gaman : inner strength Naoyoshi Tsukida studied Noh theatre, an ancient Japanese performance art grounded in the warrior philosophy of the samurai. Expressed through masked drama, stylised movement and music, Noh speaks to spiritual reconnection and ancestral folklore: of warriors, ghosts and the supernatural. June explains, ‘Noh sees energy not as static, but as something always moving—pushed or being pushed through space and time. That was the root of our gaman . ‘As a child, I hated Noh. The rigid, withheld choreography and guttural vocals stirred something strange and uncomfortable in me. It felt like an ancient current pulling from deep within, shrouded by grief or memories not fully my own.’ right: Winter. Japanese American women walk to their barracks and their daughters discovered skating on a frozen pond in Heart Mountain, 1944 far right : J apanese American workers farming with Heart Mountain in the background. They were part of a moment called the Heart Mountain Miracle where the farmers were able to transform the barren desert into prolific fields that could feed the 11,000 people in camp. May 14, 1944 top, right: Gardening often became a source of grounding, joy and resistance for the families incarcerated in the camps. Both men and women tended personal gardens outside their barracks, although each day the men were taken off in trucks to work the fields. July 26, 1944.
Yoshio Okumoto
Jack Richard Photograph Collection
Yoshio Okumoto
26 on site review 47 :: standing still
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