Photographer Yasuhiro Ogawa is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Lost in Kyoto’. To see Yasuhiro ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

I have been obsessed with Kyoto over the years because of the dense atmosphere the ancient city holds. That atmosphere must be the result of the essence of history that has gradually seeped into the land, brewing over time. In the 1,200 years since Kyoto was founded, many battles have been fought, much blood has been shed, and many people have died. The joys, sorrows, prayers, wishes, tears and struggles of so many people are layered on top of each other like a stratum, and as time goes by, the weight of these layers accumulates.

It is this kind of history of Kyoto that I have been trying to visualize over the past decade. Not history as a superficial record, but history as a “living creature” that has been nurtured and cultivated throughout people’s lives. Yes, Kyoto’s history deserves to be called a “living creature.” It has a pulse; it breathes. I believe that the richness of Kyoto’s air is generated by the body heat of history, history as a “living creature”.

Yasuhiro Ogawa Biography 

Born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1968. B.A. in English literature from Kanagawa Univ. Japan. He started photography in early twenties and began professional career in 2000. 

He has published seven photobooks and three zines so far, including “Slowly Down the River” (Creo, 2008), “Shimagatari” (Sokyusha, 2014), “Cascade” (Sokyusha, 2017), “The Dreaming” (Sokyusha, 2020), “Tokyo Silence” (T&M Projects), “Into the Silence” (Blue Lotus Editions & Photo Editions, 2023), and “Lost in Kyoto” (Photo Editions, 2025). He has won several awards, such as the Taiyo Award for his first solo exhibition, “Futashika-na Chizu” (2000), and the Photographic Society of Japan Newcomer Award for his first photobook, “Slowly Down the River” (2009). He was a finalist for the Oskar Barnack Award (2006) and the Hayashi Tadahiko Award (2015).

All photos were taken in Kyoto and its vicinity

All images and text © Yasuhiro Ogawa