According to the legend, in 721 AD, two Kannon statues were carved out of one sacred tree in Hatsuse (in the present day Nara Prefecture). One was enshrined at the Hasedera temple in Nara, the other was thrown into the ocean with a prayer to make it reappear and save people elsewhere.After the Kannon statue traveled across the waters for fifteen long years, it finally washed ashore in a place in the present day Kanagawa Prefecture. In 736 AD, the Hasedera temple in Kamakura was established to enshrine the Kannon statue.

Legend has it that oysters attached themselves to the Kannon lost at sea to help guide it back to shore.

the Kakigara-inari (oyster shell shrine) embellished by a photography session with me as the subject in 1992 alludes to the metaphor of becoming the Sable Venus that is a fixture in my work. As well as the return to medium format photography and the search for the indigenous across cultures..