Journals

4. Discussing current life 5. European and Japanese people compared 14. Adapting Albert Camus Poem 16. Midnight Photoshoot 17. “One idiots solo adventure” 27. Photo w/ violinist 29. Travel to London 36. Back to London 17 October + Exhibition @ Pentax Tokyo until 16/10 ‘76 (29.09) 37. Letter to Tae discussing photoshoot 38. Introduction to Yoshi as written by himself+good for showcase 59. Reflecting on Pentax exhibition+ camera used (18/02) 70. Friends exhibition @minicom studio Tokyo 70. Frank Zappa address 96. Invader London photos approved    

5. Hosono and Mina photoshoot
9. Publishing photos-selling to Paris, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden
(17.08)11. Works published on BJP 17/12/76+03/06/77/ Asashi Camera 07/77
11b. Photos focussing on naked woman intertwined w/ accessories
(19.08)12b. Travelled to Italy via train
(31/08)18. German magazine published photos visiting other publishers in September
27. Met editor GORO magazine -> possible documentary w/photos
(19.09) 28. Lecture BJP/ French photography group ZOOM/ German POTO/Swiss photographer magazine-> all agreed to publish
32. Back in London, praise for his works
33. Kazue/i—- beach shoot
37. 17.12.76+03.06.77 Frank Zappa pictures taken

12. Speaks of father
16. Heading to Japan in May
19. Born in Kanzan, Gunman Prefecture, 3rd Son of Zen monk
34. “The world is full of marked men”- worked on?
40. Moved to academia
41. Scandinavia mid Aug photos w/ Dantsu girl
54. Invoices 4 Wimbledon photos
73. New project for British research soc.
83. Portfolio+84.

6. “I want to live because death is inevitable”
7. Going to eastern Europe+ GLCE office may 20 new job
19b. Studied advertising+ copyright under Mr.Koba, struggling w/ writing and recognition
22a. “As a result of my foolish behaviour in my teens and twenties, I got married and divorced and left my wife behind for London- currently dating a stray student”
30b. Shooting w/ KHO party on Friday/Saturday+ JETA group on Sunday- [COMAGE] + Keikai also shooting for. Took pics @ Wimbledon 07/06/80
32a. Wimbledon photoshoot- CAYPROS Co. Ltd company + odorisha prod.
58b. Yoshi’s company CAYPROS 30 Newbury St. EC1 7/7/80
60a. Financial difficulties ^
62a. Mine Ando- photographer correspondent (4 CAYPROS) – Yoshi UK fashion
78a. Mannequin photos- COMAGE

31. Invoice- moorgate (new) address
35. Receipt- Barons CT. address
47. Reception Savoy London 22.04.81 president NKK attending- Yoshi wants to meet
48. Speaks of Wimbledon shoot
50. NHK album finished-> another photoshoot upcoming
70. CAYPROS slip useful for exhibition
71. Bankruptcy proceedings
88. Description of what clothing is selling well and what isn’t

23a. Work for Kagoshima TV planned
24b. Loss of faith in his work field- possibly due to financial situation
33b. Request for money, breakdown of current projects
46a. Period of transition- still loves his work but his personal life is interfering
46b. Took photos jack Nicholas @ British open golf
73. Golf shoot 17.10.82

19. Housing court- eviction hearing
22b. Went to France and took pictures of wineries in Bordeaux and burgundy.
23a. Evicted from Barons court address
29b. Problems w/ work, client unimpressed (security company) issues with specific goal of the shoot.
53b. Moved to Queens Park residence
56. Exploring potential studios in London
61b. Nice description of Yoshi’s hoarding in QP residence, useful for exhibition
64b. JETA project
84a. Yoshi to Japan October ‘83
88a. Went to Wales for shoot and saw Snowden

8. Comparison between English and Japanese ideals, nice quote for exhibition
9a. Asked to take photos 9/8 ‘83 for 84 spring/summer London fashion collection
10b. ‘83 London fashion collection
11b/12. Trip to Singapore
57. Camera work for upcoming trips
60a. Shoot 20-25th Jan ‘84 Berlin away 15-25th
74-82. Trip to Berlin detailed
93a. Meeting Tennis players from previous photoshoot
93b. Trip to canary islands

13b. Shooting 20.06.84 [EXP] US.TV
14b. Letter from Grace chasing work from Yoshi
21-29. Yoshi on the Orient express, went on orient for a photo book
33a. Works published in July in Tokyo and Canary Islands work also published.
72a. Photo King exhibition- lots of camera work and maths possibly for this?
85b. Continued issues with flat
87a. Received £200 Orion Press Issue 39 Shincho weekly 24.01.85
93b. DAT BOOTH issue 44 shunken Shincho 03.04.85
99b. Orion Press again same feeling 04.06.85

When checking through documents alongside the numbered journals we also discovered notepads recording earlier diaries as well as a detailed timeline that Yoshi has prepared.

他のジャーナルでもそうだが、最初の方のページにコンタクトがいろいろ載っている。ただどれも近しい人たちというよりも社交の場での人々とのカジュアルな連絡先交換やストアの担当者の連絡先というような感じである。日本の親族などの情報はほとんど登場しない。
As in other journals, there are a variety of contacts listed on the first page. However, they all seem to be casual exchanges of contact details with people at social events or store personnel, rather than close relatives/friends. Information on Japanese relatives etc. especially rarely appears.

家族関係も婚姻関係も子供も何もないということを書いてある。そして彼はそれに関して満足とのこと。： (「いずれにせよあたしには関係ないという立場で生きてこれたのは実は我が人生における最大の利点ではなかっただろうか？」「要するに目的とするもの、それに必要なことしかやらなかったというわけだ。この徹底はいい。」)
Mention that he does not have any family, any marriage,, and he says he is happy about that：
‘Wasn’t it actually one of the greatest advantages of my life to have lived with the attitude that nothing mattered to me anyway?’ ‘In short, I only did what I aimed for and what was necessary for that purpose. I like this strictness.”

自分の作品に対する自信、自己賞賛とかが結構見られる。逆に他のアーティストなどを批判というか、疑問に付している場面もある
Confidence in his own work and self-praise are quite often observed. There are also occasions when he criticises or questions other artists.

8150（日本語で背後霊と読み替えられる）というナンバーが彼の生活の中でたびたび現れることに注目している。人の電話番号や商品のコードなど。それが運命に関わっているスピリチュアルのなものなのか、と。
He notes that the number 8150 (which can be read in Japanese as ‘the ghost behind him’) appears frequently in his life ; people’s phone numbers, product codes, etc. He wonders if it is a spiritual thing related to his destiny.

まめにインターネットを確認している
He is checking internet frequently – sometimes annoyed by technical issues.

見た映画やBBC（狙って見たものもあれば、たまたまTvから流れてきたということも多いようだ）のメモがある。特に人間の精神や身体の科学、人間あるいは自然全体の真理に迫るような内容に惹かれている印象がある。
There are some notes on programmes and films he has watched (some of which he has aimed to watch, but many seem to have just happened to be streamed from Tv). I get the impression that he is particularly attracted to topics touching on the science of the human psyche and body, or the truth of the human or nature in general.

10月頃に日本の「戸塚」という人物orファミリー？と連絡をとっていたようだ。（近年の日記でこのように日本の人と連絡をとっているのは非常に珍しい。おそらく親族など近しかった人だと思われる。「ここに来て最大の変化は先日戸塚にTelをいれ日本側の状況を聞いたことではなかろうか。」お母様がいつ亡くなっていたかも知らなかったようで命日を初めて聞いたというような状況に思われる。戸塚、西蒲田、北海道という親族関係があるようである。（どれも地名か。。？）
It appears he was in contact with a person or family (?) called ‘Totsuka’ in Japan around October. (It is very unusual for a diary in these recent years to indicate contact with a person in Japan like this. Presumably they were relatives of him. ‘I think the biggest change since in these days is that the other day I telephoned Totsuka and asked him about the situation on the Japanese side.’, he notes. It appears he did not even know when his mother had died and was hearing about the anniversary of her death for the first time. The names of Totsuka, Nishi-Kamata and Hokkaido appear as the group of people he is related (not clarified, they all sound like place names in stead of surname?).

スプツニコ！という今となっては有名アーティストの女性、まだ彼女が学生の頃に12月に会っており、「手相がなかなかいい」と。作品についてもその行動力に感嘆していた。（出会った人々の手相読みのことは日記の頻出の話題の一つである）
Sputniko! a now famous Japanese artist, met him in December when she was still a student. He mentioned that her palm-reading indicate her talent. He was amazed at her energy to see her work too. (Palm reading of people he met is one of the frequent topics of his diary.)

ーー
Works in this period

-He was making a costume for a performance, and it seems he Himself acted on stage too.
-spiral angel ((“The paradox of this work is interesting. The materials and structure are far from realistic, and not at all appropriate for that kind of thing, but the result is strangely realistic.”) 「この作品の持っているパラドックスは面白い。素材や構造は写実的なものからは程遠くそんなものには全くふさわしくないのだが結果として出来上がったものには妙なリアリティがある。」）

—

その他示唆的な記述
I picked up some of the original texts:

「僕の作るもののすべてはその両極の奇妙な混在、パラドクスのエッジに立つものだ。」「（ひょっとしたら、これが僕の作るものに妙なリアリズムはあってもエロチックではないという現象の原因かも）」

（人との連絡が遠のいているということ、自分のやっていることのニッチさ、特殊性からくる孤独／孤高について語っている流れで）「ただひたすらに追求していけば、いずれギリギリのところまで行く。それがギリギリであるだけでに、本人以外の何者でもない深層が出る。この状態を一如と呼ぶわけだが、ここにある二者の不思議な溶解は説明しがたい。何しろ、これは無意識の中にある。」

（他のアーティストの批評の流れで）「アタシの場合、しばしば入手した素材から出る方向性に引っ張られるが、根底に「それをどう見るか、直観できるか」の心理的興味がある。」

About his work-
“Everything I make is a strange mix of those extremes, standing on the edge of a paradox.” “(Perhaps this is the reason for the phenomenon that everything I make has a strange realism but is not erotic.)”

In the context of talking about being out of touch with people, the niche nature of his work, and the solitude/isolation that comes from his particularity-
“If you just keep on pursuing it, You will eventually get to the edge of things. Just because it is on the edge, a depth that is nothing but the person himself comes out. This state of being is called ‘oneness’, but the curious dissolution of the two here is hard to explain. After all, this is in the unconscious.”

In critiques of other artists, the text in which we can see his art’s philosophy –
“I am often lead by the directions that what the material available suggest, but there is an underlying psychological interest in ‘then how you see it, how you can intuit it’.”

Translation and annotation by Natsuki Iwamoto

ー作品、プロジェクト等
DORKBOT サイコキネティックモーター・フラッシングペンダント？
「忙しい鳥」（？）オフセンターの二次軸〜　忙しく動き回る鳥のような作品（？）
どくろ（一年前に考えついた案とのこと）
ヌードスプーン、アーチャー？（すでに出来上がっていた可能性もある。人々に見せているという記録があり）
人間の悲劇シリーズ（Cage Bird・落ちた腸がパタパタついている…というもの、Dharma、ドクロと蛆虫、キャンプ、kiling field、泣く女、祈り)（これもこの時点である程度できていたのかも）
落ち葉の舞、Eve’s temptation
Oshiri
PCマッシュルーム

ーやはり図書館に行ったりスーパーに行ったりパーティや社交に出かけながら制作を続けていく日々が記録されている。その中にしばしば禅への知見や芸術観、過去の回想などが挟まれている。

– Again, the journal shows his typical daily routine of creating sculptures while going to the library, the supermarket, finding something interesting and useful there, going to parties and socialising. It is often interspersed with insights into Zen, views on art and recollections of the past too.

Works, projects, etc—
(They may have been done to some extent at this point too : There was a page where he was trying to re-cap what kind of sculptural work he’s done so far).-DORKBOT – Psychokinetic motor/ flashing pendant?
-‘Busy Bird’ (?). He mentions to “Off-centre secondary axis” of this work- Busy bird-like work (?)
-Skull (He said the idea was conceived a year ago)
-Nude spoon/archer? (Possibly already made by then : there is a record of showing this to people. –“Human tragedy” series (Cage Bird / fallen butterflies flapping around…/ Dharma / Skull and Worms / Camp / Killing Field / Weeping Woman / Prayer)
-Dance of Falling Leaves / Eve’s temptation
-Oshiri
-PC Mushroom

＋面白い記述等 Picked up entries

死についてー On Death –
いいことか悪いことかいいことか、ドクターの言った、突然本当の限界が来てぽくりと行くよ、になるかも。クワバラクワバラ、手早く遺作をまとめなければ。
Good or bad, I may indeed pass away all of sudden by reaching ultimate limit, as my doctor said to me.

芸術観ー On philosophy of art
そこにあるユニークさ、作者独特のものであるのに加え、その技巧が卓越しているものであるなら、余人がそれ以上のものを作り出せる可能性は無い。それを作る技巧、仕上げに至るまでに、素人の及ばないものが出ていれば、その洗練された高みは、アートと呼ばれる段階に達する。 そこにあるユニークさは、作者の独特な創造性、アイディアから出るものだが、それが作者の独特な個性、人生経験から見なされている場合も多い。 とは言うものの個性だけでは作品にならない。アートとは最終的に作られたものの質なのだ。
If the work shows the uniqueness, something unique to the artist, and the high technique, there is no possibility that somebody else can do the same thing. I shall call them art if it shows that solitude I the technique and finishing, that a normal person cannot reach. The uniqueness shown here derives from the unique creativity and idea of the artist, which tend to be considered as coming from the unique personality and life experience. – However art cannot be done only with the uniqueness/personality. Indeed art is about the quality of what is made there.

何かを作ろうと考えたら、出てくるアイディアの全ては知っているものの組み合わせになってしまう。それに対し予想もしなかったような奇抜な構造とか形が出てくるのは、実際に素材に向かい制作やっている最中だ。手を使って作業をしている時、そこで働いているのは大脳の思考ではなく無意識で反応している運動神経だ。 それに加え、作業している素材が思いもかけなかった制限とか可能性をのぞかせる、ここに展開される新状況に対処する瞬間に予想をしなかったものが作り出される。これは思考の果てに出てきた対応策と言うより、なぜかそれが自然にあったかのように出てくると言う面白さを持っている。ここでの創造のプロセスの面白さは、それが突然無意識に出てくると言うところにある。考えたのではダメなのだ。
When you think about making something, all the ideas you come up with are combinations of things you know. In contrast, it is when you are actually working with the materials that you come up with unexpected and bizarre structures and forms. When you are working with your hands, it is not your cerebral thinking that is at work, but your kinaesthetic nervous system, which is reacting unconsciously. In addition to that, the material you are working with offers unexpected limitations and possibilities, and the moment you deal with the new situation that unfolds here, you create something you never expected to create. This is not so much a response to the end of a thought process, but rather an interesting way of saying that somehow it comes out as if it had been there naturally. The interesting thing about the creative process here is that it comes out of nowhere. It is not enough just to think about things.

「禅問答」ー The Zen Question.

最も端的に言えば釈迦は人間心理の持つパラドックスの構造解き明かしそれがどれほど決定的に人間の生き方を左右している間に光を当てたと言うことだ。心理構造を考えれば当然その根底にある無意識の部分、潜在意識に目が行く。ーーと書いたところで壁に突き当たった。むっ、Then?
このパラドックスというのは、意図的にあがけば足掻くほど、なぜか物事うまくいかない。むしろ自然（じねん）に任せ、己の我抜きにやった方が結果がよく、 究極的には目的としていたものに到達できると言うのだが、何故かと言う答えがない。一方、潜在意識のそこにあるのは自己保存本能とか生本ので、それ自体が我なのだ。潜在意識が法とは限らない。
In the simplest terms, the Buddha revealed the structure of the paradoxes of the human psyche and shed light on how crucially they influence the way we live our lives. If we think about the psychological structure, we naturally turn our attention to the unconscious, the subconscious, which lies at the root of it all. — As I wrote this, I found myself facing a problem. MM, then?
This paradox means that the more you deliberately struggle, the more things somehow go wrong.
It is said that if you let nature take its course and do things without your ego, the results will be better and you will ultimately reach your goal, but there is no answer as to why. On the other hand, the subconscious mind is itself a SELF, as it is a self-preservation instinct or a sexual instinct. The subconscious mind is not always the law （法）.

人間観とそれをまとめられるかについてー　Talking about his view of humankind and whether he could summarise it: –
こちらの無知のためかどんどん新しい研究発見、人間分析、存在環までが変化しているためか、新しい知識を書き留めるだけで紙が埋まってしまう。こうも土台が変化してしまっては仮説も立てられない。かつて組み上げた人間観は半分ぐらい崩れてしまったのではないか？本にまとめる所ではない。逆にあれよあれよと言うのを雑文にするとか？どうも雑多だったのことをやりまくっているせいか、考えが結晶する暇がないらしい。
Whether it is because of my inexperience or because new research findings, human analysis and even views of existence are constantly changing, my notes are filled up merely by noting down the new knowledge. It is impossible to formulate hypotheses if the foundations are changing like this. The view of human beings that I once constructed has probably been destroyed almost halfway through. It is not even close to putting it all together in a book. Maybe I could put those such-and-such just into a messy text..? Apparently, because of being busy with all the miscellaneous things I’ve been doing, I haven’t had time to crystallize my thoughts..

バッハと仏教・禅の表現 Comparison of Bach and Zen/Buddhism’s expressions
仏教をバッハとロマン派の違いを例にして説明すると面白い。神経生理のメカニカルな面から見れば、仏教、特に禅は、脳の感情領域、情動域との連携を断つことの訓練なのだ。直接的感情表現を避け、むしろフーガとかリチェルカーとかといった様式に忠実に従うことで、逆にその形式の拘束の中にありながら、それでもにじみ出てくる感情ーそれは個人個人のドロドロしたものを超え、はるかに抽象的、かつ根源的なものーの表現に到達したのはバッハだ。〜　病老苦死を貞観させ、さらにその上で慈悲を説くのは情動を超えもっと根源的な人道への到達を目指すからに他ならない。それはちょうど表面的直接的な感情表現回避したバッハの音楽と重なる。この高み深みが聞く人に宗教的、あるいは霊的な印象を与える。

It is interesting to explain Buddhism by using the difference between Bach and Romanticism as an example. From the mechanical aspect of neurophysiology, Buddhism, and especially Zen, is a discipline of disconnection from the emotional and affective domains of the brain. It was Bach who, by avoiding direct expression of emotion and rather faithfully following the styles of fugue and ricercar, reached the expression of emotions that, while remaining within the constraints of those forms, still ooze out – emotions that go beyond the individual’s personal mushy stuff, and are far more abstract and fundamental.　〜 （The reason why Zen and Buddhism） teach us to resignedly accept illness, aging, suffering, and death, and then teach mercy upon that basis, is because they aim to transcend emotion and reach a more fundamental humanity. This overlaps with Bach’s music, which avoids superficial and direct emotional expression. It is this heightened depth that gives the listener a religious or spiritual impression.

懐古ー
僕にも甘酸っぱいものを持っていた時代があったのだ。それに戻りたいなどとは思わないが、そうした時、いろいろな時を稀に見るほど豊かに持って生きていることができたのは幸せだった。子供の頃、中学高校、山の中でのことがフラッシュバックしてくる。それはよかったと軽く思いだすだけでそこに戻ろうと思わないのは、俺はそれをやり切ったと感じる体。悔みはない。とじったり失敗したものはいくらでもあるが、その失敗の土台の上に今の僕がいる。全てあれでよかったのだ。もっともドジっているだけにその時の当事者エトセトラとは、ちょっと顔を合わせたくない。したがって戻りたいなどとは口が裂けても言えたもんじゃないと言うのもある。それでもそれでよかったのだ。それがたった1回の人生と言うものだ。それにつけてもとつくづく思うが、ほんと俺自分のやりたいことしかやってきてないね。

Nostalgia
There was a time when I too had sweet and sour memories. I do not wish to return to those times, but I was happy to be able to live with a rare abundance of such times and various moments. I have flashbacks to times when I was a child, in junior high school and high school, and in the mountains. The reason I only lightly recall that it was good but don’t feel like going back there is because I feel I’ve done it all. I have no regrets. There are plenty of things that went wrong and failed, but I’m here now on the foundation of those failures. It was all for the best. I mean, first of all I don’t want to meet with the people involved in that time, because I messed up so badly. In other words, I can’t say that I want to go back there even if I could. Still, it was all for the best. That’s the way it is with only one life. Anyway with all that said, I really think that I have only been doing what I want to do!

Translation and annotation by Natsuki Iwamoto

15a. Picture or Yoshi camera creation
21a. Interview for Sponif Photo Defy
75b. Receipt for selling modified Nikon fish eye lens
76a. Trip to Amsterdam
91b. Submitted manuscript for 8th installment of Shakkou-Hachimichi magazine- ‘88/09

37a. Arrives in Frankfurt 03.03.89- introduction of Emiko “dispute”
37b. Yoshi photos entered into contest in Portugal
40b. Divorce proceedings
42b. David Waddington (Home Sec)

33a. Unemployed- reflection on his work
57a. FLEX Club
66a. Offered job with Yo Red Book Project to write something + JSTV asked Yoshi to make 15 second commercial
66b. Went to do this shoot in early April ‘92
72a. JSTV continued in detail

10a. North Hertfordshire College study tour 10-14.12.92- Dance performance
30b. “Hadn’t used a single role of film in the last year”
37b. Favourite music @ the club- fun to read
38a. Description of various relationships

Currently unemployed and frequenting clubs and bars, heavy focus on women and pulser adaptations for cameras

17a. Nice quote comparing Zen to Jungian view of media
20b. Frank Zappa passes away
29a. Ballet class- impressed- Yoshi doesn’t dance with anyone he doesn’t know
31a. Jazz musicians (in medium of film)
36✓. Hand cutouts (nice to show)
48a. Beginning of drawings->sculptures from his love of voyeurism- following pages show his journey

Living at muswell hill, seems distant from his camera a.k.a chosen profession and searching for something new to inspire him. Technical drawings and new art seem to be a fitting distraction.

1-35. Dealing with his assualt- police back and forth apparently lack of evidence- extreme frustration
43a. Indictment achieved
45-80. Reflecting a lot of meaning of his existence with close friends having children sparking this intense level of reflection

Some early history is described in his studio blog. Who is Yoshi Zen?

Yoshi was born 22th September 1945 shortly after the United States detonated two hydrogen bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It’s hard to imagine the effects of that dreadful act on a war worn nation let alone any family with young children.

As a young boy Yoshi wanted to fly and needing to launch from on high, he learned to climb!

“A free cameraman who also develops some special equipment. “

Born in 25 Showa period (1950) in Tokyo. Graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan university In 1972. While belonging to Alpine Club of Japan and having some travels, he started taking Botanical Photos. After having worked for Material Specimen Centre and Material Science Centre in Science and Technology Agency of Japan as a science photographer, he moved to London.

“as a child I liked plant and insect photography which led me to join the Alpine Club”

Yoshi married Emiko in Japan 1987 but then fought for divorce during 1989 in London.

By his account she approached to him in order to get a permission of stay in UK (used a fake passport that says she is a wife of Yoshi…?). it seems she had a (or some) relationship(s) with other men.. There are a lot of high court papers detailing the mess of it all that consumed his energy and available cash for those years.

Then around 2002 we read he was trying to marry Rika?