写真家・土田ヒロミは震災後120回、福島に通い続けた

「私たちがどれだけのものを失ったのかを知るために、
自然を見直して美しく撮りたかった。
ところが2013年頃から、除染作業によって風景が破壊されていく状況も記録することになった。
美しい山里の風景を撮っていたはずが、突然フレコンバッグの山が立ちはだかる事態になった。
自然と人間の共生の崩壊する悲劇的風景を記録することは、初志とは異なる作業になってしまったが、撮り続けているうちに、未来に向かってレンズを向けているような感覚に襲われたりもした。眼前の風景は10年後、20年後、どのようになっているのだろうか？」（土田ヒロミ）

1） 相馬郡飯舘村二枚橋　　Nimaibashi, Iitate Village

2014年4月21日　　2014.04.21

水芭蕉群生地　　2014年に除染作業で根こそぎ刈り取られた

Skunk cabbages. In 2014 this entire patch was uprooted and disposed of as part of the decontamination process.

2） 相馬郡飯舘村八木沢　　Yagisawa, Iitate Village

2014年4月21日　　2014.04.21

3） 相馬郡飯舘村八木沢　　Yagisawa, Iitate Village

2017年1月4日　　2017.01.04

タラの芽の畑　　2016年以降、平地にされた

A field of tara (Japanese angelica tree) shoots. Eventually the field was leveled.

4） 相馬郡飯舘村関沢　　Sekisawa, Iitate Village

2012年7月31日　　2012.07.31

5） 相馬郡飯舘村関沢　　Sekisawa, Iitate Village

2013年1月3日　　2013.01.03

飯舘村には農業用のため池がたくさんある

There are many such ponds for agricultural purposes in Iitate.

6） 双葉郡富岡町本岡王塚　　Otsuka Motooka, Tomioka Town

2014年4月13日　　2014.04.13

7） 双葉郡富岡町本岡王塚　　Otsuka Motooka, Tomioka Town

2014年9月9日　　2014.09.09

桜で名高い宝泉寺

The garden of Hosenji temple in Tomioka, renowned for its cherry trees.

8） 田村市都路町古道　　Furumichi, Miyakojimachi, Tamura City

2014年5月25日　　2014.05.25

古道川の谷に咲く山藤

Wisteria bloom on a mountainside in the Furumichi River valley.

9） 双葉郡楢葉町天神岬　　Kitada, Naraha Town

2014年4月13日　　2014.04.13

10） 双葉郡楢葉町天神岬　　Kitada, Naraha Town

2016年9月11日　　2016.09.11

天神岬スポーツ公園の見晴台　　2016年頃から人が戻ってきた

An observation platform at Tenjinmisaki Sports Park. People began coming here again in 2016.

[Synopsis]

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake struck northeastern Japan, triggering an accident comparable to the Chernobyl disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, only 260 kilometers north of Tokyo. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate, and their communities were declared unsafe for habitation. This book introduces a series of fixed-point photographs taken in radiation-contaminated areas of Fukushima Prefecture by Hiromi Tsuchida, known worldwide for his work tracing the postwar changes in Hiroshima, a city destroyed by another form of the same nuclear energy that has devastated Fukushima.

The contaminated zones of Fukushima were inhabited by people who had cultivated and coexisted with nature for many generations. The region is a rolling land of rice paddies, pastures, farm ponds, mountainous landscapes out of a sumi-ink painting, rivers and seacoasts rich with fish, and cherry trees that people gathered under in the spring. Still standing are the houses families used to live in, the gardens they tended, their schools, amusement parks, and shopping districts.

After the nuclear accident, people vanished from this landscape and the natural beauty of Fukushima began to undergo a transformation. The decontamination process scraped the topsoil off vast swathes of land to a uniform depth of five centimeters, along with the trees and plants growing there. Because permanent disposal sites have yet to be decided, black container bags full of this waste continue to pile up throughout the area. A bizarre and complex reality persists with no resolution in sight. Tsuchida resorted to the use of drones to film this eerie landscape from above.

This photo collection is a chronicle of the breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between human beings and nature. The scenes it depicts may presage the future of a civilization that has been relentless in its pursuit of material wealth at all costs. Through these artistically stunning photographs one can hear the lament of the land they portray.

The book includes commentaries, maps, and latitude/longitude data on the photographs in both English and Japanese.

[About the Photographer]

Tsuchida Hiromi was born in 1939 in Fukui Prefecture. After graduating from the School of Engineering at the University of Fukui, he worked for POLA Cosmetics, Inc., then resigned to go freelance.

He taught from 1971 to 1996 at the Tokyo College of Photography and from 2000 to 2013 at the Osaka University of Arts, where he continues to teach as a part-time lecturer. He also serves on several exhibition and award selection committees. His photographic work addresses the transformations undergone by Japan in series about Hiroshima, which he has photographed for four decades since 1975, the economic boom and bubble eras, and local festivals and customs. His award-winning books include Autistic Space (1971 Taiyo Award), Hiroshima 1945-1978 (1978 Ina Nobuo Award), Hiroshima (1984 Photographic Society of Japan Award), and Tsuchida Hiromi’s Nippon (2008 Domon Ken Award). Major publications include Zokushin: Gods of the Earth (1976), Counting Grains of Sand (1990), and Berlin (2011). His works are found in the collections of museums worldwide, among them the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Pompidou Centre, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Tate Modern.