Town for Evacuation is an image board created by Nizo Yamamoto for Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (1988).
The painting depicts the rural surroundings of the home where Seita and Setsuko seek refuge after losing their home in Kobe. Ripening rice fields and traditional houses create an almost idyllic image of the Japanese midsummer countryside. Yet the heavy sky and hazy mountains introduce a sense of uncertainty. The landscape already seems to anticipate the increasingly difficult situation awaiting the siblings.
The image grew out of a research trip to Kobe undertaken by Isao Takahata and Nizo Yamamoto together with Akiyuki Nosaka, author of the original novella. Yamamoto paid particular attention to the oppressive humidity of summer. Through subtle gradations of color and atmospheric perspective, he sought to capture something that cannot be depicted as a tangible object, what he described as the “feeling of the air.”
Edition Details
Artist: Nizo Yamamoto
Title: Grave of the Fireflies, Town for Evacuation
Original artwork: Image Board
Limited Edition: 25 copies, numbered
Type: Solegraph Edition
Print format: 40 × 50 cm
Produced in Japan by Yamada Photo Process
The Solegraph printing process allows for exceptionally precise reproduction of subtle colors, tonal transitions and details of the original painting.
Copyright notice: Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Image board, Artist: Nizo Yamamoto. Print produced by Riekeles Gallery, 2026. © Akiyuki Nosaka / Shinchosha, 1988
Town for Evacuation is an image board created by Nizo Yamamoto for Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies (1988).
The painting depicts the rural surroundings of the home where Seita and Setsuko seek refuge after losing their home in Kobe. Ripening rice fields and traditional houses create an almost idyllic image of the Japanese midsummer countryside. Yet the heavy sky and hazy mountains introduce a sense of uncertainty. The landscape already seems to anticipate the increasingly difficult situation awaiting the siblings.
The image grew out of a research trip to Kobe undertaken by Isao Takahata and Nizo Yamamoto together with Akiyuki Nosaka, author of the original novella. Yamamoto paid particular attention to the oppressive humidity of summer. Through subtle gradations of color and atmospheric perspective, he sought to capture something that cannot be depicted as a tangible object, what he described as the “feeling of the air.”
Edition Details
Artist: Nizo Yamamoto
Title: Grave of the Fireflies, Town for Evacuation
Original artwork: Image Board
Limited Edition: 25 copies, numbered
Type: Solegraph Edition
Print format: 40 × 50 cm
Produced in Japan by Yamada Photo Process
The Solegraph printing process allows for exceptionally precise reproduction of subtle colors, tonal transitions and details of the original painting.
Copyright notice: Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Image board, Artist: Nizo Yamamoto. Print produced by Riekeles Gallery, 2026. © Akiyuki Nosaka / Shinchosha, 1988
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