About Shadai Gallery
Tokyo Polytechnic University is the most traditional and longest-established photographic institution in our country since 1923. Among other university establishments, Shadai Gallery was opened in 1975 as Japan’s pioneer facility and existence that exhibits, collects and researches both domestic and international photographs.
Photo studio soon after the establishment of university（around 1927）
Eikoh Hosoe at the opening of Shadai Gallery
When talking about Shadai Gallery, it is inseparable with one of the leading Japanese photographers, Eikoh Hosoe, who was the founding director of the gallery. Hosoe, born in 1933 is known for his series such as “Ordeal by Roses” (1963) modeled by Japanese author Yukio Mishima, and “Kamaitachi” (1969) which documented Japanese choreographer Tatstumi Hijikata. Since young, hosoe’s style of shooting numerous human bodies as his portrait gave sensations throughout the world. In 1975, Hosoe, who was already a striking photographer at the time, acceded as a professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University. As one of the conditions as becoming part of photographic education, he suggested the installation of a gallery for the spread of the art.
Back in 1975, photographs were already exhibited and archived like any other art genre, such as paintings and sculptures at museums across the United States and Europe.
In Japan, however, such culture was not yet accustomed and there were no such public institutions that followed the manner. Hosoe made a point that the most effective way to express “ the wonderfulness of photography” and “the love and respect to photography,” is to make a gallery within an academic facility. With this strong will, Shadai Gallery welcomed its opening with the exhibition of “ Wynn Bullock” on May 20th, 1975.
Invitation of Wynn Bullock Exhibition（1975）
Wynn Bullock Exhibition（1975）
Wynn Bullock (1902-1975), a famous American photographer participated in “The Family of Man” held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955 with his “Let There Be Light” (1954) used as the leadoff piece. The exhibition was to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary and it toured around more than 38 countries worldwide, allowing nine million people view the show. His exhibition at Shadai Gallery was his first solo show in Japan, and it became a big focus.
Since then, Shadai Gallery has organized numerous solo exhibits of well-known foreign photographers and historically signified domestic photographers. During the exhibitions, the gallery often invites the artists for special workshops and talk shows involving students as well as general visitors.
When Shadai Gallery was opened, Tokyo Polytechnic University held its original name, Tokyo College of Photography (Tokyo Shashin Daigaku), which was called Sha-dai for short. Hence the name of the gallery came from this abbreviation but even after the school name changed to Tokyo Polytechnic University in 1977, the gallery name stuck to this day.
Shadai Gallery archives more than ten thousand photographs and as for an institution affiliated with an educational establishment, this number should be renowned to the world.
The gallery’s collection includes works from worldly known photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Nadar, and Edward Weston as well as Ihei Kimura, Shomei Tomatsu and Ikko Narahara. Also among them, over twelve hundred important works of Ken Domon and a nine hundred early works of Daido Moriyama should be noted as an important part of the collection.
These collections are put to practical use for education and research daily, and are exhibited to the public for photography fans inside and outside of campus throughout the year.
Current exhibition
The Island Where People Live Ahagon Shōkō Photography Exhibition
Exhibition Outline
Ahagon Shōkō (1901–2002) is well-known as the leader of the nonviolent land struggle against the US military on the island of Iejima in Okinawa. In 1955, ten years after the Battle of Okinawa, the US military seized land to expand its base on the island. Ahagon and others were forced from their homes and farms in the village of Maja; some died of starvation as a result. As a means of confronting the forced confiscation of land by “bayonet and bulldozer” and the oppressive treatment that followed, Ahagon began to document the days’ events with a twin-lens reflex camera. The photographic record became a means of resistance. Ahagon and others shared the camera—the only one on the island—to document damage caused by military drills and the violent crimes of the American GIs, as well as the “Beggars’ March,” a months-long tour of the main island of Okinawa to appeal for support. The photographs made visible events on the remote island that had been relegated to invisibility by the American occupation. Before long, the circle of support spread not only within Okinawa, but to the main islands of Japan.
Through his books, including GIs and Farmers (1973) and Life is Precious: The Antiwar Spirit of Okinawa (1992), and his only photobook, The Island Where People Live (1983), Ahagon left a detailed account, in word and image, of the struggle. Continuing his appeal for the importance of peace until his death in 2002, Ahagon became known as the “Gandhi of Okinawa.”
Tokyo Polytechnic University has added to its collection the prints that were kept by Harigaya Kōji, who edited The Island Where People Live. At the same time, we have digitized about 3,600 extant monochrome negatives and made new silver halide prints. The negatives include many snapshots of daily life on Iejima and portraits of the islanders, offering glimpses of the things that Ahagon sought to defend. Please take this opportunity to view this documentary record that stands apart within the history of photography.
Planned and organized by Kohara Masashi
Ahagon Shōkō (1901–2002)
Born in a village on the Motobu Peninsula in Okinawa. He went to Cuba and Peru as a migrant farmworker before returning to Okinawa in 1934, when he settled on Iejima. While operating a general store, he purchased land on which to start a farmers school, but this plan was interrupted by the war and postwar land confiscation. The land struggle led by the residents of Iejima beginning in 1955 later sparked a unified movement on the main island of Okinawa. In 1984, he established Wabiai-no-Sato, comprised of the House of Nuchi du Takara [Life Is Precious] Antiwar Peace Museum and the House of Serenity. He published Beigun to Nōmin (GIs and Farmers; Iwanami Shinsho, 1973); Ningen no Sunde iru Shima (The Island Where People Live; self-published, 1983; English edition, CCA, 1989); and Inochi Koso Takara: Okinawa Hansen no Kokoro (Life Is Precious: The Antiwar Spirit of Okinawa; Iwanami Shinsho, 1992). He was given an award for distinguished service by Okinawa Prefecture in 1994. For the 2024 exhibition Photography, Resistance, and Island People (Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels), he received the Sagamihara Photography Award.
The Island Where People Live Ahagon Shōkō Photography Exhibition
Dates: Tuesday, November 5, 2024 - Friday, January 31, 2025
Hours of operation: 10:00 - 19:00
Closed: Thursday, Sunday, National Holidays,Thurday, December 26, 2024-Sunday, Junuary 5, 2025, Thursday, Junuary 16, 2025-Sunday, Junuary 19, 2025
※However, Saturday, November 23, 2024, Open
Admission free
Gallery Information
Tokyo Polytechnic University, Shadai Gallery
40th Anniversary Exhibition（2015）
2-9-5 Honcho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
164-8678, Japan
