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Roshin Books 2026
- Hardback, 1st edition, 88p
- New
Photographer Yasutaka Kojima, who has long explored global cities like Tokyo and New York, has chosen Berlin as his next stage. Within the layered gaps between buildings—resembling architectural Matryoshka dolls—he discovers moments that transcend time. These belong to neither the past nor the future, but exist only in the present. This concept resonates with Nakaima, a core Shinto idea referring to the "eternal now."
Shinto is Japan’s indigenous spirituality that finds divinity in nature and all things. In this work, Western architectural space intersects with a quiet Eastern sensibility, revealing the "eternal now" hidden within the streets of Berlin.
Though smaller in population than the previous two metropolises, Berlin retains the imprint of former East German urban planning. Its broad avenues and distinctive architectural structures create a uniquely expansive sense of scale—marked by a quiet strength and striking uniformity. In confronting this density, what gradually revealed itself was the city’s particular rhythm of time: slow, steady, and deeply felt.
At the heart of the work lies the Hof—the inner courtyard characteristic of Berlin’s architecture. Buildings unfold like Matryoshka dolls, layered two or three deep, with courtyards concealed between them. Neither fully interior nor exterior, these spaces dissolve the contours of past and future, allowing only the immediacy of the present to surface. Here, the boundary between self and other softens, quietly resonating with Nakaima—the ancient Shinto concept of the eternal present.
Text in English and Japanese.
Signed copy.
