Here and There introduces art, artists, galleries and museums around Japan that non-Japanese readers and first-time visitors may find of particular interest. The writer claims no art expertise, just a subjective viewpoint acquired over many years' residence in Japan.
When a Village Is Drowned: Tazuko Masuyama at the Izu Photo Museum Alan Gleason
"Tazuko Masuyama at the Former Site of the Tokuyama Elementary School Gate" (1996); photo by Nobuo Onishi
"Shimote Bridge and Tonyu Fuji (Named by Tazuko)" (1983)
Tazuko Masuyama was born, raised, and spent most of her adult life in Tokuyama, a village on the upper reaches of the Ibi River in a remote corner of Gifu Prefecture. She died in 2006; later that same year, her village was inundated by Japan's largest reservoir, behind the newly built Tokuyama Dam.
Masuyama became something of a public figure in her later years because of the dam, and its fate and hers were uniquely intertwined. Many years in the planning, the dam project did not gather steam until 1977, at which point Masuyama, a farmer and innkeeper who had lost her husband in World War II, acquired a camera and began snapping photos of everything and everyone around her -- mountains, wildflowers, her fellow villagers, sports events at the local school, and meetings with the bureaucrats planning the dam. The mass media got wind of her activities and dubbed her the "Camera Grandma." She befriended filmmakers who came to Tokuyama to make documentaries about the dam controversy or feature films, like Seijiro Koyama's Furusato (Hometown), about a way of life that was fast fading away, its demise hastened by the rampant economic development of postwar Japan.
"Grandpa and Grandchild on the Bridge" (1982)
"Hazehara School" (1983)
As it happened, Masuyama had the right combination of savvy and charm to thrive in the role she was thrust into (some cynics thought she sought it out) as spokeswoman for the anti-dam movement. Predictably, the village split into factions over the dam issue and the previously close-knit community never recovered, well before it was submerged under Lake Tokuyama. By 1987 the village had been condemned, and Masuyama had moved to Gifu City, but she made frequent trips back to commit what remained of her hometown to film and to record the progress of the dam. When she died at 88, she left behind over 100,000 negatives and 600 photo albums.
"Playing in the River" (1984)
The current show at the Izu Photo Museum attempts to do justice to both Masuyama's work and her story, and the result is a bit overwhelming. Gallery after gallery is lined with her prints, alongside the comments that she scrupulously wrote on the back of each photo. In one corner a monitor plays two edifying but lengthy videos that document traditional life in the village and the dam issue. There is nothing to fault about the curators' organization of the photos or the copious amounts of background information provided; it is just an awful lot to absorb in one afternoon.
"Villagers Watching the Demolition of a House" (1985)
If the exhibition were no more than a vehicle for a message about the human tragedies that all too often accompany thoughtless (or even thoughtful) development, it might still hold up; but what makes this show so riveting is that Masuyama was a brilliant photographer. Self-taught, and attached to her beloved Pikkari Konica, a compact camera with simple settings that came on the market in 1975, she proved to have a marvelous eye for composition, color, and subject matter. Whether capturing villagers harvesting rice or children peeking out a school window, she elicited laughter and smiles from her subjects that make the story of the village's death all the more heart-wrenching. An avid horticulturalist, she also shot a stunning series of close-ups of wildflowers, which adorn an entire wall of one gallery.
"When the Blossoms Were at Their Peak" (1985)
"Farewell Gathering at Tokuyama Village" (1986)
Masuyama understood the importance of location, as one can see in her exquisitely framed landscapes. When filmmakers came to town, they relied on her to suss out optimal vantage points for shooting the village, the river, the mountains. Her talent did not go unnoticed and she won a number of photography prizes, as well as the Avon Achievement Award.
Viewed without any knowledge of its context, Masuyama's work would still merit an exhibition of this sort, but the images force one to confront the circumstances that motivated her to pick up the camera, as well as the fate of the community she chronicled so lovingly. Though relentless in parlaying her avocation into a bully pulpit from which to appeal for help in stopping the dam, she was happy to pose with the construction crew with a grin on her face. Indeed, she often declared that her personal credo was something akin to "hate the sin but not the sinner." She was also a realist: a well-known quote of hers is "When it comes to war and dams, the state always carries through, once they've decided to do it."
"Dam Site" (2002)
The mentality that drowned Masuyama's home still prevails today: parallels with the nuclear industry are telling, particularly the way that big-ticket projects and big money can cleave communities beyond repair. Nor has dam construction abated. Almost presciently, the Masuyama exhibition coincides with the revival of a long-postponed project that equals the Tokuyama Dam in scale and contention, the Yanba Dam in Gunma Prefecture.
The bucolic setting of the Izu Photo Museum (see Here and There's previous article about it
here) curiously resonates with Masuyama's idyllic images of rural life as well as her cautionary tale of progress run amok. Part of the Clematis no Oka arts complex in the foothills of Mt. Fuji, the museum is surrounded by attractive landscaping, sculpture gardens, nature trails, and sweeping vistas of mountains and sea. Yet just a short distance downhill, the urban sprawl of Mishima City creeps toward the mountain, expressways snake along its flanks, and one more corner of rural Japan seems destined for inundation.
Lake Tokuyama seen from Mount Nogohaku (2012); photo by Alpsdake
All images by Tazuko Masuyama and courtesy of the Izu Photo Museum, unless otherwise noted.
347-1 Higashino Clematis no Oka, Nagaizumi-cho, Shizuoka Prefecture
Phone: 055-989-8780
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., February and March; to 6 p.m., April to July (last entry 30 minutes before closing); closed Wednesday or the following day when Wednesday is a holiday
Access: Hourly shuttle bus (25-minute ride) from stop no. 3 at the north entrance of JR Mishima Station, one hour southwest of Tokyo on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line
Alan Gleason Alan Gleason is a translator, editor and writer based in Tokyo, where he has lived for 28 years. In addition to writing about the Japanese art scene he has edited and translated works on Japanese theater (from kabuki to the avant-garde) and music (both traditional and contemporary).
