In the mid-20th century, the "setting sun" took on a more literal and political meaning. The term Shayō-zoku (the people of the setting sun), popularized by Osamu Dazai’s literature, referred to the declining aristocracy after World War II.
Through their images and their equally powerful written essays, manifestos, and diaries, these artists chronicled a shifting national identity. Here is an in-depth exploration of the literature, philosophies, and written works left behind by Japan’s most influential photographers as they watched the sun set on an old world and rise on a new one. 1. Shomei Tomatsu: Documenting the Post-War Twilight
Post-war Japanese photographers rejected the idea of the camera as an objective recorder of facts. Instead, they embraced intense subjectivity. Nobuyoshi Araki famously coined the term I-Photography (shi-shashin), drawing a direct parallel to the Japanese I-Novel . For Araki, photography was an intimate, unfiltered diary of daily life, love, and death. Essential Figures and Their Literary Contributions Shomei Tomatsu: The Godfather of the Post-War Era setting sun writings by japanese photographers
Reviewers often praise the book for its raw, "disarmingly intimate" revelations that provide context for famous imagery:
As Japan stabilized economically into the 1970s and 1980s, the focus shifted from grand socio-political critiques toward radical subjectivity and the "I-photography" ( shashitsu ) movement. In the mid-20th century, the "setting sun" took
A unique documentation of a nation transitioning from destruction to a capitalist future.
The subtitle of the magazine was Provocative Materials for Thought . The founders wrote fierce manifestos declaring that traditional, beautiful photography was dead. Here is an in-depth exploration of the literature,
The writings collected in Setting Sun remain relevant because they provide the theoretical framework for understanding the unique, intense, and often dark aesthetic that still defines much of Japanese photography. They document a generation that, in the face of profound loss, used the camera to critically, and often painfully, examine what it meant to be Japanese in a rapidly changing world.
The following exploration examines the written reflections and visual philosophies of Japan’s most influential photographers regarding the "Setting Sun." The Philosophy of the Golden Hour
Nakahira was the fiercest theorist of the movement. His essay collection, For a Language to Come (Koto ba no nai kuni), argued that photography should not be an art form that expresses the artist's inner soul. Instead, he believed the camera should look at the world strictly as a collection of physical objects, stripping away romantic illusions. Daido Moriyama: Memories of a Dog