Shōmei Tōmatsu - 日本 / Nihon - 1967

Shōmei Tōmatsu – Nihon / Nippon – 1972
Published by Shashin Hyoron-sha, Tokyo. First edition. Hardcover.

A key photobook by Shōmei Tōmatsu (1930–2012), one of the central figures of postwar Japanese photography. Nihon / Nippon brings together Tōmatsu’s sharp, restless visual language, capturing Japan in a period of rapid transformation. His images—ranging from street scenes to symbolic fragments—form a powerful and often unsettling portrait of national identity in flux.

This edition reflects Tōmatsu’s characteristic approach: high‑contrast gravure printing, dynamic sequencing, and a strong emphasis on atmosphere over documentation. The book stands as an essential work of the late 1960s–early 1970s Japanese avant‑garde, closely connected to the circles that later shaped Provoke.