Machi – Town

Yutaka Takanashi
Machi – Town

Photographs: Yutaka Takanashi

Publisher: Asahi Shibun-sha

190 pages

Year: 1977

Comments: Hardcover, cloth bound with acetate dust jacket and 12 page supplement, in cardboard slipcase with obi, design by Kamegai Shoji.

Machi is Takanashi's second book, in many respects a surprising follow-up to the previous title and devoid of the attitudes of the Provoke period. The images are in colour and suddenly an aura of peace pervades the city: Although not intended as a documentary this book captures the charm of the old shitamachi neighbourhoods of Tokyo. Takanashi does not show the humans that inhabit these places but one can well imagine them from the jumble of accumulated bits and pieces of daily life that resonate warmly in the glow of the afternoon sun. Some of the images had been published in Asahi Camera magazine from April 1975 onwards however the size of the present publication (where the double-page images measure ca. 60x42cm) bring out the full spectrum of the detail. All of the images are taken with a large-format camera mounted on a tripod often using extremely long exposure times (up to 20 minutes). Takanashi later explained that he was following the style of E. Atget (1857-1927) in this series. The book was designed by Kamegai Shoji and cost 20,000 Yen, a considerable amount in 1977.