Deep in the highlands of northern Honshu, Japan, the Matagi begin the winter hunt. They pray before entering the sacred realm of the mountain, then spend hours listening, waiting and watching; picking up on barely perceptible signs that the black bear is close.

The group of men splits up, with one group acting as watchmen, the other as decoys. Slowly, they close in before the marksman takes a shot. Red spots of blood flower in the virgin snow as the bear’s dead body is dragged to a nearby plain to be gutted and dismembered using a traditional Matagi knife. Part of the bear’s intestines are left as an offering to the mountain goddess.

The formality and spiritual precision of this