 2.5 meters, consisting of about 500
original prints. At the end of the exhibition, there was a screening of "Kyoto & Kai"
(2011), a video by a French artist Hoang Nguyen Le, and follower of Kai’s works.
Preview

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

Exhibition

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

3. Photographer: Kai Fusayoshi
Kai Fusayoshi｜甲斐扶佐義Kai Fusayoshi (Born 1949 in Oita pref. Japan)
was the owner of the legendary coffee shop
“Honyarado” which was lost four years ago in afire. He also runs Bar “Hachimonjiya”,
where various artists gather every night. He is awriter, and above all a photographer wholoves Kyoto, which he continues to photograph tothis day.
In the 1990s he wrote photo essays for Kyoto
Shimbun Newspaper. Since 2001 he hasoften been invited to hold exhibitions in foreign
galleries. He has produced over 40 books
including; “The fifty casual scenes of Kyoto”(author: Nakamura Masaru, photos: Kai
Fusayoshi) Kyoto Shimbun 1999, “Kids in Kyoto”
Kyoto Shimbun publication center 2003,“Kyoto: Living in the back alley”, “Beautifulwomen in Kyoto”, etc. In recent years it appears
his desire to create art knows no bounds.

• Anyways, if you live in one town for decades, people will have many maps in yourmind.
Kai Fusayoshi 「Kyoto Neko-no-izumi(Kyoto, fountain of cats)」1996 postscript• Wandering around town with my camera. I’m happy simply doing that.
Kai Fusayoshi 「Chizu-no-nai-kyoto(Uncharted Kyoto)」1992 foreword• Kai Fusayoshi’s photography is reminiscent of the world of historical novels. That is,
not the world of Samurai in castles,but of the world of this local area’s samurai turned
bodyguards of neighborhood.
Shunsuke Tsurumi (philosopher) commenting on Kai Fusayoshi’s photographic
collection「Chizu-no-nai-Kyoto(Uncharted Kyoto)」1992• Comparatively, I wouldn’t say it is great photography, but each and every single photo
has the joy and excitement of“Oh, I’ve seen this!” perfectly captured within it. (omitted:) Above all else, it is thepleasure of witnessing him
synchronizing his photography perfectly with his own life rhythm.
KotaroIizawa(photographycritic)「PhotoofMr.
Kai」(「Kyoto-no-kodomotachi(Children of Kyoto)」2003)

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

4.Curator​
Pascal Beausse
An Art Critic and a Curator, Pascal Beausse is currently theHead of the Photographic Collections at Cnap, National
Center for Visual Arts, in Paris.
A former correspondant for Flash Art international from 1998
to 2013, he wrote for several art journals such asArtpress, Blocnotes, Critique d’art. He published essays,interviews and monographs on the works of: Maria
Thereza Alves, Candice Breitz, Jimmie Durham, Candida
Höfer, among others.
Recent exhibitions he curated include: Ange Leccia (Maison
Auguste Comte, PhotoSaintGermain, Paris, 2019),
Hanako Murakami/Conception (Rencontres d’Arles, 2019),
Hiroshima Art Document (Creative Union, Hiroshima,2019), Kenryou Gu/15972 Sampling (Kyotographie, 2019),
Hiroshima Art Document (Creative Union, Hiroshima,2018), among others.
Pascal Beausse was a resident at Villa Kujoyama in 2007.
5. Original Exhibition Venue
Exhibition Data in Nijo-jo Castle and Ninomaru-goten Palace Daidokoro
Exhibition dates : 2019 Sept. 21st (Sat.) – 2019
Oct. 6th (Sun) (16 days, open everyday)
Exhibition location : World Heritage Site, Former
imperial villa Nijo-jo Castle,Ninomaru-goten Palace Daidokoro (importantcultural property)
Free Admission
Number of visitiors：17131
Organizers: Kyoto city, Kai Fusayoshi Photo
Exhibition at Former imperial villa Nijo-jo Castle
Executive Committee
Co-organizers: Kyoto City Board of Education,
Institut français du Japon Kansai
Sponsors: GRAND MARBLE Corporation, DMG
MORI CO., LTD., agnès b. Japan Inc.,ANACROWNE PLAZA HOTEL KYOTO, NANASAICO., LTD., Frameman Co., Ltd., YAMAMOTO.
CO., LTD, walden woods kyoto, Kyoto Chuo
Shinkin Bank, MOTTOX INC.
Partners: mi_office, Senior registered architect
office HIEIKOBO, KYOTOGRAPHIE, KG+, galleryMain, Headquarters for Vitalizing
Regional Cultures Agency for Cultural Affairs
Supporter: Kyoto Shimbun Newspaper, THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN KYOTO BUREAU,
Kyoto Prefecture

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

6. Related events
Four events were held in the exhibition venue, which encouraged exchanges between
the artist, curator, and visitors, regardless of age, profession, or nationality.
-A gallery talk by photographer Kai Fusayoshi-A talk by curator Pascal Beausse “Kai Fusayoshi – Kyoto's Poet”-A workshop “Let’s take photos with Ishii Shinji and Kai Fusayoshi.”-A kids workshop “Let's take a close look at the artworks.” by GOALOOK Cram School

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

7. Flyers and Poster
We distributed 50,000 flyers, 100 A2-posters and 200 B2-posters to relevantorganizations.

flyerposter

8. Merchandise
At the entrance of the exhibition, various merchandise relevant to the exhibition wassold.
・A vintage selection of Kai Fusayoshi‘s books, posters and postcards.
・An original merchandise selection of postcards of exhibited works and small bags
produced for this exhibition.
・A POP-UP store by agnès b.

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

9​ . Publicity
Information about the exhibition was published through various media outlets.
17 Internet media outlets: bijutsutecho.com, Asahi Shimbun Digital, Kyoto Shimbun
Kotoshirube, Kyoto Sightseeing Navi, among others.
10 newspapers and magazines: Kyoto Shimbun Newspaper, Nippon Camera, amongothers.
3 TV and radio programs: FM Osaka, KBS Kyoto (including KBS Kyoto news)

“Living as a poet in Kyoto” The first retrospective of Kai Fusayoshi’s Photography

Office / contact for queries about this release
MUZ ART PRODUCE: 075-205-5396
Sae Cardonnel (MUZ ART PRODUCE director) sae.cardonnel@muz-art.jp 080-6105-0401