Sado Kondo Tomio 1922

Memories of Sado

The rhythm of life on Sado Island centers on O-Bon and other festivals and develops through all four seasons. The flavor of traditional Japanese-style villages has already been lost in modern Japan, but it still remains on Sado Island. Festivals are held with the transition of the seasons, welcoming each new season to the island. The first time I visited Sado Island was during the Ogi Festival. The full moon was floating in a transparent sky and its reflection fell upon a calm Ogi Bay. While I was there, I floated a small Japanese boat along the shore and enjoyed fishing. I can still feel the black sea bream tugging on my bamboo rod, and I can still hear the pounding of the impressive Ogi drums (Ogidaiko) coming from the center of the island. Although more than thirty years have passed since then, these memories remain vivid in my mind.

In the corner of a dim passageway in Sado Museum are 8,800 photographs that slept undiscovered. These photographs, taken by Tomio Kondo with a Camera Obscura between 1917 and 1945, were behind a huge glass photographic dry plate. Of the 8,800 photographs, I have printed and summarized 5,500 of them in Sado Mangekyo. This time, the photographs that have been stored as a collection and the digital prints that have breathed new life into Sado Island will be exhibited in Canon Salon S. It was this project that caused me to rethink the importance of image recording, which is why this project is so significant to me.

Tomiyama Haruo

Tabagaki

The fishermen in Sado call the east wind, Ainokaze, the south wind, Yasukaze, the west wind, Kudarikaze, and the north wind, Takakaze. The wind they fear most, which blows from land to sea, they call, Tabagaki.

According to an old Sado legend, if a woman touches a pickled plum in the midst of menstruation, it will go rotten. Moreover, a person who is in a climacteric year have to wipe his whole body with a new washcloth, symbolizing wiping away the bad year. The person then wraps an amount of money equal to their age in the washcloth and drops it at the crossroads of the village.

The following old sayings also exist: "Do not travel in times of trouble"; "Do not do laundry during the Bon Festival or the equinoctial week"; "If you drink, start drinking before breakfast, and if you are going to die, die before the Bon Festival"; and "The raindrops that fall during the Bon Festival become insects, and if the cicada chirps, the sky will be clear."

Although Zeami (a Noh actor and songwriter in the first half of the Muromachi Period who composed unsurpassed pieces of Noh music and devised many music theories) was banished to Sado Island during the Eikyo Era (1429-1441). Noh music reached new heights of popularity with the rise of Noh enthusiasts such as Nagayasu Okubo (1545-1613), who was a Sado magistrate. Even now, there are 54 Noh stages remaining in village Shinto Shrines. However, some of those have fallen into decay.

Many years ago, there was an elderly owner of a buckwheat noodle shop living alone. He loved his cat just as if it were a real child. The cat, in order to repay the kindness shown by her master whose family fortune was declining, transformed herself into a young female singer and stood in front of the noodle shop. She called herself Okei and sang Okei Bushi (Okei's song) in a mournful tone. Instantly, her sweet voice became famous and the noodle shop regain the prosperity it had once enjoyed. In modern times, people all over Japan are familiar with the legend of Okei as a traditional folk song called "Sado okesa"

Tomio Kondo, "Message from the past"

Tomio Kondo was born in the house of a medium-scale farm in Kanazawa village on Sado Island. In 1917, after graduating from Kanazawa Upper Elementary School (equivalent to a junior high school today) when he was 18, Tomio began using an Obscura camera to take glass dry plate photographs of scenery on Sado Island. At that time, the social environment changed considerably from the Taisho democracy to the Japan-China and Pacific Wars. The way people lived also went through drastic changes.

Tomio was fascinated with new things and took them up immediately. At that time, photography was the newest and most luxurious hobby. Tomio was so involved in taking photos, which were expensive, that he sold most of the fields inherited from his ancestors. When he heard that celebrities would be coming to the island, he volunteered with pleasure to be a guide and went to the port to meet them. The images of many writers and celebrities-such as Kunio Yanagida, Yukio Ozaki, Hideo Shibusawa, Nobuko Yoshiya, and Kan Kikuchi-were captured in the glass dry plate photographs taken by Kondo.

During that period, sightseeing on Sado Island blossomed. Fukuo Kondo became a famous figure in the sightseeing world, and even though he could not drink even a drop of sake, he was well-liked by the geishas because of his cheerful character and the fact that he always had new information.

Kondo was involved in the establishment of the Sadoyama Take association. He showed interest in the botanical and archeological work of Dr. Tomitaro Makino. His association with Soho Tokutomi especially appears to have had a great influence on him. Of the remaining 8,800 glass dry plate photographs taken by Kondo, about half were photographs of the remains of excavation sites or alpine plants.

The eccentric Fukuo Kondo fell while returning home in 1957. It is said that he was carrying a tripod with the camera still attached. The scenic countryside of Sado remains captured in the huge glass dry plate photographs that he took. They are a "message from the past," and it could be said that the scenic data in these photographs is a valuable cultural asset.

Tomiyama Haruo's Sado Island
November 11 - December 22, 2003
10:00-17:30 Close on Sunday
Charge free
at Cannon Salon S, Tokyo

preview "Our Day"
Since 1960, when I began my career as a professional photographer, this serial picture entitled "Our Day" has been my lifework for more than 40 years. In this series I have been trying to catch the images of vogue words of the times...(more)

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