A Man Skiing (Sukii no otoko)

The 1955 A Man Skiing (Sukii no otoko), edition 10 of 50, shows Azechi's figure in the descended, forward-leaning posture of a downhill run—a different relationship to the mountain than the slow upward toil of the climber. The skier's speed and the way the body adapts to acceleration gave him a more dynamic compositional challenge than the static mountain man portraits that formed the core of his work. The Alpine sport of skiing had been adopted by the Japanese mountaineering community to which Azechi himself belonged.