Born in Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture in 1951. Got heavily into outdoor activities like hiking, diving and speleology as part of the explorers' club at Matsuyama University of Commerce (now Matsuyama University). While working in the photography business, has on the side photographed the Ishizuchi Mountains of Shikoku and Okinawa from the theme of “man vs. nature”.
[Exhibitions]
- 2010
- Under the Sun in Okinawa, Pentax Gallery, Tokyo
- 2014
- Under the Sun in Okinawa, Hiuchi Gallery, Saijo
- 2016
- Enveloped by Mt. Ishizuchi, Ricoh Imaging Square Shinjuku, Tokyo
- 2018
- Tales of Shikoku's Mt. Ishizuchi, Ricoh Imaging Square Shinjuku, Tokyo
- 2018
- Tales of Shikoku's Mt. Ishizuchi, Ricoh Imaging Square Osaka, Osaka
- 2019
- The Showa Era in Black and White, Imabari
- 2019
- Okinawa, Asakura Museum of History, Imabari
[Awards]
- 1979
- Honorable Mention, Japan Advertising Photographers Association (APA) Exhibition
- 1991
- Award for Excellence, Exhibition of the Japan Professional Photographers Society (JPS)
- 2011
- Judge's Award, Nikakai Association of Photographers
- 2019
- Honorable Mention, Japan Advertising Photographers Association (APA) Exhibition
- 2021
- Honorable Mention, Ehime Publication Culture Awards
[Publications]
- 1998
- Guidebook to My Favorite Places to Photograph (Graphic-Sha Publishing, Co-authored)
- 2015
- Photos of the 350th Anniversary of the Ginnogimin Tragedy (Self-Published)
- 2020
- Enveloped by Mt. Ishizuchi(Atlas Publishing)
[Publications]
Japan Photographers Association, Nikakai Association of Photographers, All Japan Kendo Federation (7th Dan)
Traveling alone or with a small number of people, comfortably dressed, is more my style. Well, let me put it this way: I like it over group tours or trips decked out to the nines. That's been my mode of travel since high school, though I haven't really gone that far away.
The first time I went to Okinawa was by ship, the spring after the island was returned to Japan in 1972. On that trip, I walked the Heiwadori Shotengai in Naha City where women packed the sides of the street selling salted squid and rabbitfish stuffed into coffee cans and arrayed out on makeshift displays consisting of planks stretched across wooden crates. I was repeatedly intrigued to see these petit old ladies with their hair wound into a bun on top of their heads often pulling out an abacus to help the vendor next to them tabulate the bill while they served a customer. Okinawa was the only part of Japan where a ground battle was fought. It was brutal with homes burned and many killed. Seeing how these women conducted themselves made we wonder whether this culture of helping one another spawned as a way for everyone to make it through the postwar occupation.
Five years later, during the month of July, I got a chance to visit Zamami Island, which was known throughout the world for its crystal-clear seas. I was amazed by how vibrant and clear the cobalt blue and emerald waters were. You could literally see huge fish swimming around the sea bottom from the dock.
Drawn to its glittering seas and beautiful landscapes, I have gone back to Okinawa multiple times, walked its old markets and alleys, and outlying islands, and taken pictures of the sights and scenes.
Come to think of it, my first visit to Okinawa was almost fifty years ago. So, as I thumbed through my archives of photos, I slowly began to recall faint memories that, for the longest time, had laid dormant in the back of my mind. It stirred in me a sense of nostalgia for all of the things I had done in the past and completely forgotten about.