'The Asakusa quarter of Tokyo was once home to the city’s historic pleasure palaces, and today embraces a stubbornly independent popular culture that encompasses traditional comedy theater and houses of erotic entertainment. Asakusa attracts outcasts from Japan’s modern consumer society and is also the home of the famous Senso-ji temple, which attracts floods of tourists from around the country. Over the past two decades, Hiroh Kikai has created an extensive and unforgettable series of street portraits from the enormous flow of people passing through the district. Posed against the bare walls of the Senso-ji temple, these strong, severe, lonely studies radiate a shared sense of hard-won, idiosyncratic individuality. The photographs are accompanied by Kikai’s own pithy, sometimes humorous descriptions of his subjects. Taken together, Kikai’s Asakusa portraits amount to a classic meditation upon the timeless complexities of the human condition.' (from website of International Center of Photography)
Access level
Onsite
artist
publisher
Location code
MON.KIH2
Language
English
Keywords
photography,  portraiture
Publication/Creation date
2008
ISBN / ISSN
9783865216014
No of copies
1
Content type
artist monograph
Chapter headings
Introduction - Christopher PHILLIPS
'tripping the shutter is a bit like sumo wrestling' Hiroh Kikai in conversation with Noriko Fuku - Hiroh KIKAI, Noriko FUKU, 福のり子
A Gateway to History: The Hozo Gate and Asakusa - Hiromichi HOSOMA, 細馬宏通
Spring - Summer - Fall Winter - Hiroh KIKAI
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