Lounge

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 1/6 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Moss carpets the floor of an upper-storey room at Kinugawa Kan. A timber armchair sits beside collapsed ceiling panels. Floor-to-ceiling glass overlooks densely forested mountains and a neighbouring resort building.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

See certificate sample →

Shipping Free shipping over $250. Ships worldwide, rates calculated at checkout.

Returns Damaged in transit? We replace it. Full policy →

Ships within 10 business days · signed & numbered

In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Lounge
Series: Kinugawa Kan
Catalogue: KKA-013
Process: Giclée
Captured: 9 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 1/6 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Nikko, Tochigi, Japan
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Nikko, Tochigi, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The lounge at Kinugawa Kan is on one of the upper floors, a long carpeted room with a row of armchairs facing the windows that look out over the river gorge. The carpet has been damp for so long that patches of mould bloom across it. The chairs are still arranged in their last configuration, two and three together around low tables. A few of the chairs have been knocked over. The windows are intact, though the frames have rust streaking down from the edges. Beyond them, the cliff drops away to the river, and the closed hotels on the opposite bank look back across.

This was the room hotel guests would come to between meals, between baths, or after dinner with a drink. The view across the gorge to other ryokans on the opposite cliff was part of what made Kinugawa Kan worth booking. The hotel ran for decades on weekend bookings out of Tokyo, two hours up the line by express train. When the bubble economy ended and group tourism dropped away, Kinugawa Kan held on for a few years before declaring bankruptcy in June 1999. The building was sealed and left in place. Every chair, every glass, every printed menu stayed where it was. The lounge has been quiet since.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A place of quiet luxury, now lost to time.

Brett Patman

The series

Kinugawa Kan

2016 · 22 photographs

Hoshi Takashi (星堯) incorporated Yugen-gaisha Kinukawa-kan Honten (有限会社きぬ川館本店) on 31 December 1942, on the Kinugawa River gorge in what is now Nikko City. The hotel grew to nine storeys, 70 guest rooms, one restaurant, and the Kappa-buro (かっぱ風呂) hot-spring bath on the river. In June 1999 the company filed for bankruptcy with debts of approximately 30億円, the first hotel at Kinugawa Onsen to fail in the post-bubble era.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.