A new photography exhibition project celebrating the work of Haruki Yukimura has been launched in Japan to mark the tenth anniversary of his death.
Titled “The World of Haruki Yukimura: 10 Years After His Passing” (雪村春樹の世界 ― 没後10年、写真展プロジェクト), the exhibition is being organized by Yukimura’s son, photographer Keisuke Higurashi. The project aims to present a selection of photographic works left behind by Yukimura and to preserve his artistic legacy for future generations.
According to Higurashi, one of the promises he made to his father was to someday present a “chronicle” of Yukimura’s work. Even after being told that he had approximately one year to live, Yukimura continued photographing every month, working intensely to leave behind new material. Higurashi describes Yukimura’s kinbaku as a means of expressing emotion and affection, with the photographs preserving the forms created through that work.
The exhibition is planned to open October 9, 2026, with presentations at two venues in Asakusabashi and Omotesando, Tokyo. A crowdfunding campaign is currently underway to support the exhibition, with a funding goal of ¥2,000,000. The campaign closes on September 21, 2026.
Exhibition and Support Options
Supporters can participate at several levels. A ¥3,000 support tier allows contributors simply to help fund the exhibition, while a ¥5,000 exhibition ticket plan includes a one-day ticket providing entry to both exhibition venues, with re-entry permitted throughout the day.
Other rewards include postcard sets featuring Yukimura’s kinbaku photography, previously unpublished photographs from his later years, and work by practitioners of the Yukimura-ryu lineage. The listed rigger and model pairings include Harumayu (Ibarako) with Ayahime Ichika, Haruyoi (Himuro Eve) with Shizuki Iroha, and Haruan (Murasaki) with Akane.
Several photobook tiers are also available. One planned B5, 40-page book will feature newly photographed work by Yukimura-ryu disciples, while another B5, 50-page volume will collect previously unpublished photographs from Yukimura’s later years.
A larger A4, approximately 80-page photobook is planned around work Yukimura photographed during the film era. Limited memorial tiers also offer individual pieces of original reversal film used to photograph his kinbaku work, preserved inside acrylic display blocks.
About Yukimura Haruki
Haruki Yukimura was one of the most distinctive figures in modern Japanese kinbaku. His work emphasized intimacy, emotion, vulnerability, and the psychological relationship between rigger and model rather than simply elaborate rope structures. The style that developed around his practice became known as Yukimura-ryu, and his influence continues through students and practitioners in Japan and internationally.
This exhibition offers a particularly significant opportunity to encounter Yukimura through the photographic record he deliberately continued creating during the final period of his life. The project is not simply retrospective. In the words of its organizers, it is an effort to bring the work to more people and ensure that what Yukimura left behind continues into the future.
About Keisuke Higurashi
Keisuke Higurashi is a photographer and the son of Haruki Yukimura. He is the organizer of The World of Haruki Yukimura exhibition project and has taken on the task of preserving and presenting his father’s photographic legacy. Higurashi explains that, while Yukimura was still alive, the two made a promise that he would one day present a “chronicle” of Yukimura’s work. Even after receiving a terminal prognosis, Yukimura continued producing photographs each month with that future presentation in mind. For Higurashi, the tenth anniversary exhibition is therefore both a memorial and the fulfillment of a commitment made directly to his father, bringing together surviving work in a form intended to carry Yukimura’s artistic legacy forward.
Event Information
The World of Haruki Yukimura: 10 Years After His Passing
Opening: October 9, 2026
Locations: Asakusabashi and Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan
Crowdfunding deadline: September 21, 2026
Organizer: Keisuke Higurashi
Registration / Support:
https://hito-tsunagi.jp/project/bf64fc5b-2a57-4b20-8302-a6c7c7f58640
The crowdfunding campaign also includes options for supporters outside Japan, although physical rewards are shipped internationally only to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea unless a forwarding service is used.
Kinbaku Today encourages readers interested in the history and development of Yukimura-ryu to support the project and, for those able to travel to Tokyo, to take advantage of this rare opportunity to see Yukimura’s photographic work presented together ten years after his passing.
