Masayuki Egawa
Photographer Masayuki Egawa was born in 1954 in Niki Town, Hokkaido and raised in Otaru City. He began taking nature and wildlife photographs in 1972 while studying animal ecology in the Faculty of Agriculture at Hirosaki University. In 1982, he started working to halt the clear-cutting of Shirakami-Sanchi, which was a result of a state policy focusing on the large-scale construction of forest roads. In 1990, he photographed and filmed the black woodpecker in Shirakami-Sanchi for the first time, and this work was distributed both in Japan and internationally. In 1993, Shirakami-Sanchi was registered as Japan’s first World Natural Heritage site along with Yakushima. Egawa passed away in September 2022 at the age of 68. His publications include The Monkeys of the Shimokita Peninsula, The Japanese Serow, The Vanishing Forest: Beeches, Shirakami-Sanchi: A Journey Through Virgin Beech Forests, Animals of Japan, and Techniques for Photographing Wild Animals.

Tomohiro Yamashita
Tomohiro Yamashita was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1974. While working in the publishing industry, he serves as the inaugural representative of the Shirakami-Sanchi Art Museum, which was established in June 2023 as a general incorporated association to manage Masayuki Egawa’s works and copyrights, and to ensure their preservation. The museum also supports photo exhibitions and other activities to promote Egawa’s works.

Over his 50-year career as a photographer, Masayuki Egawa produced a million works. In 2018, he successfully captured images of a rare Asian black bear that lacks the species’ inherent white chest markings. Such bears are considered messengers of the mountain gods and are known among local Matagi hunters as “minaguro,” meaning “entirely black”. Egawa made Shirakami-Sanchi his lifework.

“Once I decide to photograph an animal, I first spend two to five years researching it,” Egawa told the Hokuu Shimpo newspaper when explaining his approach to photography.

“All the animals I photograph are wild, so they are naturally wary. Over years of interacting with them, they gradually let down their guard. But you must never force them to do so. It took me about ten years after first spotting the Shirakami black woodpecker to photograph one.” (Excerpt from the January 12, 2010 edition of the Hokuu Shimpo.)

As Egawa went on to say, you never get a good photo by being too pushy.

“The important thing is to communicate with the animal, and with nature. I see it in the same way as building relationships with people. And that comes through in my photographs.” (Ibid.)

Egawa, originally from Hokkaido, was captivated by the vast woodland of Hakkoda he encountered during a field trip in junior high school. Learning it was a virgin forest of beech trees, something he had never encountered in Hokkaido, he made the decision to attend Hirosaki University. This became a major turning point in his life. While studying animal ecology, he began his career as a professional photographer in 1975 by providing photographs of crickets to the magazine Anima (published by Heibonsha). His first photo book, The Monkeys of the Shimokita Peninsula (published by Iwasaki Shoten) was released in 1981. Thus began his career as a “biohistory” photographer.

Tomohiro Yamashita, who was personally acquainted with Egawa during his lifetime, explains the term “biohistory” as follows:

“As Egawa-san himself is quoted as saying, to him, “biohistory” meant ‘recording the process by which all manner of living things—including even human cultures—are born, exist, and eventually die and disappear.’ To him, this included not only animals, but also things like the Matagi hunting culture and traditional performing arts. He was a man who cherished the relationship between human beings and nature, explored it, and made it his lifework.”

In 2008, Egawa moved from Aomori Prefecture, where he had lived for many years, to Akita Prefecture. The reason, he said, was because he “wanted to learn more about the Akita side of Shirakami-Sanchi.”

This area boasts a rich ecosystem with diverse vegetation due to its elevation differences, and is home to rare animals such as the Asian black bear, the Japanese serow (designated as a Special Natural Monument), the black woodpecker and the golden eagle (both designated as Natural Monuments). The Aomori and Akita sides are said to differ in their appearance. Yamashita offered the following:

“Shirakami-Sanchi straddles two prefectures. The Aomori side is a world where the Matagi hunters can venture deep into the wilderness. On the other hand, the Akita side, with its relentlessly rugged terrain, keeps people at bay. Egawa-san believed this very isolation held its own unique charm.”

In the January 11, 2010 edition of the Hokuu Shimpo, Egawa said, “Folk performing arts and satoyama culture can still be found along the mountain ranges (on the Akita side). I find the rich relationship between people and nature truly wonderful. My work isn’t about taking pictures for tourist brochures; it’s documentary photography, including of the people. This is a truly unique place.”

Egawa’s gaze even extended beyond the area’s forests and satoyama, reaching all the way to the distant Sea of Japan. According to Yamashita:

“The Akita side of Shirakami-Sanchi is characterized both by its virgin beech forest and the natural mixed forest of Akita cedar that long persisted 500 meters below it. For economic reasons, most of these natural Akita cedars were cut down. Another important point is that in the former town of Futatsui (now Noshiro City), a group of elementary schools built by residents using natural Akita cedar trees—some of which were around 350 years old—has remained in use. This group includes the former Nibuna Elementary School, known for having been attended by the renowned Japanese musician Tamezo Narita. Egawa-san knew that if these school buildings—constructed from natural Akita cedar that had thrived thanks to the bounties provided by the virgin beach forest of Shirakami-Sanchi—were maintained, they could continue to be made use of for as long as the trees themselves had been alive. Accordingly, he dedicated himself to their preservation and utilization. Egawa-san also talked about how the abundant beech forest provides nutrient-rich water that flows into the Sea of Japan. This in turn fosters plankton growth, leading to plentiful catches of Japanese sandfish, the official fish of Akita Prefecture. Egawa-san understood the value provided by the virgin beech forest of Shirakami-Sanchi, and that is why he focused on protecting it and ensuring that it would be passed on to future generations even before the area became a World Heritage site. In other words, Shirakami-Sanchi is a World Natural Heritage site because of its ecosystem, which stretches from its virgin beech forest to the sea.”

Masayuki Egawa passed away on September 8, 2022 at the age of 68. This was just after he had spoken of wanting to publish a comprehensive collection of photos covering the entire Shirakami-Sanchi region, including works shot on the Akita side.

After Egawa’s sudden passing, close friends, including Yamashita, gathered to establish the Shirakami-Sanchi Art Museum in June 2023. Currently, the museum is working to organize the approximately one million photographs and videos taken by Egawa both in Japan and internationally, as well as his writings.

Yamashita says the museum’s purpose is the way of life that Egawa sought to convey. “We operate in Shirakami-Sanchi, a World Natural Heritage site spanning Akita and Aomori Prefectures. We conduct surveys, research, and practical initiatives aimed at preserving nature as a web of life—a web that includes humans. In addition and simultaneous to this, we engage in activities with the aim of expressing through art the joy of living in harmony with nature, and learning from traditional local cultures while working to pass them on to future generations. The objective of both of these things is to look at Shirakami-Sanchi itself as an art museum and to extensively promote recognition of it in Japan and internationally through artistic and cultural activities, thereby ensuring the well-being of the great variety of life that exists here, including human beings.”

On the Akita side of Shirakami-Sanchi, virgin beech forest deep in the mountains is connected to a mixed forest of Akita cedar below—cedar trees that have thrived thanks to the abundance of beech trees. Within this context, Egawa also worked diligently to preserve local wooden school buildings constructed from this old-growth Akita cedar. He put his immense love for the area into photo exhibitions held in the former Nibuna Elementary School building.

“Egawa-san’s photographs have been frequently featured by NHK (Japan’s public broadcaster), and have also been used extensively by the Shirakami-Sanchi Visitor Center. There are still many of his negatives that have yet to be released publicly. We would like to develop these in a form that can be sent out into the world. We want to create a place where people can come in contact with the beautiful wild animals of Shirakami-Sanchi, as well as the precious traditional culture found here.”

Speaking thus, Yamashita also talked of one other wish that he would like to fulfill: Shirakami-Sanchi eco-tours.

Egawa traveled to some 20 countries in his work as a photographer, and was particularly captivated by Australia’s nature conservation education programs and eco-tours. According to Yamashita:

“Taking inspiration from nature observation sessions held practically every week, as well as the structured educational programs of Australia, plans have been underway to implement similar eco-tours in Shirakami-Sanchi. We feel it is our mission at the Shirakami-Sanchi Art Museum to convey to future generations, through photo exhibitions and tour experiences, why the area’s beech forest should be preserved, as well as the relationship between its nature and the people who have lived here.”

Egawa devoted his life to protecting and preserving Shirakami-Sanchi. Driven by the conviction that “we must not allow the ignorance of adults to rob the children of the future of their treasure,” he took more than a million photographs of the animals and plants found here.

A hundred years from now, even if the landscape of Shirakami-Sanchi changes and its ecosystem is transformed, the “biohistory” that Egawa faithfully captured—of the life that was here as well as the love he and others held for it—will continue to present a way to live in harmony with nature.

Shirakami-Sanchi: A Journey Through Virgin Beech Forests (by Masayuki Egawa)
A photo collection capturing Shirakami-Sanchi around the time it was registered as a World Heritage site in the early 1990s. Includes images of black woodpeckers, the area’s huge beech trees, aerial photographs, and more. “Many of the photographs displayed at the Shirakami-Sanchi Visitor Center are taken from this collection,” says Yamashita.

Japanese Sandfish—Life Shining in a Rough Sea (by Itaru Takaku)
A collection of photos of Japanese sandfish that come to the sea off the coast of Akita. The book presents a record of a rich ecosystem as captured by the author, a diver. “Egawa-san often said, ‘Shirakami-Sanchi and the sea are connected.’ The Japanese sandfish as depicted in this work truly symbolizes the bounty of the sea,” explains Yamashita.

Song of the Beach (lyrics by Kokei Hayashi, music by Tamezo Narita)
One of the most well-known pieces by composer Tamezo Narita, who was originally from the city of Kitaakita in Akita Prefecture. The song tells of beautiful scenery and nostalgia for Japan’s Taisho era. According to Yamashita, “The elementary school that Narita Tamezo attended was constructed from natural Akita cedar, and Egawa-san poured his heart and soul into the movement to preserve this building and the culture it represents. Egawa-san worked to spread word that Shirakami-Sanchi, with its ecosystem stretching from virgin beech forest to the sea, had been designated as a World Natural Heritage site. Of course, the culture of buildings constructed from old-growth Akita cedar is also a part of that.”

*This article was written in March 2026.