I have been boxing for about 12 years. When I was 34 years old, I suddenly had the urge to do what I had to do while I still had the chance. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that the most physically and technically demanding type of sport would be the right one for me. I then tried out several gyms, including a jujutsu dojo and a kickboxing gym, and finally decided that boxing was the one. The deciding factors were that I felt the most sore muscles the day after the first day, and I sweat an incredible amount.
Some people who have a strong impression of professional boxing might think that boxing is very dangerous. When I first started boxing, I did indeed get swollen eyes and hurt my ribs during mass sparring (practice fighting with light punches), but I can tell you that other sports I play (or have played) such as soccer, basketball, and skiing are much more dangerous in terms of the severity of injuries. At a certain level of skill, mass sparring, when done between appropriate weights and with headgear and large gloves, is less a fist fight and more a tactical exchange of offense and defense, with counters and accurate jabs exchanged between the two. If the power is transferred by rotation from the lower body to the shoulders, there is no need to swing fully, and above all, the use of unnecessary force leads to the disruption of the most important thing of all: breathing. The importance of breathing, as I have learned with my own body, is the most important thing among the techniques I have learned in boxing. If a person swings his fists without breathing, he will reach his limit in a few tens of seconds. I remember the first time I did mass sparring, after one round I felt dizzy and couldn't move because of shortness of breath. This is how I acquired my very useful everyday skills of concentration, relaxation and proper breathing.
Unfortunately, the boxing gym where I trained for over a decade and learned these skills had to move due to a contract. One evening, I went to the gym a little earlier than usual and decided to document the "place". The view of the gym through the lens was completely different than usual. Perhaps because of my profession, when I look through the lens, I frame my images with a more objective judgment of the scenery, the texture of the objects, and the various elements that make up the "place" itself, rather than my own subjective memories and feelings. Breathing helps in these situations. If you become so absorbed in a subject that you forget to breathe, you will inevitably lose the ability to capture the scene objectively. Concentrating on the subject while breathing constantly, shallowly or deeply, seems to help you maintain a more accurate judgment.
I wonder if this can really be a photographic technique. It seems rather difficult to systematize a breathing method for photography as a technique.
Spechial Thanks：Yamaryu Boxing Gym
Ryo Ohwada
Born 1978 in Sendai, Japan. Graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University, Department of Photography, and completed the Graduate Course in Media Art at the same university. In 2005, he was selected as one of the "ReGeneration.50 Photographers of Tomorrow" by the Kunstmuseum Elysee, Switzerland. In 2011, he received the New Photographer Award from the Photographic Society of Japan. He is the author of "prism" (2007, Seigensha), "Gohyaku rakan (Five Hundred Arhats)" (2020, Ten'onzan Gohyaku Rakanji Temple), "Journal during COVID-19 State of Emergency" (2021, kesa publishing), "Shashin seisakusha no tame no shashingijutsu no kiso to jissen (The Basics and Practice of Photography Technology for Photographers)" (2022, Impress), and with poet Chris Mozdel, "Behind the Mask" (2023/Slogan), etc. Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, Tokyo Polytechnic University.
www.ryoohwada.com
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