The beauty of the "Makino Specimens" was captured by photographer Ichigo Sugawara. This exhibition will showcase the world as seen by this botanical taxonomist.

Do you know Dr. Tomitaro Makino, a plant taxonomist?

During his 94-year life, he collected about 400,000 plant specimens. These are called "Makino specimens" and are still used today as research materials as well as to convey the passion that Dr. Makino dedicated to botanical research.

The exhibition "MAKINO: Portraits of Plants" will open on August 11 (Fri., national holiday), and will focus on the beauty of Dr. Makino's botanical specimens.

On display will be a group of works by Kazutake Sugawara, who was fascinated by "Makino Specimens. Mr. Sugawara studied under Osamu Hayasaki, a photographer and former president of the Japan Advertising Photographers' Association, before going to France and making his debut as a photographer. He is also active as a cinematographer and is known for his work as the opening and closing director of the TV animation "Mushishi" (2005).

Mr. Sugawara photographed 41 specimens selected from the collection of 5,500 specimens held by the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden, which honors Dr. Makino's achievements. Using a digital camera with the world's highest standard of 150 million pixels, Sugawara was able to accurately and three-dimensionally capture the minute shadows of the plants, as if they were portraits. The result is "MAKINO: Portrait of Plants," a collection of his photographs published in February of this year.

Photograph collection "MAKINO: Portrait of a Plant" (Japanese only)

This year's exhibition features a number of works that allow visitors to experience the microscopic world of plants as Dr. Kochi would have seen them through his microscope, including a portion of a work enlarged to 100 x 150 cm that is on display at the "Makino Botanical Garden, Kochi" and a specimen-size portrait of a plant.

Exhibition view at the Makino Botanical Garden, Kochi, Japan.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a special jacket will be available for order. This is a new model created by JACKET, a brand specializing in jackets, in response to Sugawara's photo book "Makino: A Portrait of Plants".

To pay respect to plants, the jacket reinterprets the style of formal attire worn by the doctor when collecting plants. In conjunction with the photo book, the outer fabric is colored "green," the color of plants, and the lining is printed with a photograph of cherry blossoms collected by the doctor.

JACKET MAKINO Ichigo Sugawara
¥110,000 (available in 1-3 sizes , delivery in approx. 5 months)

In addition, there will be exhibits of works by Sendai Yoshino and Velvet Murasaki, which were featured in the "Kochi Shimbun" dated April 24 last year and July 15 this year, as well as sales of goods.

The Kochi Shimbun dated July 15 of this year.

. The venue is BLANDET Tokyo, a showroom and store in Harajuku, Tokyo. Mr. Sugawara is scheduled to be present on August 11, the first day of the exhibition, and on August 20 (Sunday). If you visit the exhibition, the following words left by Dr. Makino will resonate even more deeply in your mind.

Be thankful for plants.
Without plants, humans cannot live.
If you love plants,
There will be no more conflict in the world.