Asano's style, steeped in the aesthetic traditions of Kyoto, is distinctly Japanese. In his series on old Kyoto, the Snow Country and the Gion Quarter (Kyoto's geisha district), many of Asano's images resemble Japanese woodblock prints in their graphic clarity and concern for design.
Well known in his native Japan from the numerous books of his photographs published during his lifetime, Asano has been, until now, virtually unknown in the West.
Born in the small town of Kameoka to a family of farmers, Asano moved to nearby Kyoto while he was still in grade school. There, his parents opened a shop that sold sweets. Growing up in this aesthetically oriented city, he was exposed to the arts, to literature, to the traditions of the tea ceremonies, and to the world of geishas. While in high school, he saved up to buy a camera, and soon developed a love of photography.
Over the years, Asano received countless awards and won numer¬ous prizes for his work, examples of which are included in major
public collections in Japan. His photographs are masterful exam¬ples of both fine art and documen¬tary photography. The images are compelling as much for their elegant and beautifully ordered compositions as for the exotic and, sadly, fading traditions they record. The photographs depict the tradition¬al before the impending tide of modernity, capturing the essence of old Japan.
