Kite Personalities - Katsutaka Murooka

Scott Skinner

Very good at making strong, durable kites in the Western, rather than the Japanese, mode, Katsutaka Murooka of Tokyo is known mainly for his kite aerial photography (KAP). A largely unexplored field when he began, KAP has come into its own as a safe, relatively inexpensive technique, compared to photography from airplanes or helicopters. KAP allows a tight perspective, as shots can be made from as low as fifty feet; it doesn't disturb animals or birds or sunbathers, and permits an incomparable level of detail, with the camera able to rotate 360 degrees on two axes. Many KAP shots clearly show the kite line rising up from the ground, with the photographer (and entourage) craning upward. It's the kite's-eye perspective—charming, fun, different.

Holder of a master's degree in art from Nihon University, Murooka got involved with kites in the mid-1980s when, bored, he looked out a window one day and saw a kite flying. He decided to make his own, did so, and soon took up aerial photography. It remains a release from his job teaching architectural drafting at Tokyo Technical College and a very good way to get in some world travel.

The kites he builds are a means to an end. He needs the most stable platform possible in the sky for his aerial photography. The more efficient the kite, the better the photos. Murooka has built some sixty kites since starting out-deltas, boxes, flow forms, rokkakus. He bases them on the standard tatami mat size-about three-by-six feet. Experimentation has shown him that the parafoil best suits his needs. It flies at a high angle, easily lifts a heavy (about 4-1/2 pounds) camera rig in a decent wind, doesn't break, and packs down for transportation. Although kites are a means to an end for Murooka, his creations are of exceptional merit, well made, handsome to look at, functional.

Although Murooka has experimented with various systems, he now favors a single lens reflex camera shooting 400 ASA film at a shutter speed up to 1/1,000th of a second. A wide-angle lens is best, with a fisheye often favored. Photographs are made via radio-control, typically from an altitude of 90 to 150 feet. Through servo mechanisms, Murooka is able to control the camera's rotation and varying downward angles. When he wants a lot of pictures, he uses a motor drive on the camera.

Early on, Murooka decided that aerial photography made a fine research tool. Aided by an automative foundation, academic institutions and corporations, he has made investigations of architecture, the environment, geology, flora and fauna, the ocean, even sports projects. He has photographed underground dwellings in China, a savannah in Peru, a Japanese woman climber attempting Mount Everest. In Japan itself, his subjects have ranged from the volcanic crater on Mount Aso to a seagull colony on Fumishima Island, from the ancient tomb at Sakitama to the massive Oninosentakuiwa Rock.

Because of its many merits, Murooka's kite photography was used by the Heian Museum of Kyoto to study the ancient ruins at Akoris, Egypt, in 1987. This work led to a later exhibition of photographs in Tokyo and publication of a book by Murooka titled A Hand-Made Satellite: Kite Aerial Photography. In 1988, the museum used Murooka's expertise to study the amphitheater at Pompeii, in the shadow of Mount Etna. Murooka successfully experimented with making video pictures from a kite during this project.

Murooka has spread the word about his enthusiasms at kite festivals around the world: Singapore, Le Touqet, Scheveningen, thrice-visited Long Beach, Washington. He has presented numerous workshops and published a second book, Kite Photography, with many elegant color plates. Not surprisingly, he is president of the Japan Kite Aerial Photography Association.

Murooka's ambition is to mix kite photography with other disciplines to attain interesting new syntheses. He wants to research atmospheric temperatures, humidity, wind pressure, wind velocity, even pollen distribution as a means of studying air pollution. He sees kite photography being useful in commercial fishing and his system has been tested in the Antarctic as boats searched for schools of krill to net. On the whimsical side, Murooka has created a four-kite train spelling out the word "SEXY"; he has also experimented with underwater kite flying.

Taking a broader viewpoint, improved materials will permit yet more sophisticated kite technology to evolve in coming years, he feels. As to the aesthetic factor, he foresees unconventional kites flying in the sky soon—"as sky arts of the 21st century." As to sports, he expects more development and asks: "Will kiteflying become an Olympic sport?"

Adapted from an article in World on a String, a Drachen Foundation publication (1993)