Michael Kenna: Forms of Japan

Now available in a beautiful new edition, this book presents a meditative, arresting and dazzling collection of 240 black-and-white images of Japan, made over almost 30 years by the internationally renowned photographer Michael Kenna.

A rocky coast along the Sea of Japan; an immense plain of rice fields in the snow; Mount Fuji towering over misty wooded hills; silent temples devoid of people but brimming with Buddhist deities; a Torii gate mysteriously emerging from moving clouds and water--these are a few images from this remarkable collection of photographs by Michael Kenna, whose black-and-white work is highly renowned. Forms of Japan, brilliantly designed by Yvonne Meyer-Lohr, is organized into chapters simply titled, ＂Sea,＂ ＂Land,＂ ＂Trees,＂ ＂Spirit,＂ and ＂Sky.＂ The quietly evocative photographs, often paired with classic haiku poems of Basho, Buson, Issa and others, provide a contemplative portrait of a country better-known for its energy and industry. Gorgeously reproduced to convey the enormous subtleties that exist in Michael Kenna’s traditional black-and-white silver prints, the photographs in this book include both well-known and previously unpublished images from all corners of Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Okinawa and Shikoku.

Michael Kenna is an English photographer, now based in Seattle, USA, best known for his black-and-white landscapes. More than 60 books and monographs have been published on his photographic work, including Buddha, Holga, Rouge, and St. Joseph’s College, Upholland (all by Prestel).


Yvonne Meyer-Lohr is a designer and author based in Düsseldorf, Germany.