Miyazaki Manabu: The Four Seasons of Animal Trails

Name: Miyazaki Manabu: The Four Seasons of Animal Trails
Brand: 平凡社
Price: 2640 JPY
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Miyazaki Manabu's "Four Seasons of Animal Paths" (Heibonsha) is a photo collection capturing the changing seasons of wild animals living in Japan's mountains and fields. Miyazaki has set up unmanned robotic cameras on mountain trails and animal trails, and has been recording the animals that pass through these areas over long periods of time, without the presence of humans. This book contains representative findings from his continuous observations and photography.

Japan's wild animals are highly cautious and rarely appear. While there is the option of seeking more spectacular subjects overseas, Miyazaki has chosen to face the Japanese nature head-on, sparing no time or effort. His work is supported by thorough preparation and ingenuity, sometimes leaving his camera set up for over a year, waiting for just the right moment to capture the photo, and even modifying the camera itself depending on the purpose of the shoot.

Using unmanned photography, the natural behavior of animals passing by without noticing humans is captured. This captures the rhythm of Japan's natural environment, such as predation, migration, and seasonal changes in life. Rather than just capturing the appearance of individual animals, the film quietly reveals the interconnectedness of various living organisms in Japan's climate, with its four distinct seasons.

"Four Seasons of Animal Paths" is a book that opened up new horizons in wildlife photography with its innovative shooting methods, and it remains highly acclaimed even today, many years after its publication. This book, which can be said to be the origin of the theme of "animal paths," is positioned as an important photo book for reexamining Japan's nature and wildlife.

[Title] The Four Seasons of Animal Paths
[Publisher] Heibonsha
[Publication date] October 11, 1984 (1st edition)
[Number of pages] 80 pages
[Size] Approx. 27 x 23 cm
[Format] Hardcover
[Title Reading] Kemonomimi no Shiki
[Author/Editor, etc.] Manabu Miyazaki/Author
[Printing] Tokyo Inshokan/Printing, Ishizu Bookbinding/Bookbinding
[ISBN] 9784582529142
[Condition] Used [5] Average
[Accessories] None
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Manabu Miyazaki (1949-)

Born in Nagano Prefecture in 1949, he grew up in the Ina Valley, nestled between the Central Alps. After working for a precision machinery company, he taught himself photography and began working as a freelance photographer in 1972. Based in Nagano Prefecture, he continues to report on the natural environment of various parts of Japan.

He is known for his "Kemono-michi" series, in which he sets up homemade cameras equipped with infrared sensors along animal paths, primarily for mammals and birds of prey. Using a photography technique that eliminates human intervention, he records the natural behavior and ecology of wild animals, pioneering a unique realm of expression. In recent years, he has also tackled themes that question the relationship between human society and nature, such as wild animals appearing in human settlements, invasive species, and animal damage issues, earning him recognition as a "photojournalist of the nature world."

His major awards include the 1st Nippon Picture Book Award in 1978 for "Owl" (Fukuinkan Shoten), the Newcomer's Award from the Photographic Society of Japan in 1982 for "Eagle and Hawk" (Heibonsha), the 9th Domon Ken Award in 1990 for "Owl" (Heibonsha), the Photographic Society of Japan Annual Award in 1995 for "Death" (Heibonsha), and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award for "Animal Apocalypse" (Kodansha).

He held solo exhibitions at the IZU PHOTO MUSEUM in 2013 and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in 2021. He continues to create and share his work, and is also active through the online salon "gaku Juku."

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