An outdoor pool at Kinugawa Kan, its light blue walls stained and peeling. Dense green foliage has filled the basin completely, and a white pool ladder is still fixed to the wall at the far end.

Public Bath

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 1/80 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

An outdoor pool at Kinugawa Kan, its light blue walls stained and peeling. Dense green foliage has filled the basin completely, and a white pool ladder is still fixed to the wall at the far end. Two high-rise buildings stand behind on the Kinugawa gorge slope.

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 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

Public Bath at Kinugawa Kan, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Public Bath at Kinugawa Kan, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Public Bath at Kinugawa Kan, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Public Bath
Series: Kinugawa Kan
Catalogue: KKA-018
Process: Giclée
Captured: 9 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 1/80 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 297 × 210 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

Bathing was the central facility of any Japanese ryokan, with bookings often made specifically for access to a particular onsen, and Kinugawa Kan drew on the local thermal springs that gave Kinugawa its trade. The hotel ran for the full operational life of the property up to the June 1999 bankruptcy. After the closure the water supply was isolated. The pool in this frame has been left to the foliage since.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A pale blue swimming pool sits buried under dense green growth. Shrubs and young trees push through the deck. The pool walls are stained with algae and mineral deposits, their colour fading to grey at the edges. A steel ladder still stands at the far end, its chrome long gone to rust. To the left, a multi-storey glass facade disappears behind vines. Beyond, the concrete high-rises of Kinugawa Onsen's hotel district rise against heavy cloud.

Brett Patman

The series

Kinugawa Kan

22 photographs

Kinugawa Kan (きぬ川館本店, Kinukawa-kan Honten) was a hotel in Kinugawa Onsen, a hot-spring town in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Known by the nickname Kappa-buro, it accommodated many group tour guests, and the business collapsed in 1999 with debts of 3 billion yen. The photographs show a tatami guest room with shoji screens and a low table, a curved bath of small mosaic tiles under an arched wall of windows, and medal game and pachinko machines.

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.