Yutaka Takanashi - Human Figure - 1979

Yutaka Takanashi, one of Japan's leading postwar photographers, has made a name for himself since the 1960s in commercial fashion photography.
In the 1970s he published Towards the City, a book that left its mark on Japanese photographic history, and he continued to confront Tokyo and the city in his creative work, including Machi (1977) and Tokyoites (1983). He then broadened his focus to the sacred lands where the gods reside, and published Hatsukuni (1993) in the 1990s as a compilation of his work.

This book largely consists of portraits of writers, artists and creators made in the 1970s. They include Takiguchi Shuzo, Haniya Yutaka, Fukazawa Shichiro, Itsuki Hiroyuki, Uekusa Jinichi, Kinbaratei Mao, Tsuge Yoshiharu, Hara Masato, Mikami Hiroshi, Tsuneda Fujio, Isozaki Arata, Yoshimasu Gozo, Kasai Akira, Hijikata Tatsumi, Mishima Yukio, Sakamoto Kyu, Shimao Toshio, Ikeda Masuo, Hanmura Ryo, Abe Ryoji, Ota Taku, Yamashita Yosuke, Komatsu Sakyo, Suzuki Tadashi, Nishie Masayuki, Maruyama Kenji, Takahashi Yuji, Nosaka Akiyuki, Tamura Ryuichi, Okada Takahiko