Charles Freger s photographs combine the attention to detail of a documentary photograph with individual portraiture in a fresh and distinctive style. Texts by specialists in Japanese folk culture and anthropology accompany the photographs, putting the huge variety of eclectic costumes in context with descriptions of the local festivals, dances, and rituals where they are worn This compelling sequence of new portraits by an internationally acclaimed photographer will captivate enthusiasts of fine art photography and far off places as it pulls back the curtain on a strange and magical centuries-old tradition. "