Nusa — the closing part of the Yamamoto / Uchida trilogy
Nusa completes a trilogy that Masao Yamamoto and composer Akira Uchida began in 2020 under the imprint of IIKKI. The first part, Sasanami, worked with light. The second, Kurayami, moved into darkness. Nusa, published in 2026, holds both in tension — neither resolved nor opposed, but sustained alongside one another in the way that contrast and complement tend to coexist.
The project took shape between April 2025 and March 2026 as an ongoing dialogue between Yamamoto and Uchida, initiated by IIKKI. Early in 2026, the two travelled to Hokkaido, where Yamamoto made photographs of ice and the surrounding landscapes while Uchida gathered audio recordings. The resulting book brings photography and music into a single object — 67 photographs printed on Arena Smooth Ivory 140g/m² paper across 108 pages, with mastering by Taylor Deupree.
Credits: Photography by Masao Yamamoto. Music by Akira Uchida. Mastering by Taylor Deupree. Design by sprflxgrfzmTM. Editing by Masao Yamamoto, Reiko Nakajima, and Mathias Van Eecloo.
The edition is limited to 1,500 copies, each hand numbered and hand stamped. This is the first and only edition — no reprint is planned. The hardcover measures 24 × 22 cm and is bound in Bodonian binding with visible cream thread stitching. Covers carry a matt laminate stone-grain finish with an embossed logo and slot on both front and back. The book weighs 0.6 kg. ISBN 978-2-489146-00-4. Published by IIKKI on 28 May 2026.
Further titles in the Photography & Photobooks collection are available at Lokator100.
About Authors
Masao Yamamoto began photographing at sixteen and later adopted gelatin silver print as his primary medium. His first US exhibition was in San Francisco in 1994, followed by a solo show at Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York in 1996. His work has been exhibited across Europe, Japan, Russia, and Brazil. He lives in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Akira Uchida trained in saxophone at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music before turning to instrument making and acoustics. He studied under Masahiro Adachi and became an independent clavichord builder, creating instruments for Ryuichi Sakamoto (2020) and using reclaimed wood from Kiyomizu-dera Temple (2021). He has released seven albums since 2015, including three on the IIKKI label.
