Japanese Photography Magazines, 1880s to 1980s
Explore a century of Japanese photography through its magazine culture. Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s offers an accessible journey into Japan’s rich photography history, showcasing over 1,500 visuals, essays, explanatory texts and primary texts by photographers. This volume is an unparalleled resource, opening up an otherwise obscure world to enthusiasts and scholars alike.
Japanese Photography Magazines, 1880s to 1980s
by Kaneko Ryūichi, Toda Masako, Ivan Vartanian
with contributions by Fujii Yūko, Inokuchi Yoshio, Nariai Hajime, Soeno Tsutomu
“An expansive new book charts Japan’s unparalleled history of photography in print.”
Visit the companion site
The companion site for Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s includes searchable index, added features, bonus content, teaching materials, as well new and on-going interviews with curators and artists, focusing on discussions of Japanese photography.
Selected Highlights of Japanese Photography Magazines: 1880s to 1980s:
Social change and identity: See the evolution of Japan’s sense of self through student protests, counterculture movements, social studies of ancient rituals, and a changing landscape in the work of Hiroshi Hamaya, Shomei Tomatsu, Ikko Narahara, Kazuo Kitai, and Koji Taki.
Experimental visions: Delve into avant-garde styles, from abstract surrealism of prewar Japan to gritty photojournalism, represented by masters like Ken Domon and Ihei Kimura.
Technical advancements: Discover the impact of W.W.II on the development of Japan’s camera manufacturing and magazine industry.
The “Eizo-ha” generation: Learn about postwar photographers who presented a new relationship with images as well as cross-disciplinary approaches to Butoh dance and literature.
Independence: Get to know how photographers independently produced magazines and organized exhibition spaces in the 70s & 80s, forming small collectives that changed the course of photography.
Influential voices: Read translated writings by photographers, critics, and poets like Eikoh Hosoe, Shuji Terayama, and Shuntaro Tanikawa, offering insights into the creative discourse.
Provoke’s B-side: Discover how the collective produced another publication, with contributions from Daido Moriyama, Takuma Nakahira, and Yutaka Takanashi.
Art and activism in Japan - Connects photography and magazines to social and political movements.
Landmark publications: Immerse yourself in the pages of seminal magazines like Shashin Shinbun (1887), Asahi Graph (1923), Camera Mainichi (1956), and Provoke (1968), experiencing the evolution of visual storytelling and editorial design.
Comprehensive: Experience complete reproductions of iconic works, including a full reproduction of Masahisa Fukase’s "Ravens," complete with authorized translations of his accompanying texts.
With over 1,500 illustrations across 500 pages, this book transcends Western narratives, providing a nuanced understanding of the distinct character of Japanese photography.
ISBN: 978-4991276101
Hardcover, 28 x 25 cm (11.02 x 9.84 inches)
500 Pages, over 1,300 color images, 3.04kg (6.7 lbs.)
Words: approx. 200,000 words in English
Captions: Bilingual in English and Japanese
“Magazines are not unlike photography itself: unruly, energetic, ephemeral and largely disposable. They carry and express the spirit of their moment like nothing else. This major study of Japanese photography magazines, produced with the greatest care and expertise, captures what it was that made the country’s visual sensibility so rich and so special. Alongside portfolios by the great names, published before their famous books, there is fascinating work by brilliant but forgotten image makers, along with writing and design that is just as vital. This is a landmark publication, allowing us to see a visual culture develop, explore and expand in real time, across a century of enormous change. ”
RYUICHI KANEKO was one of the founding curators of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. As an expert on Japanese photography and Japanese photobooks, he authored numerous books and contributed to many publications and exhibitions internationally. Kaneko was a contributing author to The History of Japanese Photography (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2003) and author of Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s & ’70s (Aperture, 2009), Ueda Shoji: Photography Technique / We are all Amateurs! (Korinsha, 1999). He is the editor of the forthcoming anthology Shomei Tomatsu: Writings (Goliga, 2023).
MASAKO TODA is a photo historian, author, and curator of Japanese photography. She holds a masters from The University of Tokyo, Department of Humanities and Sociology. Toda is a lecturer at Musashino Art University, Tokyo College of Photography, among others. In 2006, she was awarded the incentive award by the Japan Society for Arts and History of Photography. Toda’s field of expertise is the history of modernism as well as postwar Japanese photography. She is the author of the photography monograph Hisae Imai, published by Akaaka Art Publishing, 2022.
IVAN VARTANIAN has edited and authored numerous books on photography and art, including Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s & ’70s (Aperture, 2009), Setting Sun: Writings by Japanese Photographers (Aperture, 2005), among others.