Kazuo Kitai etc - Jiyu O warera ni - 1968

Jiyu O warera ni

Kazuo Kitai
Nobel Bookshop /1968/Japanese/193*130*180

Jiyu o warera ni“ (”Freedom for Us All” - The Memoirs of the Students of the Zengakuren / Jiyu O warera ni) is a collection of works based on memoirs and photographic records of the Zengakuren, published by Nobel Shobo in 1968. Nobel Shobo publishes good books ranging from books on politics and struggles such as this one to photo collections (e.g., Kenji Ishiguro). This book collects the voices of students who participated in the Zengakuren (All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations), which was at the center of the student movement in the 1960s. The photographs that decorate the front cover and other pages of the book are by Kazuo Kitai, the winner of the first Ihei Kimura Photography Award and one of Japan's leading documentary photographers. There are about 14 illustrations, but in addition to Kitai's expert and realistic shots of the “struggle” site, the book also offers glimpses of the real faces of students who may have been in between the struggles. Although the book is mostly text, the voices of the students, anguished, angry, and lost, searching for what they should do at a time when anti-establishment sentiment was loudly voiced, convey the urgency of the situation and resonate with a subtle poetic sentiment amidst the fervor. (Included in The Japanese Photobook 1912-1990)