Koya Bound

by Craig Mod, Dan Rubin

In March 2016, photographers Dan Rubin and Craig Mod spent 8 days walking 107 km (66 mi) Japan’s 1,000+ year old Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path. In their own words: a “long, quiet walk in the woods.” Along the way they took a few photographs. Well, 3000 photographs and, when it was all done, they locked themselves in an old Japanese house, sifted through all their memories, and selected just 57 that would become “Koya Bound.”

Koya Bound is in no way a guidebook. It won’t tell you exactly how to get to the Kumano and what paths to take because for the authors, walking is about “adventures and curiosities often nearer to you than you may realize.” Instead, the book is an artifact of this pilgrimage walk – one of two UNESCO World Heritage pilgrimage walks – that captures “mountain time, and towering cedar time, and crumpled earth time, and ancient teahouse time.”

Genres: Photography, Japan

84 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Craig Mod is a writer, photographer, and walker living in Tokyo, Japan. He is the author the books "Things Become Other Things" and "Kissa by Kissa." He is also the author of the newsletters "Roden" and "Ridgeline" and has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, and more.

He has been a resident of Japan since 2000. He has walked between Tokyo and Kyoto (on the Tōkaidō and Nakasendō) three times. And has walked thousands of kilometers of the Kii Peninsula as well as other old roads across Japan.

Reviews

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful rendition of travels through Japan. I only wish it were longer.

[Richard Leis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous picture book, "simply a catalog of moments," with only a short introduction and an itinerary to set the tone and the scene in Japan. The moments arrive as color or black and white vistas set on the page with generous whitespace, or as breathtaking edge-to-edge images large enough to imagine falling into.

I feel very fortunate and thankful to own this limited-edition catalog of someone else's moments. There is also an accompanying immersive website I've only just begun to explore: https://walkkumano.com

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't actually read the hardcover because I'm still a poor student, but like most things Craig Mod writes and photographs it was beautiful and instilled in me a sense of calm. It also got me reading Solnit's Wanderlust and taking regular walks in the woods with a camera and a calm, reflective eye.

[Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous! This makes me want to hike more in Japan.