Kodama- Hajime Kimura

Hajime Kimura is a Japanese photographer born in 1982. He was raised in the Chiba prefecture just outside Tokyo. Having studied architecture and anthropology at university, he began his career in 2006. In 2019, a photo book “Snowflakes Dog Man” was published from CEIBA edition, “Mišo Bukumirović” from Reminders Photography Stronghold as a hand-made edition in 2020 and "Correspondence" was co-published from the (M) éditions and Ibasho gallery in 2022. In recent, he has been working on some projects with the theme of "certainty of memory" in Serbia and Japan.

Japan –

12th March, 2008, cloudy

“The river in the bottom of the ravine was half frozen. It was a mother bear that had been shot, and dark-red blood was seeping into the freshly fallen snow.

The sun was setting, and my fingers had been freezing even inside my gloves. The men turned the bear’s body and I could see a vivid white pattern like a boomerang on her chest. The rest of her body seemed so black that I felt the word “jet” could be used only for this bear. The deep-darkness was beating slightly. Her eyes were shining emerald green. I felt she was looking for her child”  

This photographic story is the first subject matter that Hajime would challenge himself to portray. The trigger to his passion dates back to a decade ago, when he was just 21 years old. Sitting in the college library he stumbled upon a book that portrayed the life of ancient Japanese people living in mountainous ranges, only 30 years ago. The tribe was described as being quite apart from the Japanese society as we know it today. The book left a deep impression that marked him for life…

This 54-page memory is richly overflowing with the recollections of Hajime’s 5 years spent living, between 2007 and 2011, with that very tribe, the MATAGI.

Written and Photography by: Hajime Kimura

Related Posts

Hideka Tonomura They Called Me Yukari

Hideka Tonomura: “They Called Me Yukari” – Vivid Fantasy of a Japanese Hostess

Japan –  Hideka Tonomura has left a grave shock in the art scene with her debut collection of photographs, “母恋ハハ・ラブ/ ...

Yoshikatsu Fujii: Red String

Japan –  I received an sms message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” Only at that time the message from my ...

Cuong Do Manh : TWINS

Vietnam – “Twins” is an intimate portrait of Huy and Hung – a pair of albino twin brothers who live ...

Video: Emaho Mussoorie Workshop with Cristina de Middel & Ricardo Cases in collaboration with IED Madrid

Organized by EMAHO and IED MADRID Dated: June 19-22nd June,2014 India The recent success of the Spanish photobook has produced much curiosity and ...

Wasted and Wounded : Palash Krishna Mehrotra on Andri Tambunan

Indonesia – Book review : Against All Odds by Palash Krishna Mehrotra Andri Tambunan had a moment of epiphany five years ago. He ...

Rena Effendi: Liquid Land

Azerbaijan –  “Liquid Land is co-authored with my father Rustam Effendi, a dissident scientist and entomologist who devoted his life ...

Lieko Shiga: Rasen Kaigan

 Japan – In 2008, Lieko Shiga announced herself on the Japanese photography scene. That year, she published two books (“CANARY,” ...

Asger Carlsen: From Crime-Photography to Mutilated, Disfigured Human Form

USA – Asger Carlsen’s images consist of mutilated, disfigured and distorted human forms with a typical obscure quality to them. He ...

2041 Burqa

The English Islamophobia and 2041’s Burqa Fetish

England –  ‘2041’ is an eponymous collection of self-portraits, concealed beneath various forms of burqa or niqab. Using the camera ...