Hiroshi Hamaya - Urumchi - 1957

Copy in very good condition, inside in near fine condition.

"Urumchi" is a photo book by Hiroshi Hamaya, one of Japan's leading photographers. Hiroshi Hamaya was a pioneering Japanese documentary photographer who has continued to research and focus on Japan's climate and folklore for a long time since the end of the war, and was also the first Japanese contributor to Magnum Photos. Hamaya, who was born and raised in a lively, modernized, economic and industrially developing Tokyo, was born and raised in a pre-war and post-war Tokyo, but when he visited Niigata Prefecture for the first time, he was struck by the disparity in "time" and "culture." Realization. From the 1940s, he traveled along the coast of the Sea of Japan, carefully exploring the harsh climate and the lives of people living under labor, and published the photo book Snow Country (1956). The following year, he published ``Ura-Nihon'' (1957), a masterpiece that has carved its name in the history of photography and has long been highly acclaimed as a ``textbook of photo books.'' Although this book is an early work, it is set overseas, which is rare for Hamaya, and consists of illustrations taken in Urumqi, China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Although it is overseas, it is a book set in a ``remote'' area in northwest China, which is typical of Hamaya. This is one of the 14-volume "World Photographer Series" published by Heibonsha.

Urumchi (often published under the title Henkyō no Machi / 邊境の町, translating to "Border Town") is a rare, early photobook by the pioneering Japanese documentary photographer Hiroshi Hamaya, published in 1957.

Unlike the vast majority of Hamaya's celebrated post-war work, which focused intensely on the climate, traditional folklore, and remote rural landscapes of Japan (such as his legendary volumes Snow Country and Japan's Back Coast), Urumchi is a rare overseas documentary project.

The book features black-and-white illustrations and photographs captured in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Even though it was shot outside of Japan, it aligns perfectly with Hamaya's lifelong fixation on "remote" regions, documenting how human populations adapt, work, and live within harsh, distinct environments.

It was released in 1957 by the publisher Heibonsha as part of their 14-volume "World Photographer Series" (Sekai shashin sakka shirizu).

The photobook utilizes high-contrast, documentary-style realism to chronicle daily life, local customs, and the geographical landscape of China's northwest frontier, featuring imagery ranging from local townspeople to working animals like horses.

Originally printed with picture boards, the book is highly sought after by collectors as a rare artifact of post-war Japanese photography. While the primary context and publishing metadata are Japanese, vintage editions frequently include bilingual Japanese and English text elements or indexing.