Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition --short lectures on photos by Kazuki Wakasugi--

[sweetwater]

This thread is a compilation of translations of the short video lectures by Kazuki Wakasugi of Yomiuri Shimbun. 
*Part 1 and 2 have already been posted in the General Yuzuru Chat.

 

Exhibition site is here! 

Hanyu Yuzuru Online Exhibition (July 1, 2020 August 2 August 31, 2020)

 

ETA (8/16/2020): On July 29th, they announced that they were going to extend this exhibition until August 31st.

 

 

[sweetwater]

Part 1

video

promo clip

 

Translation

Quote

Wakasugi: Nice to meet you, everyone who has come to see the Hanyu Yuzuru Online Exhibition. I am Kazuki Wakasugi from the photography department of the Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo headquarters. I am in charge of the photography in this exhibition. In this section, I would like to pick four photos I especially like among the photographs exhibited in the exhibition and talk about them one by one. This is the photo I talk about today. (Shows the photo)

 

This is a photo of Otonal during men's SP in Autumn Classic held in Oakville, Canada in September, a scene during the final spin towards the end of the program. When I saw this picture, this airiness, or weightlessness, the way his hair floated up in the air gave me the impression as if I was watching colored leaf/colored leaves slowly fluttering down.

 

Yomiuri often uses photos of spin, especially when the skater is a men's singles skater. I think it is because, in such photographs, their faces look distorted as they are straining themselves, and that makes the viewer feel the energy. Such photos also look dynamic since they are spinning so fast. Photos of spin are also convenient because skaters are folding their arms tightly and fit in a compact space. However, I feel... It may be OK for Hanyu senshu since his spins are beautiful, but I don't think we really need to use the photos in which they are grimacing when they perform beautifully and look beautiful throughout the program. So, usually, I try not to submit photos of spin much. But in this photograph, he looks relaxed despite doing a spin, and it was near the end of the program. And if you take a close look at it, you will probably be able to see that he is paying attention to everything, including his fingertips of his left hand, that he is concentrating on his performance. And more than anything, his profile is so beautiful, so I thought, "I like this photograph."

 

This is a scene that you may overlook in a movie or on TV, that even I may overlook while watching it live, and I think I could capture the transient beauty by capturing the moment with photography. This isn't a photo I aimed to shoot, though. To be honest, this is what I happened to take while I got sucked in the performance and went on releasing the shutter more and more. But I remember myself stopping my hands and thinking, "Wow, I could take a photo like this!" when I found this photo while checking photos I took later.

 

I went to this Autumn Classic for the first time, and the traffic line of the building was very interesting. The skaters were using the space right behind the photographers' position where we shoot, and I could see how they warmed up and how they looked when they headed for the rink.

 

There are more photos taken during Autumn Classic in the exhibition. I hope you will enjoy them when you have time.

 

[sweetwater]

Part 2

video

promo clip

 

Translation

Quote

Wakasugi: Hello, everyone who is watching Hanyu Yuzuru Online Exhibition. It is Kazuki Wakasugi from the photography department of the Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo headquarters. Today, I am going to talk about this photograph. (Shows a picture of Yuzu on his knee after finishing his FS at GPF2019)

 

It is a photo of "Origin" during the men's free skate at the Grand Prix Final held in December last year, in Turin, Italy. He participated in GPF for the first time in 3years, and men's FS took place on his 25th birthday. After he finished his program kneeling down and throwing up his left hand, he fell facedown on the ice, as if to collapse. This is the moment he looked up, breathing hard and heavy.

 

He went into this free skate seeking to come from behind and win over Nathan Chen, who was leading after the short program by a rather large margin of 12.95 points, so, right from the beginning, I could feel his determination, or his energy so strongly even through the finder or the lens. My heart beat fast, and I got a bit terrified while watching him. It was a tremendous free skate.

 

That free skate was so tremendous that in my mind, I wanted to say, "Please, stop it! You've done enough!" When it comes to photographing Hanyu senshu, I am the kind of photographer who would want to present his comfortable or a gentle expression (t/n: see the translator's note bellow) instead of a bit grim, or pained look like this. However, this moment in this photograph, I think, was something essential to the 2019-2020 season, so I asked (t/n: the curator) to include this photo in this exhibition.

 

But why did I feel that this moment was essential? He had won the two consecutive Olympic titles and had been demanded, expected to win as a matter of course. But he still wasn't satisfied with himself. He continued performing, giving every bit of himself to it, to reach even higher goals. He kept on fighting, putting all of his energy until finally, he became unable to get up on his feet. I think this expression appeared on his face because he went through that much. This expression also made me hopeful that I might be able to see him reaching a higher goal. When I saw this scene, I could not help but reflect on my whole life, wondering if I ever had put my all energy into something like that, until I become unable to get up in my feet. I think that free skate was something that could make others reflect and ponder on something by watching figure skating. After this men's free skate, I had to go to Stockholm, Sweden as soon as possible to cover the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies. It's a shame that I wasn't able to see his expressions at the press conference, victory ceremony, and exhibition, but I think it was really fortunate to have been able to witness this free skate that was filled with determination, as well as this moment.

 

You can see other photographs taken during GPF in this exhibition. I hope you will enjoy them as well. Thank you for watching this video until the end. (Bows)

 

T/N

Spoiler

"I am the kind of photographer who would want to present his comfortable or a gentle expression"

 

This part is a rather free translation. Original says that he wants to show "涼しげな、優しげな表情" instead of a bit grim, or pained look here. 表情 means facial expression. 涼しい roughly means "cool in temperature," and 涼しげ roughly means something looks cool, refreshing, clean, etc. It is the opposite of warm, sweaty, and disheveled. 涼しげ is also used to describe someone's facial expression when someone is doing something difficult like nothing as if saying, "No sweat." When it is used to describe the beauty of someone's face itself, it means the face has something that reminds people of something cool, clear, and comfortable, such as clear cold water or cool breeze, etc. A face with long-slitted eyes and clear skin like Yuzu's are typical 涼しげ face to Japanese. However, he also looks 涼しげ when he lands 3A from difficult entry like nothing and goes into spread eagle or twizzle. Since I am not sure which 涼しげ Wakasugi san means here, and could not come up with English expressions suitable for conveying the nuance, I compromised with "comfortable." If you know any words can be used to translate 涼しげ, I would appreciate your advice.

 

[sweetwater]

Part 3

video

promo clip

 

Translation

Quote

Wakasugi: Hello, everyone who is watching the Hanyu Yuzuru Online Exhibition. It is Kazuki Wakasugi from the photography department of the Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo headquarters. Today, I am going to introduce this photograph to you. (Shows the picture)

 

It is a picture of Ballade No. 1 during the men's short program at Four Continents Championships held in Seoul, Korea this February. It is the moment where he raises his arms swiftly after landing the 3A. He revisited this Ballade No.1 after two years since he skated it in PyeongChang, and in Korea, the same country, but the program had become sharper than the last one I photographed in PyeongChang. His movements looked more supple but dynamic at the same time and were flowing into one another without stagnating. It was such a performance that made me think that I could safely say it was a whole different program.

 

All of his movements were perfectly in sync with the music. While taking photographs, I wished I could watch it forever, wished he would continue skating it forever. It was such a short program. It was a magical performance that was vibrant, dynamic, but at certain moments made me feel as if the time had stopped. I think I managed to capture such an impression in this photograph. "All of a sudden, the cheers, the music,  and the sound of the blades shaving the ice disappears, then he lands on this white world where everything else has disappeared." It may look like such a picture or an image, and when I take a close look at it, the beauty of him makes me think that he may be paying attention even to his fingertips and each one of his hairs.

 

I felt that he had sincerely faced the kuyashii-ness he had experienced at GPF and Japan Nationals, then digested it, then faced it again, and reached an answer that was to "be strong, pursue beauty, skate like Yuzuru Hanyu, after all," and he realized it in that performance.

 

After he finished his performance, he clapped his hands together and said something looking up at the ceiling. I had seen such a scene in another competition/other competitions in the past. I had the impression that he was saying "Arigatou! (t/n: =Thank you!)" in such an occasion, but at that time, from the way his lips moved, it looked like he was saying "Tadaima! (t/n: =I'm back!)" and I remember myself responding to it, "Welcome back! Welcome back, Hanyu kun!" in my mind as I released the shutter.

 

This competition took place in unusual circumstances when the new coronavirus gradually spread. There was a thermographic camera/thermographic cameras at the entrance to take temperatures of the audiences. The audience had to fill the medical questionnaires before entering the venue. Not only them but also we and some of the skaters were wearing masks. I hope we will be able to enjoy figure skating competitions without worrying about such things as soon as possible.

 

As to the photographs taken during 4CC, you can also see the pictures of SEIMEI free skate in this online exhibition. I hope you will enjoy them when you have time. Thank you for watching this until the end.

 

ETA: Fixed the link to the video (7/23/2020)

[sweetwater]

Part 4

video

promo clip

 

Translation

Quote

Wakasugi: Hello, everyone who is watching the Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition. It is Kazuki Wakasugi from the photography department of the Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo headquarters. In this section, I have been talking about my favorite photos, and today is part 4, the last one. The final photograph is this one. (Shows the picture)

 

It is a photo captured a scene at the NHK Trophy held last November in Sapporo, Hokkaido, where he goes back to the rinkside after the finale of the gala exhibition.

 

His performances were brilliant at NHK Trophy as well. Although there were mistakes, as he himself said that he had "gotten over a wall" after the free skate, it looked like the competition was fruitful for him, but at the same time, he must have felt strained to skate in front of the huge home crowd for the first time in a while. Qualifying to GPF being dependent on NHK might have created another pressure on him. On top of that, he has the drive to aim for even higher goals. Although he looked relaxed, I imagine he was dealing with so many pressures, and this could be the moment he could finally feel relieved of his burden after having won in the competition, qualified to GPF, and finished performing the beautiful "Haru yo Koi." I think he was probably relieved thinking, "Thank god I could get through this without an injury," or, "Now, I can take on the challenge of winning at GPF!"

 

Hanyu senshu is a kind of skater who would instantly perceive us and prepare something for us when we are focusing on him or pointing our camera at him, but this look on his face is not the one we find such moments or during his performance. I think this is a moment that Hanyu Yuzuru kun as a person peeked out a bit, that he might not want to show that much. The lighting in the venue was good as well. The spotlight is on Hanyu senshu when everything else is in the darkness. I think it looks as if an angel landed on a dark ice rink to rest his wings after a big party named NHK Trophy has ended and all the guests have gone. That's why I... (Looks back at the photo) love this photo so much. Besides, his profile is so beautiful.

 

The photos we often use in the newspapers are the ones captured a moment in the performance or the moment that decided the outcome of the competition, or the ones captured the victory ceremony, so we don't have much chance to show this kind of photos. I have been so happy to be able to introduce them to many people thanks to this Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition. So... this concludes the section in which I talk about photos. I am hoping to have this kind of opportunity again since I learned many interesting things through this attempt. Thank you so much for watching this until the end. (Bows)

 

Updated on 7/23/2020

 

ETA (8/16/2020): Fixed the link to the video

[yuzuangel]

Thank you for the translation! It must be a joy to photograph Yuzu, he seems to have no bad angles. Although yes, jumps/spin positions do make the face look rather...well concentrated

 

(i like this one tho)

[sweetwater]

On 7/22/2020 at 2:01 AM, yuzuangel said:

Thank you for the translation! It must be a joy to photograph Yuzu, he seems to have no bad angles. Although yes, jumps/spin positions do make the face look rather...well concentrated

 

(i like this one tho)

 

Thank you for reading! 

Yeah, he is so photogenic! Even when he is fighting against the centrifugal force or the gravity during spins and jumps, his positions and lines are beautiful. However, Sunao Noto and Yoshiki Kogaito of Sponichi both say it is hard to photograph Yuzu during a program because of his speed and fluid performance. So I imagine the sense of achievement they feel when they could capture something they aimed to capture must be enormous.

 

After I read your post, I tried to look for some nice photos of spin and jump and found this Wakasugi san's Instagram post instead. It was posted during NHK last year.

According to his comment, he seems to have taken this photo during the six to seven seconds before Taachan (one of the mascots) came to get him back on the ice in this footage, so this is indeed a scene that only they and their camera could capture. 

 

And the last one of this photoset looks like another moment before or after the photo above.

Sadly, we will have to wait a little more to be able to see Yuzu on the ice and to enjoy these photographers' new photographs, but it was fun to listen to Wakasugi san in these few weeks. I hope he will have another chance to exhibit his photos and talk about them!

[rockstaryuzu]

On 7/17/2020 at 9:12 AM, sweetwater said:

This part is a rather free translation. Original says that he wants to show "涼しげな、優しげな表情" instead of a bit grim, or pained look here. 表情 means facial expression. 涼しい roughly means "cool in temperature," and 涼しげ roughly means something looks cool, refreshing, clean, etc. It is the opposite of warm, sweaty, and disheveled. 涼しげ is also used to describe someone's facial expression when someone is doing something difficult like nothing as if saying, "No sweat." When it is used to describe the beauty of someone's face itself, it means the face has something that reminds people of something cool, clear, and comfortable, such as clear cold water or cool breeze, etc. A face with long-slitted eyes and clear skin like Yuzu's are typical 涼しげ face to Japanese. However, he also looks 涼しげ when he lands 3A from difficult entry like nothing and goes into spread eagle or twizzle. Since I am not sure which 涼しげ Wakasugi san means here, and could not come up with English expressions suitable for conveying the nuance, I compromised with "comfortable." If you know any words can be used to translate 涼しげ, I would appreciate your advice.

I don't know if it would be an exact translation, but the way you're describing it, I think an English speaker would choose the words 'composed', or maybe 'relaxed'...as in, his face is in a relaxed expression, not all scrunched up with effort. Or even, perhaps 'natural' ? that might be giving a different flavor to the translation though. "Serene" is another one you could use, perhaps - serene as in at peace,  unbothered, unruffled by this cruel world...

[sweetwater]

13 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I don't know if it would be an exact translation, but the way you're describing it, I think an English speaker would choose the words 'composed', or maybe 'relaxed'...as in, his face is in a relaxed expression, not all scrunched up with effort. Or even, perhaps 'natural' ? that might be giving a different flavor to the translation though. "Serene" is another one you could use, perhaps - serene as in at peace,  unbothered, unruffled by this cruel world...

Thank you for your suggestions!

Serene is one of the words I thought about using, but I could not be sure about how it would sound to English speakers in this context, so it was nice being able to hear your opinion. Other words can be used to describe his facial expression after he landed a jump cleanly...

 

By the way, I spent almost a day to decide how I should deal with this 涼しげ problem. (I was the exact opposite of 涼しげ...) While sleeping on it, I was wondering if Nishikawa chose him for their Cool Sleep campaign for the 涼しげ feeling he makes people feel, not because he was doing an ice sport in cool ice rinks...

 

 

[sweetwater]

On July 29th, they announced that they were going to extend this exhibition until August 31st, and on 13th they shared another short lecture by Kazuki Wakasugi.

Here is a translation of the additional lecture.

 

Part 5

promo clip

 

Translation

Quote

Wakasugi: Hello, it's Kazuki Wakasugi from the photography department of the Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo headquarters. Thank you for watching the Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition this time. Thanks to you, we could extend this exhibition, and I have another opportunity to talk about photography like this. Today, I am going to introduce this picture. (Shows the picture)

 

It is a picture of SEIMEI during the men's free skating at Four Continents Championships held in Seoul, Korea this February, which captured the very beginning of the program, where he moves his hands as if to make a Mudra and pivots serenely. SEIMEI is the program he skated at PyeongChang as well, and with it, he won two consecutive titles. He also performed it at the end of last year, during Medalist on Ice, gala exhibition of All Japan Championships. When the spotlight caught him, the figure emerged from the darkness was filled with strength and beauty, and it also looked divine. It made me have a flashback of the moment he won two consecutive Olympic titles and think, "After all, SEIMEI is sublime. I wish I can watch it again."

 

At the beginning of February, when I was about to leave for Korea, I heard the news of his program change. I was like, "What?! Is that true?" and had been dubious right up until he started skating the program. At the same time, I was so happy to be able to see it one more time, this time, on competitive ice. I was waiting for the moment in excitement, wondering if he would change the costume, and how he would edit the program into four minutes.

 

Once he started his performance by opening his eyes wide to the beat of the Japanese drum and pivoting serenely to draw everyone into the story, he attempted the 4Lz he could not include in his program at PyeongChang. Then he landed two jumps with a super short approach in between that looked almost like a combination jump. SEIMEI had become such an aggressive program.

 

Looking demons directly in the eyes and slaying them one by one--that is the strength I saw in Seimei at PyeongChang. This time, however, he looked as if defeating them while eluding them limberly like a willow. Seimei here gave me the impression that he had acquired another strength that included such calmness as well as kindness.

 

In this photograph, he is closing his eyes and looks calm. Although surrounded by calmness, he looks powerful and dependable as well. I think this picture represents what I saw in SEIMEI that day, and that's why I love it.

 

I used this picture for the cover of the photo book consisted of the photographs in this exhibition as well. It was hard for me to choose a cover photo, and I could not decide up until 4CC. In the meantime, the new coronavirus spread rapidly and began to affect our daily life. I chose this photo for the cover with the hope that it would make this book work like a talisman or a shikigami in Onmyoji that stays by the owner's side and support them, dismissing their anxieties.

 

I feel bad about sharing the details of this book after the order deadline, but it is bound like a movie brochure or a competition brochure. (T/n: I guess he means that it is a saddle-stitched book, although I am not 100 percent sure because I haven't seen the book myself yet) Thanks to this binding method, you can open the book wide like this when you watch a double spread. (Opens the book and shows a photo of Ballade No.1) Since we couldn't show you blown-up photographs in a physical exhibition/physical exhibitions, we hope you will be able to enjoy the Yuzuru Hanyu Exhibition at home spreading the book like this. However, according to what I heard, this binding method made it difficult to align the left half and the right half of a photo, (t/n: in a double spread) but they took great care to avoid such misalignment. I hope you will enjoy such details as well.

 

As a closing note, (t/n: ISU) has announced that they will hold the Grand Prix Series. As to how it is going to be held and organized, much of it remains uncertain at this moment. However, it is a huge relief to know that there may be a chance to watch his performance in person and photograph it again. At the same time, I am excited and wondering, "How will this season unfold?" "What kind of expressions will I find on his face?" "Will he skate new programs?" etc., etc. I am hoping that I will be able to show you many pictures again. We will continue this Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition until the end of August, so please enjoy it when you have time. Thank you.

 

[sweetwater]

"Yuzuru Hanyu Online Exhibition has been closed. We were so happy and excited to have had so many visitors and received so many kind words. Thank you so much.
The moment in a bright future that awaits beyond the "decision." While waiting for the day when we can experience the moment together, I will sharpen my skills not to fail to capture it. (Wakasugi)"