The Life of Imokko Yocchan (Photo Musée)

A photo book by Koyo Kageyama, "Imokko Yo-chan's Life." This is a personal photo collection by Kageyama, one of Japan's leading photojournalists of the post-war era, who documented a turbulent period, focusing on his gaze as a father towards his child.

In 1946, his third son, Yorihiko (Yo-chan), was born amidst the confusion and poverty immediately after Japan's defeat. He was a child who would happily eat sweet potatoes, saying, "I'm a sweet potato child." This book chronicles his short life from birth until his death at age five in 1951 from tuberculous meningitis, through photographs taken daily by his father.

Family gathered around the dining table, him absorbed in play, time spent in a sickbed, and the days leading up to his farewell. What lies within is not a special performance, but the reality of post-war civilian life and a father's deep love for his child. Kageyama's stance as a photojournalist, dedicated to "documentation," remained unwavering even in this private album, and indeed, gained a strong universality.

However, this book is moving because it is not just the story of Yo-chan alone. In the food shortages, illness, and poverty after the war, many children lost their lives at a young age due to insufficient medical care and welfare. In those days, there were many "Yo-chans" throughout Japan.

This book is both a requiem for countless young lives that vanished without a trace, and a record conveying that the scars of war remained deeply etched in post-war daily life.

[Title] Imokko Yo-chan's Life (Photo Musée)
[Publisher] Shinchosha
[Publication Date] April 25, 1995
[Pages] 131 pages
[Size] 
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] IMOKKO YOCCHAN NO ISSHOU (FOTO MYUZE)
[Author/Editor] Koyo Kageyama/Author, Tomohiro Kageyama/Cooperation,Junichi Kusaka/Design, Hiromi Yoshida/Design
[Printing] Dai Nippon Printing/Printing, Kato Seihon/Binding
[ISBN] 4106024098
[Condition] Used [5] Good (Cover/Obi: slight sunburn on spine, Main body: slight stains on endpaper)
[Accessories] Obi
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Koyo Kageyama (1907-1981)

Born in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture in 1907.Real name: Masao Kageyama.
Deceased in 1981. One of the leading photojournalists of the Showa era.

After graduating from Hamamatsu Commercial High School, he learned photographic techniques while working at Gakko-sha, a photo retouching business. In 1927, he enrolled as a first-generation student in the Photography Department of Tokyo Higher Polytechnic School (now Chiba University Faculty of Engineering). His graduation project, "One Hundred Views of Tokyo," was highly acclaimed, and in 1930, he joined the Asahi Shimbun photo department.

During his tenure, he photographed turbulent times from the front lines, including the Great Famine in Tohoku in 1934, the February 26th Incident in 1936, the Chinese front during the Sino-Japanese War, and the Yamashita-Percival meeting in 1942. He was known for his journalistic approach that accurately captured historical moments. He was also called "the demon of record" for his thorough pursuit of photography's documentary nature.

After the war, he left the Asahi Shimbun and, after briefly serving as the head of the photography department at "Hakodate Shimbun," became a freelance photographer. He expanded his themes to include social changes, the lives of ordinary people, and family portraits, demonstrating a deep human gaze in works such as "Imokko Yo-chan's Life," which followed the short life of his beloved child, and his long-term documentation of the Elizabeth Saunders Home for mixed-race orphans.

He also maintained the spirit of documentary photography in personal subjects, such as the series "Ofukuro," which photographed his mother for 40 years. He is highly regarded as a photographer who continued to capture the reality of Japanese society before, during, and after the war.

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