Sarurun Kamuy

The red-crowned crane is called "Sarurun Kamuy" in the Ainu language.Sarurun Kamuy means "god of the marsh.Their beauty is truly divine.The red-crowned crane was once thought to be extinct, but was discovered in Kushiro Marsh in 1924.Since then, local people, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, and others have worked hard to protect them, and the red-crowned crane has made a miraculous comeback.Today, more than 1,800 cranes live in Hokkaido, and their graceful and beautiful appearance can be seen.I moved to Kushiro City, Hokkaido, to photograph red-crowned cranes and have been photographing them for more than 10 years.For this work, I used a white canvas of snow as a background and increased the exposure.By doing so, I was able to further accentuate the pristine beauty of the red-crowned crane.