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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