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 年生於日本高知縣。1971 年以廣告攝影師開始他的自由記者生涯。次年25 歲時，在首次接觸撒哈拉沙漠的過程中，轉而從事攝影新聞工作。在大沙漠攝影兩年後，他從三角洲沿尼羅河溯源，然後穿越埃塞俄比亞，所拍攝的照片反映瞭東北非洲的嚴酷環境和生活在那裏的男男女女。

自1988 年，他將注意力轉嚮亞洲。多次旅行西藏的照片，描述瞭生活在高海拔地區人們的宗教信仰和日常生活。為獲準進入伊斯蘭教聖城，他皈依瞭伊斯蘭教。受一位沙特齣版商的邀請，他去瞭沙特阿拉伯。他在那裏5 年，拍攝一年一度的麥加、麥地那朝覲。結果，照片刊登在世界頂尖齣版物上，包括《國傢地理雜誌》、《斯特恩》（Stern）和GEO。他已在多個國傢齣版瞭12 部攝影集，其作品獲得許多奬項，包括1990 年和1997 年獲得日本攝影會（社）年度大奬。