Born in Osaka in 1938. After working as an assistant to photographers Takeji Iwamiya and Eikoh Hosoe, he became independent in 1964. He continued to publish his work in photography magazines and other media, and in 1967 won the Newcomer’s Award of the Japan Photo Critics Association for “Nippon Gekijou.” From 1968 to 1970, he participated in the photography coterie magazine “Provoke,” and his style of high-contrast and coarse-grained images was described as “Are, Bure, Boke” and he shocked the photography world with the precision of his depictions and the skill of his framing, which were not bound by conventional wisdom. His work has received international acclaim, including solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, and he continues to actively pursue his work, holding solo exhibitions around the world.

This shot was taken in 1978. Moriyama’s health was not good during this time, and he took fewer photographs, to the point where even the act of taking photographs seemed pointless to him. Seeking a breakthrough from such a stagnant situation, he decided to go to Hokkaido, a place he had longed to visit since his boyhood. Moriyama rented an apartment in Sapporo and stayed there for about three months, avoiding meeting with friends and acquaintances and spending his days shooting only by himself. However, this stay did not produce the expected results, and he returned to Tokyo with a sense of frustration. The horse standing in the photo is somewhat lyrical and emotional due to the nature of its motif, but at the same time it also exudes a sense of anxiety and gloom, strongly stimulating our emotions. In this way, it can be said that this work captures the emotional turmoil that Moriyama was going through at the time.