Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, 2019
Archival pigment print
20 × 24 inch | 37 × 45 ¾ inch
Edition 10 | Edition 5
October 27, 2025
Yoko Ikeda brings a collage-like sensibility to photography—creating close-cropped images like this one, which read like poetic assemblages.
This photo shows a small section of Yōmeimon Gate—part of an ornate Edo-period Shinto shrine which Japan has designated as a National Treasure. Ikeda focuses her camera on the meeting place between a carved pillar, a tracery of terracotta leaves, and one of the gate's many gilded surfaces, creating an enigmatic yet satisfying arrangement. The luminous quality of this picture demonstrates why Yōmeimon Gate is called the "Gate of Sunlight." In Ikeda's depiction, the dazzling tourist destination is transformed into an intimate and mysterious image of quiet magic.
