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Ojii-Chan wa Mizu no Nioi ga Shita
(The Old Fisherman who Smelt of Water)
Text and photos by Mitsuhiko Imamori
Tokyo: Kaisei-sha Publishing Co., Ltd., 2006
64 pp; 266 x 226 mm
ISBN : 978-4-03-016400-0
Ages : 8+
Water, Country life
 Shogakukan Children's Publication Culture Award 2007 |
This documentary photograph picture book is about the daily life, throughout the year, of an old fisherman who lives on the western side of Japan’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Biwa, in Shiga Prefecture. The story takes place in the hillside woods near a village, where man and nature coexist beautifully. Man, wildlife, and plants, share the same supply of water, the vital source of life. Both methods of fishing and people’s use of spring water are the fruit of the villagers’ wisdom and the expression of gratitude to the nature; the rituals have been passed on for years. Water has become as important as ever that ecology is an important issue today. The beautiful and nostalgic scenes are full of silent messages to our future. The contents of the book were also filmed, and directed by Mitsuhiko Imamori, the program was broadcasted on NHK as “Japan’s Secret Watergarden”. The film won many international titles.
Mitsuhiko Imamori, a photographer, was born in 1954 in Shiga. His themes include wildlife and people’s coexistence with nature. The subjects range from insects, birds, plants, and people in natural environment such as tropical rain forests or deserts all over the world and Japanese hillside woods. Some of his works are Konchu-Ki (The Book of Insects, 1988), Sekai Konchu-Ki (Insects on Earth, 1994), Satoyama Monogatari -in Harmony with Neghiboring Nature (The Tale of a Hillside Woods Next to a Village, 1995), Mizube (Lake-side, 2004) and many more. He won numerous awards in literature and photography. |
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© Mitsuhiro Imamori |
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