僕は小さな島で生まれた。海と島の子供だった。3歳のころには両親は大阪に引っ越したので、いきなり都会の子になり、いままで見たこともない電車やビルディングにびっくりした。小学校時代は、奈良の都の法隆寺の近くに移り住んだ。今度はのどかな里山で、田んぼを走り回り、清らかな小川の冷たい水に足をつけて魚捕りをし、山でカブト虫採りに夢中になった。中学校になると、瀬戸内海を望む山口の小さな町に移り、幼い心に埋め込まれた海と島の景色が懐かしく思い出された。そしていま、仕事をするようになって以来、大都会、東京で生活している。
こうして僕は、それぞれの土地で人々や景色と出会い、別れを繰り返してきた。僕には決まった故郷はないが、これまで僕を包んで育ててくれた日本の都会と田舎、山と海、出会いと別れという変わりゆく情景のコントラストが僕の生きてきた証となって心の中にある。
僕は、大都会の喧騒に自分の存在すら揉み消されそうになりながら、失われゆく景色と僕の中に残り続ける景色のコントラストの中で、いまを感じ、生きている。失われゆくものへの感謝の先に、未来へ生きる希望を見つけるために、もっと深くいまを見つめたい。僕を育ててくれた故郷の温もりを心に留めるために、また、止められない時の流れを受け入れて強く生きるために、僕は変わりゆく景色を撮り続ける。
I was born in a small island in Japan. I loved the sea and the islands. At the age of 3, my parents moved to Osaka and everything was so different from the life in the island. I remember how I was surprised to see the trains and the buildings for the first time. Then we moved to Nara. There is a very famous temple, Horyuji, and I spent my elementary school days there. I was fascinated with collecting beetles in the mountain, ran around the rice fields in the idyllic village forest and enjoyed catching fishes in the cold fresh stream. When I was in Junior high school, we moved to the small town in Yamaguchi prefecture, where I could enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Inland Sea. The view of the sea and the island of the town brought me back of old memories in my early life. Now I have grown up and been living in a big city, Tokyo.
Through my life, no matter where I have lived, I have had various meetings and partings. All my experiences in the changing of contrast of the scene have always been in my heart as a proof of my life. Although I don’t have a specific hometown, each of them is precious for me.
Living in the hustle and bustle of a big city like Tokyo sometimes makes me feel so small. Some memories of places are vanishing from my mind and the others remain. With the contrast of them, I always feel the moment of time and I have survived. I don’t want to forget all my memories but I think living in the moment is also important. In order to find a hope to live to the future, I need to reconsider my life more deeply. I want to keep in my mind of the warmth of my every ‘hometown’. Besides I want to live strongly with the stream of time. That is why I keep taking pictures of the changing sceneries.
