A friend told me that upon viewing a print of pic 1, his friend’s eyes turned to moons and she asked if those creatures are of this earth. Frozen moments in time become forever and I am happy to have this image forever. Leaving aside the visual effect of steam rising from the hot waters into the cold air and the shroud like appearance of the baby’s matted fur, it is fundamentally an image of a mother’s unconditional love for a child. Look at the eyes. Mother and child appear as if in a trance. Her entire being is focused on caring for her child and her child has surrendered to the comfort of a mother’s care. Many adjectives come to mind, but I have said enough and will now allow viewers to read the photograph through their own eyes and experiences.

If there was a dominant memory I took away from my two days with the Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani, it was that of having witnessed the importance of family at its most elemental level. Stripped of the comforts we often take for granted, bar nature’s gift of hot springs of course, this community of Japanese macaque demonstrate care and tenderness whilst surviving in a wild and often inhospitable mountain environment. To my eyes, pic 2 is an image of togetherness, with pics 3 and 4 emphasising the parent/child bonding that we hold so dear in our human societies. Pic 3 is especially interesting as it shows rare eye contact with an adult monkey. In their society, direct eye contact is a sign of enmity and the adult monkeys are expert in averting their gaze away from the camera lens.

The younger monkeys are more inquisitive and as can be seen from some of the images (pics 5 to 11), will stare directly into the camera. Watching the young monkeys at play is captivating and prior to the cuteness presented at pic 5, the two youngsters were playing boisterously. They may not know it, but such play prepares them for adult responsibilities and one wonders what adventures the future holds for them.

Maybe I have strange mental images of bats, but Batmonkey (pic 7) is so named because that was the image that popped into my head when this sopping wet monkey emerged from the hot springs to dry off. The curiosity of the young is further shown at pic 9 – a one handed shot leaning over the pool, with the camera facing directly down as the youngster looked directly up. It was pleasing that I was not perceived as a threat and was allowed to take the shot free of intimidation.

Pic 10 is a favourite image, where the young monkey seems equally engrossed in chewing a twig and checking out this alien at the side of the pool. Mum’s hand offers the security of knowing that protection is near, not that it was required. Look at this monkey’s unmarked face and big innocent eyes. Compare it to the faces of adult monkeys; all of who exhibit some scars of life and one can appreciate the rigorous life to come.

Tough love is also practiced, not that you would know it from the expression of the young monkey in pic 11, who had recently surfaced from a parental dunking. Prior to this photo, the monkey had been held under the water and walked around the pool by a parent – presumably as part of their training to survive their environment. No damage seems to have been done.

There is much time spent on grooming, either on a personal basis (pic 12) or with the help of a friend (pic 13). (This is an opportune time to point out that what may appear as blemishes in some photos are, in fact, dirt and vegetation caught in the monkeys’ fur. I do not like to extensively edit photographs and to edit away such objects would have been to misrepresent the monkeys’ true appearance.)

The harshness of life on the mountain is apparent at times and the adult monkey at pic 14 appears somewhat weary and worn. One must also remember that they live in a hierarchical community and this realization struck me from my observations of the old monkey at pic 15. He spent his time on the fringes. Part of the community, but no longer in the midst of the action. In years past, he may have been one of those dominant males that created so much tension on the first day of my visit. I felt sorry for this old monkey and although he retains a proud bearing, his plight is not dissimilar to that of many older people in our communities. Perhaps we are more alike than we really realise.

Before leaving Nagano I took this shot of the mountains as night fell. Not a great shot, but it felt nice to know the monkeys were up there somewhere.

(Please click on any of the following images for an enlarged view.)