Zokushin (Gods of the Earth)

Book measures 11.75 x 11.75 inches. 240 pages. Revised edition of this work originally published in 1976 and long out of print. Includes an essay by Kazuhiko Komatsu in Japanese and English translation, along with 10 additional photographs not included in the original issue. 115 b&w plates printed on recto only. 

Zokushin, a term coined by Tsuchida, translates to "gods of the common people". This work focuses on the lives of people in Japan, living mostly in rural areas and outside of major cities, living a different style of life than the mode representing the present, "epitomized by color TV". There is a folk quality to the people and scenes within these photographs which bear a closer resemblance to an early period of photography in Japan, and the subjects within seem to have little concern of how others think of them. Though these photographs are less a nostagia trip, but appear closer to actually documenting the true lives of people outside of the mainstream culture forgotten at the time. A unique and uncommon document of Japan at a time when rapid modernization had already been in place for 2 decades.  

Very Good+ in Very Good + dust jacket. Binding is solid.