Via The International Cool Hunting Magazine:
“Tamotsu Yato (矢頭保), a photographer working in Japan from the mid-60s to the early 70s, created images of Japanese men that had a currency and evocativeness that were rare for his time. In his less-than-a-decade-long career, he photographed constantly and sometimes furiously, pointing his camera at friends, friends of friends, bodybuilding competitions, mens’ festivals and non-professional models from Tokyo’s thriving urban culture. Eventually, he developed the photographs into three distinct bodies of work which were published as “Young Samurai” (体道:日本のボディビルダーたち), “Naked Festival” (裸祭り) and “Otoko” (男 – Man). The last, “Otoko”, was inspired to a great degree by the photographer’s close friendship with novelist Yukio Mishima. Yato’s photographs portrayed a Japanese masculinity distinctly contrary to stereotypes, absolutely contemporary, wholly masculine, and completely Japanese. His death in 1973 cut short a pictorial investigation which promised to go deeper into a territory with little parallel or precedent.”
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