Part photo essay and part travel diary, this moving book reflects Kazuyoshi Nomachi's own spiritual quest and his interest in pilgrimages, or, as he calls them, "prayer routes." Here, through dramatic images that distill the essence of our humanity, the acclaimed photographer captures moments of prayer along pilgrimage routes in some of the world's most remote places, from the Sahara to the Andes, including the rarely photographed cities of Mecca and Medina.Having converted to Islam, Nomachi has arrived at an intensely personal understanding of what it means to search for God. Prayer, pilgrimage, and religion, he says, are phenomena that affect humanity as a whole, without distinction for individual traits or background. Such is the thinking that sharpens Nomachi's sensitivity to the elements of spiritual life. This book, which brings together thirty years of the acclaimed photographer's best work, comprises portraits of people and places. In each image, Nomachi strives to reveal what unites individuals in the ineffable relationship between the whole and its every component: what it is, for example, that leads Muslims to Qa'aba, Buddhists to Lhasa, Ethiopian Christians to Lalibela.

野町和嘉，1946 年生于日本高知县。1971 年以广告摄影师开始他的自由记者生涯。次年25 岁时，在首次接触撒哈拉沙漠的过程中，转而从事摄影新闻工作。在大沙漠摄影两年后，他从三角洲沿尼罗河溯源，然后穿越埃塞俄比亚，所拍摄的照片反映了东北非洲的严酷环境和生活在那里的男男女女。

自1988 年，他将注意力转向亚洲。多次旅行西藏的照片，描述了生活在高海拔地区人们的宗教信仰和日常生活。为获准进入伊斯兰教圣城，他皈依了伊斯兰教。受一位沙特出版商的邀请，他去了沙特阿拉伯。他在那里5 年，拍摄一年一度的麦加、麦地那朝觐。结果，照片刊登在世界顶尖出版物上，包括《国家地理杂志》、《斯特恩》（Stern）和GEO。他已在多个国家出版了12 部摄影集，其作品获得许多奖项，包括1990 年和1997 年获得日本摄影会（社）年度大奖。