In the gardens of a Zen temple in Kyoto, a monk rakes the gravel that symbolises the sea or space. There is something strangely soothing about tidying up the immensity if you continue the metaphor...

Several steps led Hans Silvester to discover the Empire of the Rising Sun. Already at a very young age, the photographer was interested in Zen Buddhism and Japanese culture. Then, it was the images brought back in 1951 by the Swiss journalist Werner Bischof that struck him. The desire to go there slowly grew within him, and destiny held out its arms to him: in 1968, a supermarket chain offered him the project of taking photos in Japan to put in chocolate bars to build customer loyalty. Hans Silvester was asked to produce a "chocolate" book on the theme of Japan. He stayed there for a year and was able to experience the country intensively. Outside the cities, the photographer likes to say that he was an object of curiosity. Not being able to speak the language, he carried around little papers written in Japanese in his pockets, on which were written, among other things, "I am as clean as a Japanese" when negotiating room and board. In one year, Hans Silvester was able to capture the children of Tokyo in a very modern and graphic setting, as well as the Zen temples of Ryoanji and the helmeted demonstrations of Japanese students in 1968. 

Retour De Voyage may know the virtues of Zen gardens, but we remain captivated by the fact that looking at a photo of a monk tending a temple garden could have just as much benefit. This photograph is to be admired without moderation!