The covert training camp
I arrive early. I’ve hitched a ride with two young recruits who will be trained here. I have no idea where we are, other than that we are at the beach somewhere, several hours away from Tokyo. We park the car and head on to the compound.
It’s a regular little seaside town, and the place we’re staying in is a traditional Japanese guest house. We walk up to the late Miyamoto-san, who is in charge of the annual organization, and greet him. He’s going over the daily routine together with Tanaka-sensei.
Tanaka-sensei is a master swordsman and martial arts teacher, who has fought in the Afghan war in the 1980′s by training the Mujaheddin in different combat and sword fighting techniques. He is here to teach the recruits meditation techniques, unarmed and armed combat, and bodyguard practice.
4.30 am. Wake-up time. Every morning there is a meditation session on the beach, right at the water’s edge. All recruits and a dozen family members are sitting in the sand at equal distances from one another. While Tanaka-sensei corrects postures, everyone sits still, eyes closed, listening to the waves breaking on the beach, the mind empty.
At 5.30 am, still before breakfast, the first training of the day starts: Hand to hand combat techniques.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all prepared and eaten together. The food is a fresh as can be, fish caught in the ocean right outside the door. Everyone earns their keep by helping wherever they can.
There are three intense training sessions every day, and in between, exhausted, there seems to be no other option but to rest in the dorms. And with days starting this early, most recruits go straight to bed after dinner. Meanwhile, Tanaka-sensei, Tanamoto Kaicho, Miyamoto-san and the other family members, drink a beer and discuss the schedule for the next day, which starts yet again by rising at 4.30am.
Imants
April 15, 2010 at 11:32 //
An air with a of almost sinister undertone, definitive full stop material but with that almost comical men’s business feel about it. I guess that is to be expected as it is a male dominated way of thinking here. It would be interesting to see the images without PP work or as straight/direct bnw conversion, though I doubt if they would have the same emotional feel about them
anton
April 15, 2010 at 12:27 //
hey imants,
glad to see you here mate!
the post production to me is as important as the photograph itself… because the story that i want to tell is not only what comes out of the camera… it is the writing, the shooting, the post production, the camera, my physical presence, the preparation, my mood, my vision, and everything else imaginable
the story is the thing i want to tell.
it would be the same if i were to ask you to show me one of the original unaltered files in your mm pieces… i’m very interested to see, but i also realize that this would be completely irrelevant to what you want to say.
… wondering if i make sense actually… do i?
a
Imants
April 15, 2010 at 13:15 //
I understand it all too well….. these days I tend to think about post processing before I pick up a camera.I have been threatening myself that I will use a image straight out of the box ( never happens).Then again I am too flippant in how I use a camera to create a articulated linear story.
I am looking forward to your book and will probably send a version to my nephew who is a tall blonde Nordic looking man living in a outer city of Japan with few foreigners. My guess is that he would really appreciate your story and the way you went about it.
anton
April 15, 2010 at 15:32 //
imants… hehe i threaten myself in the same way all too often… luckily for the outside world it’s never more than a threat :-)
Steve Caddy
April 16, 2010 at 12:46 //
Anton, this really is a body of work that just keeps getting better with every post. If there’s a lesson in this for me it’s that patience is rewarded. The wait for each post seems like nothing at all when it finally comes, and the amount of planning that must have gone into this…
Anyway: Thank you. The match-up between words and image feels effortless and perfect too by the way.
Can’t wait for the book.
anton
April 17, 2010 at 08:42 //
Hey Steve,
Thanks for the words… and i’m glad you say the match-up feels effortless… because I put a lot of effort into that :-)
Rather than just releasing a full slideshow with all images at once, I rather prefer this format… like a story being written “live”
Cheers,
a
david root
April 20, 2010 at 02:51 //
i think this is my second or third post where i’ve piggy-backed on someone else’s comments, but why try and rephrase something when someone else has said it better ;)
patience. that’s the best word to describe your project. i know that Steve Caddy was referring to “our” patience, as followers of your work, but i think it’s YOUR patience that should be recognized. you have completely immersed yourself in your subject, and it shows. your pictures feel true, not rushed by a looming filing deadline.
i just wanted to let you know that your submission has paid off. this stuff is gold.
-david
anton
April 20, 2010 at 10:50 //
hey david,
thanks for the words… and yeah patience is the thing here…
two years ago, the initial negotiations to start the project lasted ten months, and now i am photographing for over a year….
Nice little anecdote: a month ago, after 14 months of shooting, Soichiro (my contact) remarked (at the funeral of Miyamoto-san):
“Looking at what happened this week, I think now your project is now ready to really start“
Fourteen months in. Imagine. I sure am excited about things to come :-)
cheers, a
Steve Caddy
April 20, 2010 at 14:21 //
Fantastic.
I actually did mean patience on both our parts (readers and author). I it puts our discovery at a pace that better represents your own.
Written “live”
Yes, exactly :)
anton
April 20, 2010 at 21:23 //
hey steve,
well put… indeed it puts the discovery at a better pace.
oh and not to forget the patience on their part: i can only imagine the patience they must have towards me too….
cheers
a