Japanese Samurai Fashion Everett Kennedy Brown Photo Collection

This is "Japanese Samurai Fashion" (2017) by wetplate artist Everett Kennedy Brown.

This work, the "Japanese Samurai Fashion" series, is based on the Nomaoi festival, which has been handed down for approximately 800 years in the Soma region of Fukushima Prefecture.

Local people ride horses and compete for the sacred flag. Everett Kennedy Brown used wet plate photography to capture portraits of 44 people, including Soma Michitane, the 34th head of the former Soma-Nakamura clan. Dressed in samurai attire handed down through generations, the figures facing the camera with a 10-second exposure time embodied a soul that seems to transcend time and space. In contrast, he used color photographs to capture the feet of approximately 100 people in hakama. The combination of various patterns and colors encapsulates the magical and festive nature of the festival, as well as a highly sophisticated technique that rivals any other.

The fabrics, which show influences not only from China and Korea but also from Southeast Asia and Africa, will be valuable materials on clothing culture. Furthermore, the artist's unique method of expressing the history and essence of "Nomaoi" through inverted and repeated color photographs is noteworthy.

This book makes free use of the timeless techniques of wet plate photography and digital photography to vividly convey a perspective on Japanese culture, where "wabi-sabi" and "hare" coexist. It is a book that breathes the deep connection between festivals, clothing, and people, and where tradition and innovation coexist.

260×260mm｜110pages｜Hard cover