Extraordinary Black and White Photos Captured Winter Scenes in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s

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Asano Kiichi (1914–1993) was born in Kameoka, a rural farming community in Kyoto Prefecture, at an early age Asano’s family relocated to Kyoto City and opened a confectionery shop while he was in grade school. Kyoto was to become Asano’s permanent home and growing up there he was heavily influenced by Kyoto’s arts and traditions.

His passion with photography began while in high school when he saved up enough money to buy a camera. Soon after he began photographing Kyoto, a subject that became his lifelong obsession. This was when historical Kyoto was being transformed into a modern city and Asano documented it’s old ways which were rapidly fading away.
In the 1950s he did his most important work including essays on Kyoto’s geisha in the Gion district and an essay on Japan’s snow country which was also intended to record a disappearing way of life. For this Asano spent three years photographing rural life and traditions in Echigo, Noto, and the Tohoku regions.
Throughout his life he received many awards and citations and was a lifetime member of the Japan Professional Photographer’s Society. He also published several books including; Snow Country, Nihon No Sakura, Invitation to Japanese Gardens, and the multi book set Splendors of Kyoto Through the Year. His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums including the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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