Lake Kawaguchiko, early morning, July 8, 2025.
The black cat appeared in the same place where I had met it the night before; two swans followed me; a cormorant struggled to swallow a black bass almost as large as itself.
And straight ahead stood Mount Fuji.
I named that morning “The Miracle of Lake Kawaguchiko.”
This work begins with that miraculous morning.
To it, I have added photographs of Oshino Hakkai and Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, taken the previous day, July 7.
Connecting these two days of memories is Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
The performance features Martha Argerich at the piano, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly.
The sky over Oshino Hakkai was overcast.
Yet the clarity of that spring water was extraordinary.
The beauty of a landscape does not depend solely on whether the sky is clear.
The sheer transparency of the water held my gaze.
And then, Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine.
It was magnificent.
I placed that experience in the third movement.
From the lives unfolding beside Lake Kawaguchiko to the transparent waters of Oshino Hakkai.
Then onward to a place of prayer beneath Mount Fuji.
Although the photographs take us back to the previous day, the work moves forward with the music toward its destination.
I have brought the landscapes of Japan that I witnessed into the music of Rachmaninoff.
As Argerich’s piano and the orchestra resound, each photograph brings back the wonder and emotion of those days.
There are sights I could only have encountered because I awoke earlier than planned.
Even beneath an overcast sky, water can possess an unforgettable radiance.
And there are places where the joy of simply being there makes me want to share them with the world.
July 7 and 8, 2025.
Two days at the foot of Mount Fuji, brought together in a single 4K visual poem.