OH MY GOD !

A photo collection by photographer Shinichiro Kobayashi, known for his ruin photography, featuring strange religious facilities and deities scattered across Japan. It includes diverse "gods" such as giant Buddha statues, vibrantly colored temples, handmade shrines, utopian architecture by new religions, and anonymous spaces of faith suddenly appearing on the roadside.

This book does not capture temples and shrines whose historical value is already established, but rather unique religious spaces born from people's strong faith, desires, and regional characteristics. From commercialized temples to sacred sites that have already become ruins, their forms are incredibly diverse, conveying the richness of indigenous imagination existing throughout Japan.

In the epilogue, it is stated, "Perhaps modern Japan is a 'land of gods' where there are as many gods as there are people." This refers to Japan's unique, ambiguous, and flexible sense of faith that cannot be confined to a single religious view. And when that unwavering faith materializes, fantastical "gods" are born. This book is impressive for documenting these not merely as curious spots, but as a cultural landscape.

As it was published in 2010, it includes facilities and landscapes that have already been lost. It is also a valuable record of Japan's peripheral culture, traversing the realms of folk religion, roadside culture, religious architecture, and ruin photography.

[Title] OH MY GOD!
[Publisher] Nihon Camera
[Publication Date] July 5, 2010 (First Edition)
[Page Count] 176 pages
[Size] Approx. 225*280*13mm / 819g
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] KAMISAMA OH MY GOD
[Author/Editor, etc.] Shinichiro Kobayashi/Author, Dokkan Kojima/Text, Kiyoto Noson/Text
[Printing] Sanpo Printing/Printing, Tsunekawa Binding/Binding
[ISBN] 9784817921260
[Condition] Used [5] Good (Band: slightly torn, main body/cover: top slightly sunned/slightly stained, price tag removal mark on flyleaf)
[Accessories] Band
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibition] -

Shinichiro Kobayashi (1966-)

Born in Tokyo in 1966. Photographer.
Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Photography.
Since the 1990s, he has continued to photograph ruins, religious facilities, folk religions, secluded areas, hot spring resorts, and festivals remaining throughout Japan. He has consistently maintained an interest in places being forgotten in the shadow of modernization and commercialization, and spaces where people's strong faith, desires, and regional characteristics have taken shape.

His representative works include the "Ruined Games" and "Ruined Drifting" series, known as pioneers of the ruin boom, as well as "OH MY GOD!", which documents strange religious facilities and deities across Japan. His work goes beyond mere documentary photography or introductions to curious spots, characterized by a perspective that captures the human imagination and faith residing within them, and the atmosphere of the times.

He continuously records Japan's peripheral culture and indigenous landscapes, such as massive religious architecture, anonymous shrines, excessive roadside structures, and vanishing tourist destinations and ruins.

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