Emperor of Japan
2008
Emperor of Japan by Eiji Ina. First edition (2008). First impression. Large format hardback in new condition. No markings. This is a brand new book. Please see pictures. PayPal accepted, any questions please get in touch.
About Emperor of Japan
This series is a photographic typology depicting the tombs of Japan's 124 Emperors. Shooting with an 8x10 camera, the photographs are not of the tombs themselves but at the places of worship provided at the grave sites. So, the pictures always depict a torii gate, the traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. Here, the gate symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. Eiji Ina's works are collected by the many museums in Japan and abroad. "In Emperor of Japan, Eiji Ina presents photographs of the misasagi, or burial mounds, of all 124 Japanese emperors since the Kofun period, reaching back some 1,600 years. The scenes that Ina has captured -- not of the tombs themselves, but rather the places for worshipping at the tombs, and the surrounding gardens and landscapes -- were created by the emperor system, with its claim of an unbroken line of sovereigns, that served as the foundation of the modern nation state of Japan." - From the Publisher