Photographer, Mutsumi Ishibashi has been fascinated by the natural environment of Tōhoku, northern Honshū, since the 1970s. He strives to express the rich colours and beauty of Japan’s natural environment in all his work, and to create a photographic record of Japan’s existing forests. From the late 1980s, he focused on the beech forests of northern Honshū, before continuing his journey into the forest areas of the rest of Japan. Major photograph collections include Nihon no Mori (The Forests of Japan) (Shinchōsha pub.); Bunabayashi kara no Okurimono (Gifts of the Beech Forest) (Sekaibunka pub.) and many others.