CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/1/2026

Hiroshi Sugimoto's terrestrial celestial masterpiece

Hiroshi Sugimoto is known throughout the world for his mastery in photography and architecture. But fewer people know that he has long been a collector (and once a dealer) of Japanese antiquities, in addition to practicing as a sculptor and maker in the performing arts. In 2009, he purchased a twelve acre citrus grove overlooking Sagami Bay on the coast of Odawara, Japan, and thereafter began the meticulous design and planning of his terrestrial celestial masterpiece, Enoura Observatory. In this new book designed by Takaaki Matsumoto, Sugimoto documents his journey, in context of his life as an artist, in a remarkably personal, genuine and subtly humorous style that is a pleasure to read. Pictured here, the rising sun seen through the stone torii gate of the Uchōten Tea House. Sugimoto had it built to greet the spring equinox.