Photobooks as a medium
When considering the possibilities of ‘expression’ through photography, photobooks can be said to be one of the most important media. While photographic exhibitions are also a powerful means of presentation, not only are they confined to specific venues, but they also restrict viewing of the works to limited timeframes. Photobooks, on the other hand, can be viewed (or read) anytime, anywhere; moreover, by vividly reproducing the materiality and tactile quality of photographic prints, and by linking and sequencing multiple images, they can accurately convey the photographer’s intentions. The fact that they can be widely distributed is also a significant advantage.
Japanese photographers had already been devoting considerable energy to the creation of photobooks before World War II. Photobooks such as Fukuhara Shinzō’s PARIS ET LA SEINE (Shashin Geijutsu-sha, 1922), Koishi Kiyoshi’s Shoka-Shinkei [Early Summer Nerves] (Naniwa Photography Club, 1933), and Kimura Ihei’s JAPAN THROUGH A LEICA (Sanseidō, 1938) faithfully reflect each photographer’s distinctive artistic vision and understanding of photographic philosophies, which in turn have shaped the printing, design and layout of the books. For example, photobooks with innovative bindings, such as Koishi Kiyoshi’s Early Summer Nerves, featuring a metal (zinc-plate) cover and spiral binding, are of a quality that is particularly noteworthy, even when compared with European and American photobooks published during the same period.
Since the Edo period (1603-1868), Japan had cultivated a cultural tradition of producing and appreciating reproduced printed works such as ukiyo-e woodblock prints. This long-established tradition of printmaking and bookmaking was naturally carried over into the realm of the photobook, helping to shape the distinctive high quality of Japanese photobook production.
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The 1960s: the golden age of photobook publishing
It was not until the 1960s, however, that Japan’s photobook culture – which continues to exert a significant influence to this day – truly came into its own. During this period, a wave of post-war photographers emerged, epitomized by the group VIVO, formed in 1959 by Tōmatsu Shōmei, Narahara Ikkō, Kawada Kikuji, Hosoe Eikō, Sato Akira and Tanno Akira. Against the backdrop of a period of political, economic and cultural upheaval in Japan – which had emerged from the crisis immediately following the war and a phase of rapid economic growth thereafter – they sought to develop a style of photographic expression that was more personal and subjective, transcending the conventional frameworks of photojournalism and advertising photography.
Photobooks began to be regarded as an important medium for presenting these artistic works. A succession of landmark photobooks was published during this time, including Tōmatsu Shōmei’s〈11:02〉NAGASAKI (Shashin Dōjinsha, 1966) and Nippon [Japan] (Shaken, 1967); Narahara Ikkō’s Europe: The Still Time (Kajima Institute Publishing, 1967) and Spain: The Great Afternoon (Kyūryūdō, 1969); and Hosoe Eikō’s Barakei [Ordeal by Roses] (Shūeisha, 1963) and Kamaitachi (Gendaishichōsha, 1969). Thanks to the content of these photobooks, the quality of their design and printing, and the scale of the public response they generated, this period can be described as the first glorious golden age in the history of Japanese photobooks.
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A key feature of Japanese photobooks from this period is the collaboration between photographers and graphic designers. Designers of the post-war generation such as Sugiura Kōhei (Europe: The Still Time, Barakei), Katsui Mitsuo (Spain: The Great Afternoon) and Tanaka Ikkō (Kamaitachi) gave shape to photobooks with novel designs and layouts, while carefully interpreting the photographers’ intentions. Rather than simply arranging photographs of the same size in the same layout, they were exploring a new style of photo-book editing in which disparate images collide, creating sparks, and the collection would be reconstructed as a new visual language.
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The Map: an object in the form of a book
Among these, if one were to name a single photobook representative of this period, it would surely be Kawada Kikuji’s The Map, published by Bijutsu Shuppansha in 1965 in a limited edition of 500 copies. The Map series, which Kawada began photographing around 1960, was compiled into a photobook following its presentation at solo exhibitions and in magazines. It was an ambitious endeavour in which Kawada sought to reconstruct his own memories of World War II by photographing its ruins and artefacts, juxtaposing them with images symbolic of 1960s Japan. In the words of Nobel laureate Ōe Kenzaburō, who is quoted within the photobook, this resulted in ‘a map that truly depicts a violent world’.
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Sugiura Kōhei’s book design played a decisive role in shaping the form of this photobook, which was grounded in a unique artistic vision. While devising the layout for The Map, Sugiura conceived a plan to present the work as a two-volume set, comprising one volume featuring a series of photographs taken with relentless focus on the peeling, stain-marked walls of the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, and another volume containing a collection of photographs that evoke memories of various wars. However, due in part to the publisher’s financial constraints, the project ultimately shifted to an unconventional plan, merging the two volumes into a single photobook, with every page designed as a ‘double-page spread’ (where unfolding a folded page reveals another image). Ultimately, however, combined with elements such as the inner box that opens as if unhooking a claw and the cluster of words on the inside cover that resemble a mysterious incantation, The Map came to be established as a book-shaped artefact encapsulating a series of photographs described by Ōe Kenzaburō as ‘dark, intricate and obsessive images’.
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As mentioned earlier, The Map can be described as being a representative photobook of the 1960s – a period in which a younger generation of Japanese photographers, through engaging with post-war society, sought to establish their own worldviews, and to express these through the medium of photography. However, it was more than that; as a result of the collaboration between photographer and graphic designer – shuffling and reconstructing multiple photographs to present them as an intricate sequence of conflicting images – The Map also became a volume that set the direction for the creation of photobooks by subsequent generations of Japanese photographers. Even when viewed today, The Map remains outstanding in its foresight, innovation and impact.
About the author
Iizawa Kōtarō is a Japanese photography critic. Born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1954, he graduated from the Department of Photography, College of Art, Nihon University, and completed his doctoral programme at the Graduate School of Arts, University of Tsukuba. He received the Photographic Society of Japan Award for his book ‘Geijutsu shashin to sono jidai (Art Photography and Its Era)’ (Chikumashobō, 1986) and the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities Award for his book ‘Shashin bijutsukan e yōkoso (Welcome to the Museum of Photography)’ (Kōdansha Gendai Shinsho, 1996). He is also active as a judge for open photography competitions and as a curator of photography exhibitions.