Following Vagrant Birds and Resident Birds, The Boat in the Grass is Shoichi Ito's third photobook in a series about shores and bodies of water in the San'in region, in the southwestern part of Honshu, Japan's main island. As Ito notes in the afterword, he is not a local: having moved to the region later in life, he retains the ability to notice and frame its natural landscape with the eyes and interest of an outsider. Through different colour palettes, seasons and compositional approaches, each photograph reveals the variety and depth that can emerge from sustained attention to a landscape. Thirteen years after deciding to make San'in his final home, Ito wonders whether he has really put down roots or has simply drifted and been washed ashore, and continues to photograph the places he has visited and captured many times.