Toba (Abattoir)

屠場 (ABATTOIR)

This is a photobook by Seiichi Motohashi, a renowned film director. There are English and Japanese forewords by Mr. Motohashi as well as an afterword from Satoshi Kamata, who wrote a book about the nature of “toba”. Toba 屠場 (as pronounced in Western Japan; “Tojo” in Eastern Japan) is the modern name for slaughterhouse. In Japan, slaughterhouses and the people that work in them have traditionally been and continue to be discriminated against as the work is considered unclean and low class. This book aims to display and highlight and bring esteem to the honest and difficult work that a slaughterhouse in Matsubara, Osaka does to provide food to the people of Japan and beyond. The black and white pictures convey a sense of gravitas.