York photographer Makiko's island encounter with deer, boar and bent trees

Twenty-three black and white photographs will be the subject of Trails To Prayer at the Atrium Gallery, Old Building, London School of Economics, from April 24 to May 5, Monday to Friday, 10am to 8pm.

This follows on from her first LSE show in 2016, Paradise Revisited, when Japanese photographer Makiko captured childhood memories from Gunkanjima. Another uninhabited Japanese Island, it is also known as Battleship Island and is familiar to James Bond aficionados as a backdrop in the 2012 film Skyfall.

Japanese photographer Makiko in her York home. Picture: Anthony Chappel-Ross

Makiko, whose York home looks out on to York Minster, was told of the desolate, volcanic island of Nozaki by a Nagasaki University researcher, who had created 3D models to represent the historic site's three former residential districts. "It had been inhabited since pre-historic times, approximately from 10,000 years ago," says Makiko. "Remains, such as stone tools of this period, were uncovered when the west part of the land was excavated to build a dam to supply water for the island of Ojika.

"In 1549, Christianity was introduced to Japan by Francisco Xavier, a Basque missionary, who co-founded the Society of Jesus, but between 1612 and 1873 the Japanese banned Christianity. In 1797, 3,000 people relocated to various areas in Goto Islands; many of them were ‘Hidden’ Christians (as featured in Martin Scorsese's latest film, Silence), who continued to practise Christianity in secret to avoid persecution.

"After the Meiji Government abolished the law to ban Christianity, the majority of ‘Hidden’ Christians rejoined the Catholic churches and were officially able to build churches, which they did on Nozaki."

Going to Nozaki was "a spiritual journey," says Makiko

In its peak years – the mid-1950s to 1960s – 680 inhabitants lived on the island in three residential districts, Nokubi, Funamori and Nozaki, the first two being Christian, the other, Shinto, an ethnic Japanese religion. "But the island was gradually abandoned since the mid-60s due to rapid economic growth on the mainland and both communities moved away for modernised life," says Makiko.

"The last inhabitant, who was the Shinto priest, left in 2001. Very few structures now remain on the island: there is a Shinto shrine, built in 704, known as Okinokojima Shrine; a large pre-historic stone monument, known as Oeishi; a stonewalled terraced field and one remaining brick building, which used to be a church in Nokubi."

The island is mountainous, punctuated with large rock boulders and fungus, all co-exiting with trees and plants surrounded by rich wild woods, home to 400 wild Kyushu deer, wild boars that swam from the neighbouring islands and Japanese wood pigeons, designated as a national treasure.

Reign deer: 400 wild Kyushu deer now rule the uninhabited island of Nozaki, says Makiko

"Looking at the wild landscape on the promotional video clip made by the town of Ojika and learning of the saga of ‘Hidden’ Christians, settling in the uninhabited area, practising Christianity in secret for decades, while the country was closed for any foreign trade and cultural exchanges, made me intrigued to learn that, one century later, this community finally got their own churches of worship but then left the island," says Makiko.

Nozaki was a very different uninhabited island from her first exploration of Gunkanjima. "I stayed for two days on the island in October with a guide, a park ranger, and it was a spiritual journey for me," she says. "I wanted to re-walk the trails that the Christians and Shintoists had taken to pray, from the south to the north, on a daily basis through the forests. The extremely steep trail to the north was for Shintoists and they had to climb over the mountains to visit the shrine.

"Having been abandoned for several decades, the stone steps on the hilly part of the mountain leading to the trail to the shrine had collapsed and remain like huge rubble.

Makiko and her guide climbed up a cliff covered with tree roots to see a 24 metre-high prehistoric stone monument

"The long trail to the south was for the Christians who had to walk across the mountains to attend Mass. Once you enter the forests, you feel spiritual – this island is for praying – whatever your religion you respect. The experience was quite magical and at times quite frightening for a city slicker."

At the beginning of the first trek, Makiko nearly stepped on a long snake, covered with fallen leaves, and on the way back, she came across with 12 wild boars, gathering under the acorn trees. "They stared at us but did nothing else, fortunately," she recalls. "On my second trek, we bumped into eight wild boars again, and we also had the happy surprise of seeing many deer, who were constantly watching us. It was like an invisible hand was leading me to see a stag.

"They used to be regarded as the holy guardians and were close to the shrine, and as the island gradually became uninhabited they now have ownership and free rein of the island. They were stunningly beautiful tucked away in the forests. There were also frogs, snakes, all kinds of insects, beautiful bird song at the shrine, and Japanese wood pigeons, which were black, not white."

"The stone steps on the hilly part of the mountain leading to the trail to the shrine had collapsed and remain like huge rubble," says Makiko

At one point, Makiko and her guide climbed up a cliff covered with tree roots to see a 24 metre-high prehistoric stone monument in the north of the island. "Once at the top, there was an amazing view of Goto Islands. It felt a very healing space," she says. "But the island is far from calm; in the middle there's a volcanic mouth, which means that even on calm days there are very strong winds. As a result, all the trees and plants grow tilted to one side, making the landscape look like savannah, and I've captured this unusual landscape in my photography.

“The general harsh climate and sea activity makes the island a tough place to inhabit; those who lived there must have been very committed to their religious beliefs.”

Likewise, Makiko is very committed to her photography, whether only just avoiding snakes or climbing up steep cliffs.