Yosuke Yamahata
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
photographer best known for extensively photographing Nagasaki the day after it was bombed
.
Yamahata was born in Singapore
; his father, Shōgyoku Yamahata had a job there related to photography. He went to Tokyo in 1925 and eventually started at Hosei University
(Tokyo) but dropped out in 1936 to work in G. T. Sun , a photographic company run by his father. (He would become its president in 1947.) From 1940, Yamahata worked as a military photographer in China and elsewhere in Asia outside Japan; he returned to Japan in 1942.
On August 10, 1945, a day after the Nagasaki bombing, Yamahata began to photograph the devastation, still working as a military photographer. Over a period of about twelve hours he took around a hundred exposures; by late afternoon, he had taken his final photographs near a first aid
station north of the city. In a single day, he had completed the only extensive photographic record of the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing
of either Hiroshima
or Nagasaki. These photographs appeared swiftly, for example in the 21 August issue of Mainichi Shinbun
.
After the GHQ
's restrictions on coverage of the effects of the atomic bomb were lifted earlier in 1952, Yamahata's photographs of Nagasaki appeared in the 29 September issue of Life
. The same year, they appeared in the book Kiroku-shashin: Genbaku no Nagasaki. Some also appeared in the exhibition and book "The Family of Man
".
Yamahata became violently ill in 1965, on his forty-eighth birthday and the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer
of the duodenum
, probably caused by the residual effects of radiation
received in Nagasaki in 1945. He is buried at Tama Cemetery, Tokyo.
Restoration work was done on Yamahata's negatives after his death. An exhibition of prints, "Nagasaki Journey", traveled to San Francisco, New York
, and Nagasaki in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the bombing.
Yamahata's photographs of Nagasaki remain the most complete record of the atomic bombing as seen immediately after the bombing. The New York Times
has called his photographs "some of the most powerful images ever made".
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
photographer best known for extensively photographing Nagasaki the day after it was bombed
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
.
Yamahata was born in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
; his father, Shōgyoku Yamahata had a job there related to photography. He went to Tokyo in 1925 and eventually started at Hosei University
Hosei University
is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan.The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha , established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō . This was from 1883 headed by Dr. Gustave Emile Boissonade, and was heavily influenced by the French legal tradition...
(Tokyo) but dropped out in 1936 to work in G. T. Sun , a photographic company run by his father. (He would become its president in 1947.) From 1940, Yamahata worked as a military photographer in China and elsewhere in Asia outside Japan; he returned to Japan in 1942.
On August 10, 1945, a day after the Nagasaki bombing, Yamahata began to photograph the devastation, still working as a military photographer. Over a period of about twelve hours he took around a hundred exposures; by late afternoon, he had taken his final photographs near a first aid
First aid
First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...
station north of the city. In a single day, he had completed the only extensive photographic record of the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
of either Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
or Nagasaki. These photographs appeared swiftly, for example in the 21 August issue of Mainichi Shinbun
Mainichi Shimbun
The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by .-History:The history of the Mainichi Shimbun begins with founding of two papers during the Meiji period. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun was founded first, in 1872. The Mainichi claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper...
.
After the GHQ
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II...
's restrictions on coverage of the effects of the atomic bomb were lifted earlier in 1952, Yamahata's photographs of Nagasaki appeared in the 29 September issue of Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
. The same year, they appeared in the book Kiroku-shashin: Genbaku no Nagasaki. Some also appeared in the exhibition and book "The Family of Man
The Family of Man
The Family of Man was a photography exhibition curated by Edward Steichen first shown in 1955 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the 'culmination of his career'. The 508 photos by 273 photographers in 68 countries were selected from almost 2...
".
Yamahata became violently ill in 1965, on his forty-eighth birthday and the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
of the duodenum
Duodenum
The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms anterior intestine or proximal intestine may be used instead of duodenum...
, probably caused by the residual effects of radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
received in Nagasaki in 1945. He is buried at Tama Cemetery, Tokyo.
Restoration work was done on Yamahata's negatives after his death. An exhibition of prints, "Nagasaki Journey", traveled to San Francisco, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and Nagasaki in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the bombing.
Yamahata's photographs of Nagasaki remain the most complete record of the atomic bombing as seen immediately after the bombing. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has called his photographs "some of the most powerful images ever made".
Books of Yamahata's works
- Kiroku-shashin: Genbaku no Nagasaki . Daiichi Shuppansha, 1952.
- Genbaku no Nagasaki . Tokyo: Gakufū Shoin, 1959.
- Nagasaki Journey: The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata August 10, 1945. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 1995. ISBN 0876543603.
- Nagasaki yomigaeru genbaku shashin . Tokyo: NHK, 1995. ISBN 4-14-080231-6. Yamahata Yōsuke . Nihon no shashinka 23. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1998. ISBN 4-00-008363-5.
Sources
Hirakata . "Yamahata Yōsuke". Nihon shashinka jiten / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers. Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. ISBN 4-473-01750-8. Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.- Kaku: Hangenki / The Half Life of Awareness: Photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1995. Exhibition catalogue; captions and text in both Japanese and English. Fifteen pages of Yamahata's photographs of Nagasaki; also works by Ken DomonKen Domonis one of the most renowned Japanese photographers of the twentieth century. He is most celebrated as a photojournalist, though he may have been most prolific as a photographer of Buddhist temples and statuary....
, Toshio FukadaToshio Fukadais a renowned Japanese photographer.-References:...
, Kikujirō FukushimaKikujiro Fukushimais a renowned Japanese photographer.-References:...
, Shigeo HayashiShigeo Hayashiwas a Japanese photographer. After three years of army service he began his career as a photographer with the Japanese propaganda magazine FRONT, in 1943. In September 1945 he was one of two photographers assigned by the Special Committee for the Investigation of A-bomb Damage to document the...
, Kenji IshiguroKenji Ishigurois a renowned Japanese photographer.-References:...
, Shunkichi KikuchiShunkichi Kikuchiwas a Japanese photographer best known for his documentation of Hiroshima and Tokyo immediately after the war.Kikuchi was born in Hanamaki, Iwate on 1 May 1916. After graduating from the Oriental School of Photography, Kikuchi was employed in the Photography Division of Tokyo Kōgeisha and began his...
, Mitsugi KishidaMitsugi Kishidawas a renowned Japanese photographer.-References:...
, Eiichi MatsumotoEiichi Matsumotois a renowned Japanese photographer.-References:...
, Yoshito MatsushigeYoshito Matsushigewas a Japanese photojournalist who survived the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and took five photographs on the day of the bombing in Hiroshima, the only photographs taken that day within Hiroshima that are known....
, Shōmei TōmatsuShomei Tomatsuis a Japanese photographer.Born Teruaki Tōmatsu in Nagoya in 1930, Tōmatsu studied economics at Aichi University, graduating in 1954. While still a student, he had his photographs published by the major Japanese photography magazines. He entered Iwanami and worked on the series Iwanami Shashin Bunko...
, and Hiromi TsuchidaHiromi Tsuchidais a renowned Japanese photographer.Tsuchida has produced several collections of photographs of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He has produced many influential photo books such as Zokushin, counting the sand and new counting the sand and The Berlin Wall...
. Text and captions in both Japanese and English. Nihon no shashinka / Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography. Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005. ISBN 4-8169-1948-1. Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.
External links
- Photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Nagasaki Journey, The Photographs of Yosuke Yamahata, presented by the San Francisco Exploratorium
