Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

This beautiful book presents a meditative, arresting, and dazzling collection of 240 black-and-white images of Japan, made over almost 30 years by the internationally renowned photographer Michael Kenna. A rocky coast along the sea of Japan; an immense plain of rice fields in the snow; Mount Fuji towering over misty wooded hills; silent temples devoid of people but brimming with Buddhist deities; a Torii gate mysteriously emerging from moving clouds and water–these are a few images from this remarkable collection of photographs by Michael Kenna, whose black-and-white work is highly renowned. Forms of Japan, brilliantly designed by Yvonne Meyer-Lohr, is organized into chapters simply titled, “Sea,” “Land,” “Trees,” “Spirit,” and “Sky.” The quietly evocative photographs, often paired with classic haiku poems of Basho, Buson, Issa, and others, provide a contemplative portrait of a country better known for its energy and industry. Gorgeously reproduced to convey the enormous subtleties that exist in Michael Kenna’s traditional black-and-white silver prints, the photographs in this book include both well-known and previously unpublished images from all corners of Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Okinawa, and Shikoku.

Michael Kenna
Forms of Japan

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Prestel (2015)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-3791381626

Order the book: www.amazon.com
Order the book: prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Tree Portrait, Study 7, Wakoto, Hokkaido, Japan, 2002

© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Sadakichi's Docks, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, 2012

© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Chikui Cape Trees, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan. 2002

© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Torii Gate, Shosanbetsu, Hokkaido, Japan, 2004

© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

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© Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan


MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025