Main Guest Room

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 1/10 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The main guest room at Kinugawa Kan stands silent. Tatami mats decay, dust settles on the futon. Light filters through torn shoji screens, illuminating the forgotten space of this former Japanese ryokan.

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.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Main Guest Room
Series: Kinugawa Kan
Catalogue: KKA-014
Process: Giclée
Captured: 9 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 1/10 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: National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2016 Heritage Award, Multimedia

02 LOCATION

Nikko, Tochigi, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The main guest room at Kinugawa Kan is one of the larger rooms in the hotel, set along the river side of the building with the gorge view as its primary feature. The tatami mats cover the floor in the standard six-mat arrangement, with a low table at the centre and a tokonoma alcove against the back wall holding a hanging scroll and a small flower vase. The shoji panels at the river side of the room have been partly damaged; the paper has come away from several panels, leaving the timber lattice exposed. Beyond them, the river runs through the gorge below. The fusuma at the corridor side of the room is closed.

Main guest rooms at Kinugawa Kan were booked for honeymoons, family events, and corporate retreats during the hotel's run. The Tokyo express train brought guests directly to Kinugawa from Asakusa in around two hours; from the station, the hotel sent a small shuttle van. Kinugawa Kan declared bankruptcy in June 1999, the first major ryokan in the gorge to close in the post-bubble period. The room in this photograph has been sealed since. The tokonoma scroll, the table, and the original tatami remain. The shoji paper is past restoration; the timber lattice survives.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Tatami mats line the floor of a corner guest room at Kinugawa Kan. Shoji screens stand open on two sides, their wooden lattice frames warped slightly from humidity. Beyond the balcony, dense green canopy presses close. A single stool sits near the curtain. A lacquered box rests on a low crate by the wall. Light falls soft and flat across the woven straw. A small cabinet holds a television set pushed against the right wall. The air in here is still and damp.

Brett Patman

The series

Kinugawa Kan

2016 · 22 photographs

Kinugawa Kan ran on the Kinugawa River gorge in Tochigi Prefecture from December 1942 until June 1999. Nine storeys above the river, 70 rooms, one restaurant. The first hotel at Kinugawa Onsen to fall 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.