Japan Photographs

It was a Japanese temple garden, it was spring, and it was beautiful....

I was walking down a street in a suburban village on the island of Kyushu...

Fresh baked squid "muffins" are served at this small shop on a street in Kyushu....

Extravagent costumes, acrobatic gestures, quasi-martial arts, and drama -- that's kubuki to me a westerner....

Shinto priests blow a conch horn to announce the beginning of a ceremony marked by...

During this ceremony the priestess ascended up the stairs until she was out of view,...

This priest is playing a shinoku (sp?) a traditional Japaness bamboo pan flute in his...

A farmer in the southern island of Kyushu trues his saw, after he sharpens it....

An old snack stand serves up finger food along a lane that pilgrims to a...

In the beginning of a drama acted out by these large-scale puppets, the puppet masters...

Throughout Japan, shrines and offerings to forest spirits are quite common. I would often see...

In the northern part of the Japan Alps, a small village has an old fashioned...

Ukai is an ancient Japanese style of night fishing which is so peculiar that parties...

Picnics under cherry blossoms is a uniquely Japanese tradition. It's a time to dress up...

I spotted this farmer walking along the tiny slivers of untamed land (never real wilderness...

Burning incense is the east Asian way of blessing a god. This idol is a...

The magnificant view from the great room in the house of a temple priest. The...

I came across this scene not far from a temple in Kyoto. The hundreds of...

Nothing is too bright at cherry blossom time. Masks, some based on traditional Japanese plays...

Bamboo shoots are a delicacy. They are cooked in soups, and occasionally eaten raw. They...

In the streets of old Japan, windows and doors are caged in wood grids. This...

Two weavers rest in a traditional farm house in the Ogamashi region of Japan, near...

Modern Japan has long supported small farmers despite its rapid industrialization. These three women plant...

Paper-folding, or origami, is an ancient Japanese art. Almost every Japanese kids learns how to...

Traditional players of the biwa instrument strumed along while they recited ancient ballads. This biwa...

Where land is scarce, cemeteries are packed close and nearly vertical. This one rolls up...

The art of archery is all about concentration and style. It's not about hitting the...

A tunnel of tori gates create a dramatic entrence to a temple....

Classic image of old Japan....

Snowfall in Japan Alps, northern Honshu....

These three women were sitting in a doorway (raised floor) in a fishing village along...

The most surprising thing to me about bamboo was to realize that it could grow...

Pilgrimages are still an important element in Japanese spiritual life. These women are dressed for...

In the Japan alps the traditional arts still linger. This village features many gasso houses...

In the courtyard of a temple complex, the musicians in a traditional Noh show take...

In the obon festival, folk get dressed in their evening robes and light candles that...

The austere lines and simple elegence of Japanese style are very evident in this gatehouse...

There aren't too many places left in Japan where folks still wear traditional clothing all...

Of all the many castles I saw in Japan, this one struck me as the...

The headdress of this character in a Noh play displays the crane, a highly symbolic...

The colorful ribbons hanging from the rafter in this temple are grasped (as this women...