There are countless traditional cultures in Japan, from large to small.  Most of them are held at events such as shrines and festivals.

This work was taken in a small part of Japan. However, there are many traditional cultures in this area alone, and people continue to protect it.  Even in the inconspicuous local towns of Japan, there are traditions that are handed down to the unknown.  I decided to create this work because I wanted more people to know the tradition and the existence of people living there. Japan is currently experiencing a number of problems due to the declining birthrate and aging population.  One of them is the inheritance of traditional culture to the younger generation.  With the aging of the population, no one teaches tradition, and with the declining birthrate, no one inherits tradition.  As a result, the number of people who know the tradition is drastically reduced, it is not inherited, and the tradition is eventually lost.  The traditional culture shown here may not be able to be seen in the near future. It may be a common custom or culture for residents in this area, but I think that it is a very interesting sight from other people.  In order to highlight the unique expression of the culture, I devised the composition by shooting in black and white.  All I can do now is to record and convey this traditional culture.

About Ryoken Nishimura

He left his family, work and hometown in2018, and now spends his days just taking photos without income. Since then, he has won a Dutch street photo contest and a Japanese landscape and nature photo contest. He is physically and mentally lonely, and captures streets and people with his lonely eyes Good at that. Many people are attracted to his photography and word sense, and sometimes he is asked to take portraits.