Noi Sawaragi: Notes on Art and Current Events 43

A Restatement: The Art of ‘Ground Zero’ (Part 19)
“Yasashii Bijutsu” and Takashi Tosu II


Takashi Tosu – Oshima leprosy sanatorium, film #00. All photos: From Nobuyuki Takahashi’s Twitter (@yasashiibijutsu). This photo posted August 2, 2014.

The manner in which the photographer (Can we call him that?) Takashi Tosu “exists” is extremely curious and unprecedented. This lack of precedents makes it difficult to evaluate the artwork (Is that what it really is?) he left behind by applying without consideration the traditional criteria of art criticism. But precisely because of this, it would seem that herein lies the possibility of a new criticism that is worthy of consideration. Before we go any further, let me itemize below the reasons for this “difficulty.”

• Takashi Tosu did not actually exist: the name is fictitious. As a leprosy sufferer (or recuperating patient) he was unable to use his real name. This is fundamentally different from the normal use of pen names or stage names, which presupposes the unveiling of some kind of work.
• For the same reason, the details of Takashi Tosu’s background are unknown. In fact, due to the government’s sterilization policy with regard to leprosy sufferers, if anything his background has become less certain over time.
• Takashi Tosu is faceless. Partly this is because the lack of records means his face doesn’t come to mind, but the “facelessness” of leprosy sufferers is also a clear demonstration of how they were regarded as “people that shouldn’t exist.” It also needs to be considered that the deformities caused by the illness probably deepened the rift between Tosu and the outside world.
• Above all, it is due to the efforts of artist Nobuyuki Takahashi that we are able to view Takashi Tosu’s photographs today. If he had not been involved in the Yasashii Bijutsu Project at Oshima’s Seishoen, then neither the name Takashi Tosu nor Takashi Tosu’s photos would be known to the general public.
• Furthermore, the relationship between Takashi Tosu and Nobuyuki Takahashi goes beyond that of simply discoverer and discovered. Takahashi went a step further by assuming Tosu’s name. In other words, Takashi Tosu is also Nobuyuki Takahashi.

There is more, but the above points are more or less what spring to mind. Given this, it is clearly evident how difficult it is to “assess” or “review” the photographer (Is that what he really was?) Takashi Tosu based on the traditional simple separation into “artist – artwork – criticism.”


Takashi Tosu – Oshima leprosy sanatorium. Ship and rock. Posted July 14, 2014.

A similar difficulty exists in criticizing the work of, for example, Takuma Nakahira, the photographer who lost his memory due to an accident. In recent years, many exhibitions have been held under the name of Takuma Nakahira. But is it really possible to criticize these assuming simply that “the artist Takuma Nakahira” exists and “there are photographs Takuma Nakahira shot”?

There is something here that shakes to its very foundations the roles of the twin elements of modern art, which arose out of the cultivation of the ego, and the “criticism” that is so very necessary as the sole means by which the ego, which has nothing but itself to rely on, can become conscious of itself through self-reflection (the ego being something that turns its thoughts inwards). This is because it is surely questionable whether or not an ego exists here to begin with.

Does Nakahira’s ruined ego really fulfill the conditions required of an “artist” when viewed from a modern art perspective? To begin with, that Nakahira is even able to “present” his “artwork” is due in large part due to the camera, which is frankly closer to a machine that a tool for expression, and to the plain fact that as long as they are able to press the shutter, anyone can produce an image of some sort. Accordingly, the reason there is something ridiculous about discussing Takuma Nakahira in a serious-minded fashion derives from the naïveté of thinking one can apply traditional criticism without reconsidering the relationship between artist and critic.


Takashi Tosu – Oshima leprosy sanatorium. The estimated 800-million-year-old crater Copernicus. Posted July 20, 2014.

However, the difficulty of discussing Takashi Tosu is such that not even this sort of naïveté is tolerated. If I were to venture to sum up this difficulty in a single phrase, it would be that the photographer Takashi Tosu exists on two levels. By this I mean that he exists on the one hand as something definite, and on the other as something indefinite.

Certainly, on the one hand Takashi Tosu undoubtedly existed. As evidence of this, countless photographs he took actually remain. Looking at them, it is clear they are all wonderful. As a writer, I cannot prevent my curiosity being aroused. Even though I know next to nothing about Takashi Tosu, and even though his name is fictitious and his face doesn’t come to mind, this doesn’t mean it is impossible to discuss the photographs he left behind.

On the other hand, Takashi Tosu is also Nobuyuki Takahashi. And we can get all the information there is regarding the artist Nobuyuki Takahashi via his blog and Twitter, for example. In this sense, we actually know a great deal about Takashi Tosu / Nobuyuki Takahashi. In short, we know a lot about Takashi Tosu, but at the same time we know practically nothing.

This contradiction derives from the fact that we can no longer consider Takahashi and Tosu separately. There is no longer a single creator to which each piece can be attributed, and likewise each piece is no longer simply the product of a specific individual.

If Takahashi had remained in the position of Takashi Tosu’s discoverer like a regular curator or critic, such difficulties would not have arisen. However, since Takahashi the artist has already assumed Takashi Tosu’s name, everything Takahashi does is fundamentally different from anything that might have resulted from researching or curating Tosu. Now, Takahashi’s every move is potentially Tosu’s every move.


Takashi Tosu – “Oshima leprosy sanatorium. Tosu’s foot captured on film. Various topologies appear to correspond with the cross section of a pine.” Posted July 22, 2014.


“Oshima leprosy sanatorium. Standing there #6. Looking back from there, at the spot where Takashi Tosu stood.” Posted July 30, 2014.

As the designated place/site for making the photographs Takashi Tosu left behind known to the public, Takahashi has settled mainly on the non-site of Twitter (@yasashiibijutsu). From among the Takashi Tosu photos that have come to light, he chooses those that are of particular interest to Takahashi/Tosu himself and uploads them at irregular intervals to Twitter along with brief comments. By tweeting as if reiterating from what point of view and out of what concern Takashi Tosu chose each location and took each photo, and by the act of actually “standing there,” Takahashi/Tosu is trying with difficulty to locate signs and the whereabouts of the body of Takashi Tosu, who is like an invisible man.


“Oshima leprosy sanatorium. One of Takashi Tosu’s self-help devices for taking photographs. How was it used?” Posted February 12, 2014.

Furthermore, it seems that due to the deformities caused by his illness, each time Takashi Tosu took a photograph he relied on some kind of prosthetic assistance in the form of various tools (self-help devices) that he made himself. The details of how he employed these self-help devices that he fashioned from pieces of wood and other items close at hand are not known. However, when Takahashi/Tosu photographs these and posts them on the internet, the viewer is made to imagine both in a physical sense and from a semantic point of view the extent to which they connected “photographically” the real Takashi Tosu and his camera.

As one tries to respond to these and other curiosities, it becomes clear that pre-established harmony-like understandings such as the traditional separation of “artist – artwork – criticism” no longer hold. Or rather, to the extent that they are possible, they could only be held together by the most strained efforts/logic. At this time, however, the feeble strength peculiar to the photographer (Is that what he really is?) Takashi Tosu that makes it difficult even to call to mind an outline of his presence would be lost completely. This is akin to him only being able to exist through the imprudent intervention of an existing artist assuming his name, a critical position in the sense that he would not be recognized as a photographer unless this were the case. (To be continued)

Noi Sawaragi: Notes on Art and Current Events 1-6

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