22 JAnuARy - 26 APRil 2015
CuRATEd by TSuguO TAdA And MARC FEuSTEl
In 1945, post-war Japan made a new start from the ashes of devastation.
In the twenty years leading up to the
Tokyo Olympics of 1964, it succeeded in undergoing a dramatic transformation, embarking on a path towards becoming an economic power.
These two decades constituted a period truly brimming with creative energy
- a time in which democracy led to the restoration of vitality and free photographic expression, in which new talent pioneered post-war photography.
This new exhibition reflects on the turbulent period that followed the war, exhibiting over 100 black and white photographs by 11 leading Japanese photographers. The photographers selected are Ken Domon, perhaps the best-known
Japanese photographer of the 20th century for his cool-headed photo-realism.
Ihee Kimura, whose approach to realism was distinguished from Domon’s by its unique aesthetics. Hiroshi Hamaya, who photographed the climates and environments of mountain and agricultural villages together with the lives of their inhabitants. Tadahiko Hayashi, who produced marvelous portraits. Shigeichi
Nagano, Ikko Narahara, Kikuji Kawada,
Shomei Tomatsu, and Yasuhiro Ishimoto, who represent a younger generation of photographers, and Eikoh Hosoe and
Takeyoshi Tanuma, who were two of the photographers who demonstrated the creativity of photography. Each of these individuals has their own style and produced significant works that are important records of this period.
Rather than arranging the works by period and author, this exhibition is divided into three sections: “ The Aftermath of the War” “Between Tradition and
Modernity” and “Towards a New Japan”
Although the arrangement may seem arbitrary, the sequence provides a vivid narrative of the convoluted aspects of this complicated era.
The exhibition is organised by The Japan
Foundation.

SECTiOn 1:
At noon on August 15, 1945, a long war came to an end. On hearing news of the war’s end, Hiroshi Hamaya impulsively ran out of his house and pointed his camera at the sun in the sky. That first photograph after the end of the war is reproduced here as the starting point for this section. Having been fought on a battleground spanning vast swaths of the globe, including mainland China, the Korean peninsula, the countries of
Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific islands, the war had caused tremendous destruction and loss of life. In Japan,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs, and Tokyo, Osaka,
Nagoya, and most other major cities were thoroughly bombed to the point of being reduced to vast stretches of burned ruins. Through defeat, the absolutist ideology and values of the old imperial system that had ruled Japan up to that point were completely negated in just a day. Japan was then occupied by the
Allied Forces, who attempted to reform
Japanese society from the ground on up. The upheaval was tremendous and everything was shaken up again and again. A new, uncertain age known as the
“postwar” era began in this chaos the war were starving for true news.
Partly to fill that hunger for news, an unprecedented publishing boom occurred in the latter half of the 1940s—a boom that would send numerous photographers out into the world. Young photographers such as Shigeichi Nagano, Takeyoshi
Tanuma, and Shomei Tomatsu launched their careers at publications like Iwanami
Shashin Bunko and Shukan Sun News weekly, which was started by Yonosuke Natori, one of the trailblazers of Japanese photojournalism. Photographers who had already attained fame before the war, such as Tadahiko Hayashi, Ihee Kimura,
Ken Domon, and Hiroshi Hamaya, worked for photography, literary, and generalinterest magazines that were revived after the war. Initially, they directed their cameras at the desperate state of the devastated landscape, and then turned to the poverty-stricken streets of Tokyo and the energy emanating from the bright, joyful faces of children.
The publishing industry was the first to recover from the shock and chaos that followed Japan’s defeat. In the midst of burned ruins and a sense of uncertainty about the future, magazines that had been discontinued under the old regime came back to life, and a series of new magazines came out in quick succession.
People who had been fed only military propaganda and censored news during
Children looking at a picture-card show. Tokyo,
1953. Ken Domon

SECTiOn 2:
The “postwar” era came to an end in the political sense in about 1952 after Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with America and other Allied Powers.
By around 1955, Japan had recovered economically to the extent that its real national income exceeded prewar levels.
The recovery was spurred by a boom in special procurement for the Korean War, which was brought on by a confrontation that emerged after World War II between the United States and the Soviet
Union. As the world economy grew, the consequences of defeat weighed heavily on Japan, which was still groping its way forward. It exported miscellaneous goods and textiles, and used the foreign currency obtained for capital investment, placing tight restrictions on the import of consumer goods and travel abroad.
High-quality products, such as transistor radios and other electronic goods and optical equipment such as cameras became the stars of the export market, contributing greatly to economic growth.
The structure of industry underwent major changes as well, and cityscapes were rapidly transformed as young people migrated, streaming from farming and fishing villages to urban areas.
Postwar photography was heavily influenced by the photo-realism movement driven by the strong wills of Ken Domon and others.
However, as Japan’s distinctive national identity gradually faded, Hiroshi Hamaya and Ihee Kimura directed their cameras towards regions of the country where unique national traits remained. While studying the relationship between people living in harsh natural environments and their climate, they depicted the strength of the Japanese people and the importance of the traditions that are part of daily life. Slightly removed from the photographic expression of the social realism that was popular at the time, their approach had aspects in common with the humanist photography of the West.
The basis of Japan’s social system also underwent a major transformation in line with the policies of the occupying Allied Forces. The economy was reformed, starting with land reform, the establishment of basic workers’ rights, and the dissolution of the zaibatsu conglomerates. Equality of the sexes was achieved in education and politics through the enactment of the new constitution, and the Peace
Preservation Law was repealed and freedom of speech and the press made a reality.
Fashion show at the Mitsukoshi department store. Nihonbashi, Tokyo 1956. Shigeichi Nagano

SECTiOn 3:
The Tokyo Olympics held in 1964 were preceded by the construction of streets, parks, and other infrastructure throughout the country. The “Shinkansen” bullet train, the world’s fastest train at the time, began operating between
Tokyo and Osaka. At the end of 1960, the government announced a plan to double national income in ten years, but real growth actually far exceeded the 7.2% annual average target, resulting in the ten-year goal being reached in only a few years. By 1964, the majority of Japanese households owned TVs, electric washing machines, and refrigerators—the “three sacred treasures” of modern-day Japan. No one at the time had the slightest clue that one day Japanese companies would enjoy considerable competitive strength in global markets due to the expansion of Japan’s domestic market, turning the country into an industrial nation that would export steel, ships, automobiles, and computers. Simply yearning to improve their daily lives, many Japanese focused solely on throwing themselves into their work. Hardly realizing that Japan would become one of the world’s great economic nations, people paid little attention to the environmental challenges that would inevitably emerge. In that sense, they still had a postwar mentality.
an inquisitive mind and a critical eye.
With that as a starting point, movements emerged that sought creative expression through grasping new values and adopting new aesthetic senses. In other words, a new generation that had experienced the trials of war in their youth had taken the stage. Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Shomei
Tomatsu, Kikuji Kawada, Ikko Narahara, and Eikoh Hosoe advocated subjective documentary methodologies in which they gave diverse photographic expression to the social changes they witnessed, interpreting them in their own personal ways. The result was poles apart from the realist photography that had developed up to that point. Shomei Tomatsu’s Nagasaki
11:02, which deals with the atomic bomb, and Kikuji Kawada’s Chizu (“Map”) series were two masterpieces, and works like
Eikoh Hosoe’s Ordeal by Roses opened up new possibilities of photographic expression.
For Japanese photographers, “postwar” was first of all a reaction to traditional attitudes of obedience, and took the form of photographers actively asserting and securing their independence. This involved taking a realist stance that attempted to give photographic expression to the chaos of society while retaining Completing management training at a stock brokerage firm. Ikebukuro

1909 - 1990
1915 - 1999
1918 - 1990
Born in 1909 in Sakata, Yamagata
Prefecture. Moves to Tokyo in 1916.
Studies as a live-in apprentice at
Kotaro Miyauchi Photo Studio in Ueno
Ikenohata in 1933. Develops doubts about retail photography and studies on his own with the aim of getting into photojournalism. Joins Yonosuke Natori’s
Nippon Kobo in 1935, working mainly on the photo magazine Nippon. Between
1936 and 1938, develops friendships with Yusaku Kamekura, Shigeru Tamura,
Shihachi Fujimoto, and Hiroshi Hamaya.
Starting in 1940, spends three years photographing Buddhist statues, from as far north as Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima
Prefecture to the Usuki Stone Buddhas in
Oita Prefecture on the southern island of
Kyushu. From 1941 to 1942, photographs the golden age of ningyo joruri bunraku,
Japan’s traditional puppet theater. After the war, promotes the photo-realism movement and pursues projects grappling with societal issues, such as Hiroshima, which deals with survivors of the atomic bomb, and Chikuho no Kodomotachi, which captures the lives of poverty-stricken children in the Chikuho coalfields. In later years, receives the Minister of
Education’s Art Encouragement Prize, the
Kikuchi Kan Prize, and, in 1974, the
Medal with Purple Ribbon.
Born in 1915 in Tokyo. After graduating from the Kanto Shogyo Gakko (“Kanto
Commercial School”) in 1933, works for aerial photography specialist Practical
Aeronautical Research Institute and
Oriental Photo Corporation. Becomes freelancer in 1937, contributing to various photo magazines. Begins covering folk customs and events of
Kuwadoridani, Niigata Prefecture in
1940. After ten years working as a photographer during and after the war, begins his life’s work of studying the relationship between people and their climate through the medium of photographic expression. Publishes numerous pictorials, including Yukiguni
(“Snow Land”), Ura Nihon (“Japan’s Back
Coast”), Henkyo no machi (“The Remote
City”), Hamaya Hiroshi Shashin Shusei
(“Hiroshi Hamaya Pictorial Compilation”), and Gakugei shoka (“Japanese Scholars and Artists”). Becomes first Japanese photographer to contribute to the Magnum
Photos cooperative in 1960. Receives the Photographic Society of Japan’s
Distinguished Contributions Award, The
Japan Art Grand Prix, ICP’s Master of Photography Award, and Hasselblad
Foundation International Award in
Photography.
Born in 1918 in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi
Prefecture. Becomes familiar with photography as a small child due to his family running a retail photo business from his grandfather’s generation. After graduating from Tokuyama Commercial
School, goes to work at a photo studio in
Osaka run by Shoichi Nakayama in 1935.
Contracts tuberculosis and returns to his hometown for treatment. Goes to Tokyo in 1937 and enters the Oriental School of Photography. After working for Tokyo
Kogeisha, forms the North China News
Photography Association in 1942 and goes to Beijing. After the war, publishes works featuring lively depictions of
Japanese people as they begin the recovery against a backdrop of the burned out ruins of Tokyo and the black market.
Works on photography for the Bunshi
(“Literati”) series in 1948. Appointed vice-chairman of Japan Professional
Photographers Society in 1961. Receives
Annual Award and Distinguished
Contributions Award from the Photographic
Society of Japan, as well as the Mainichi
Art Award. Also receives the Medal with
Purple Ribbon in 1983 and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in
1988.

1933 - PRESEnT
1921 - 2012
1933 - PRESEnT
Born in 1933 in Yonezawa, Yamagata
Prefecture. Studies at Tokyo Junior
College of Photography. Joins Demokrato avant-garde artist group in 1953.
Forms Vivo with Shomei Tomatsu, Ikko
Narahara, and others in 1959. His work photographing the body engaged in artistic expression, such as Man and
Woman and Kamaitachi, in which dancer
Tatsumi Hijikata is the main subject, and Barakei (“Ordeal by Roses”), which features author Yukio Mishima, wins international acclaim as a new form of photographic expression. Receives the
Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1998. Named a
Person of Cultural Merit in 2010.
Born in 1921 in San Francisco,
California. Moves to parents’ hometown in Kochi Prefecture, Japan in 1924.
After graduating from an agricultural high school, returns to America in 1939 to study modern agriculture at the
University of California. Interned at
Japanese American internment camp in
Colorado after the outbreak of World
War II. Studies under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the photography department of Chicago’s Institute of
Design in 1948. The sense of artistic form developed here eventually gives birth to a unique form of photographic expression when he returns to Japan in
1953 and works on photography of the
Katsura Imperial Villa and his Someday
Somewhere series, which breathe new life into the world of Japanese photography.
Receives the Medal with Purple Ribbon in
1983. Named a Person of Cultural Merit in
1996.
Born in 1933 in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Graduates from Rikkyo University in
1955 and joins Shinchosha publishing house. Works on the first issue of weekly magazine Shukan Shincho, handling glamour and portrait photos. Becomes freelancer in 1959. Forms Vivo with Eikoh Hosoe,
Ikko Narahara, and others in 1959. His
Chizu (“Map”) series depicting images symbolizing the scars of war receives acclaim. Receives the Photographic
Society of Japan’s Annual Award for The
Last Cosmology in 1996 and the Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize in
2004.

1901 - 1974
1925 - PRESEnT
1931 - PRESEnT
Born in 1901 in Tokyo. Learns retail photography at the Endo Portrait Studio in Taiwan. Returns to Japan, and opens a photo studio in 1924. Fascinated by the Leica owned by the captain of the
German Zeppelin dirigible that comes to
Japan in 1929. Buys a Leica Model A the following year, marking a new start in his photography. Hired the same year as a part-timer in the advertising department of cosmetics company Kao Sekken Nagase
Shokai Co., Ltd. Starts publishing a monthly photo magazine Koga with Yasuzo
Nojima, Iwata Nakayama, and Nobuo Ina in
1932. Establishes Chuo Kobo with Nobuo
Ina and Hiromu Hara in 1934. Becomes one of the central figures in Japanese photojournalism, together with Yonosuke
Natori. After the war, continues to be active in photography as a snapshot virtuoso. Elected chairman of newly formed Japan Professional Photographers
Society in 1950. Takes up the theme of
Akita prefecture farming villages in his photography in 1952. Wins the Minister of
Education’s Art Encouragement Prize in
1956.
Born in 1925 in Oita City, Oita
Prefecture. After graduating from Keio
University in 1947, joins Shukan Sun News weekly as an editor. Hired as member of production staff for the pictorial publication Iwanami Shashin Bunko in
1950. Becomes freelancer in 1955, and receives high acclaim for Japan’s Dream
Age and other works. Goes on to work in movies and television commercials. Takes part in the cinematography of director
Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad. Receives
Award from Camera Geijutsu, Ina Nobuo
Award, and The Annual Award from the photographic Society of Japan. Also awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in
1993. Receives the Order of the Rising
Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1998.
Born in 1931 in Omuta, Fukuoka
Prefecture. Stuns the world of photography in 1956 while still a graduate student at Waseda University with his solo exhibition Human Land, which features the industrial island of
Hashima Island (known as Gunkanjima, or
“Battleship Island”) and a village on
Sakurajima Island. Takes part in The
Eyes of Ten exhibition in 1957. Holds solo exhibition Okoku (“Domains”) in 1958 and wins The Newcomer’s Award of the
Japan Photo Critics Association. Forms
Vivo with Eikoh Hosoe, Shomei Tomatsu,
Kikuji Kawada, and others in 1959. Active internationally, spending three years in
Europe from 1962 to 1965 and five years in America from 1970 to 1975 based out of New York producing beautiful works of pioneering photographic art—Where Time
Has Stopped and Where Time Has Vanished.
Receives the Minister of Education’s Art
Encouragement Prize and the Mainichi
Art Award. Also receives the Medal with
Purple Ribbon in 1996.

1929 - PRESEnT
1930 - 2012
Born in 1929 in Asakusa, Tokyo. Graduates from Tokyo Professional School of
Photographic Industry in 1949, and joins Sun News Photos, working under
Ihee Kimura. Involved in founding the
Japan Professional Photographers Society in 1950. Takes portraits of numerous artists and literati (bunshi) for the
Geijutsu Shincho and Shincho magazines as a contract photographer for the
Shinchosha publishing house. Signs a contract with Time-Life of America in 1965. Becomes freelancer in 1972.
Publishes numerous pictorials, such as
Musashino, Bunshi (“Literati”), and Andes
Sanka (“Andes Hymn”). Works with UNICEF taking pictures of children throughout the world. Receives the Mobil Children’s
Culture Award, Kikuchi Kan Prize, and the Photographic Society of Japan’s
Annual Award. Receives the Medal with
Purple Ribbon in 1990. Named a Person of
Cultural Merit in 2003.
Born in 1930 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
After graduating from Aichi University, becomes member of production staff for the pictorial publication Iwanami Shashin
Bunko. Becomes freelancer in 1956.
Arranges Nagasaki photo series into solo exhibition Nagasaki 11:02. Forms Vivo with Ikko Narahara, Yasuhiro Ishimoto,
Kikuji Kawada, and others in 1959.
Continues to publish a series of pieces that reveal a profound understanding of his day with regard to social issues such as the occupation and house. Receives the Mainichi Art Award, the Minister of
Education’s Art Encouragement Prize, and
The Japan Art Grand Prix. Receives the
Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1995.

Founded in 1977 Open Eye Gallery is an independent not-for-profit photography gallery based in Liverpool. One of the
UK’s leading photography spaces, Open
Eye is the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in the
North West of England. Open Eye has consistently championed photography as an art form that is relevant to everyone.
It promotes the practice, enjoyment and understanding of photography by creating challenging and entertaining opportunities to experience and appreciate distinctive, innovative photographs.
As well as presenting a programme of international, high-quality exhibitions
Open Eye houses a permanent Archive containing photographs dating from the
1930s to the present day.
The Japan Foundation was established in
1972 by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and became an Independent
Administrative Institution in 2003. The organisation promotes international cultural exchange between Japan and the rest of the world by organising projects as well as providing financial support through grant programmes in the fields of
Arts and Culture, Japanese language and
Japanese studies.
The Japan Foundation currently has its
Head Office in Tokyo, with offices and centres in over 20 countries outside of
Japan. The Japan Foundation London is the Foundation’s only office in the UK, and one of the first overseas offices to be established, opening in 1972. www.jpf.go.jp (Head Office)
In November 2011 Open Eye re-launched in a brand new purpose-built home in one of the city’s most prestigious and prominent new developments on the Liverpool
Waterfront. The gallery opens on to a large covered public square and is split over two floors. Open Eye Gallery hosts an international programme of cutting edge exhibitions showcased all year round, including periodic exhibitions reflecting on the gallery’s Archive. Open
Eye also commissions Wall Works - largescale graphic art installations for the external facade of the gallery. The gallery’s position at the heart of the regenerated Waterfront – next to the
Museum of Liverpool and a stone’s throw from Tate Liverpool and Albert Dock – cements its commitment to the city and its vibrant cultural life.
www.jpf.org.uk (London)

If you need to contact us to ask a question, arrange interviews or to request image files, please email:
Charlotte Anne Down
Marketing and Communications Officer charlotte@openeye.org.uk
+44 (0) 151 242 1131
General enquiries: info@openeye.org.uk
+44 (0) 151 236 6768
Open Eye Gallery
19 Mann Island
Liverpool Waterfront
L3 1BP
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10.30am - 5.30pm
Tuesday - Sunday
Including Bank Holidays
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Open Eye Gallery is located at the heart of the Liverpool Waterfront, a short walk from the Liverpool One shopping centre and the Albert Dock. The gallery is part of the new Mann Island development, a complex of three black buildings that sit between the Strand, the Canning dock and the new Museum of Liverpool. Our entrance is on the ground floor, in a covered public courtyard which can be entered from the south side (facing the Museum of
Liverpool) or the north side (facing Mann
Island and the Liver Building).