was a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
photographer and occasional actor responsible for pioneering Japanese
homoerotic
Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...
photography and creating iconic
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
images of the Japanese male.
Biography
Yato was born in
Nishinomiya
270px, Nishinomiya City Hall
270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center
270px, Hirota Shrine
is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218948 households and a population density of 48 ...
in 1928 as Tamotsu Takeda. He was self-taught photographer and during his life never took part in any of the many photographic organizations which was customary in Japan that time.
During his life he had been a day laborer, as well as working at the Nichigeki theater.
Tamotsu Yato was a friend and collaborator of the writer
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...
and the film critic
Donald Richie
Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...
, as well as a long-term romantic partner of
Meredith Weatherby Oscar Meredith Weatherby (February 25, 1915 – June 27, 1997) was an American publisher who was the founder of Weatherhill Publications. He spent a large part of his life in Japan and is known in particular for his English translations of literary ...
, an expatriate American publisher and translator of Mishima's works into English. Meredith, who was president of the Weatherhill publishing house, bought Yato his first camera, and his friends showed him how to use it. Yato completed three volumes of photography.
In the preface to his 1972 collection Otoko, Tamotsu Yato wrote:
Even though Yato's work received only a limited public distribution, it has attained a cult following and has been acknowledged as a major influence by a number of artists working with male erotica. Thus,
Sadao Hasegawa
was a Japanese graphic artist known for creating homoerotic fetish art. His works are noted for their extensive detail, elaborate fantasy settings, and for their juxtaposition of elements from Japanese, Balinese, Thai, Tibetan Buddhist, Afric ...
remarks in his ''Paradise Visions'': "Tamotsu Yato achieved fame by creating Otoko, a picture book. He photographed Yukio Mishima, nude. His subjects: traditional, muscular, unsophisticated countryside men, are mostly extinct today. Otoko was valuable because you could see these long-bodied, stout-legged, cropped hair, square-jawed men... Good-bye, men of Nippon!"
Tamotsu Yatō died in sleep in his apartment in
Takadanobaba
Takadanobaba (Japanese: 高田馬場 ''Takada-no-baba'') is a neighborhood in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
History
Originally, the area's name was read ''Takatanobaba'' and many Tokyo residents in their 50s or older pronounce it as such. However, you ...
from a heart condition at the age of forty-five. After his passing, Meredith Weatherby took his negatives to California. They later went into the possession of Fumio Mizuno, who owns them to this day.
Books by Tamotsu Yato
*''Taidō: Nihon no bodibirudā-tachi'' (). Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1966; English version: ''Young Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan'', New York: Grove Press, 1967. With an introduction by
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...
.
*''
Hadaka matsuri
A is a type of Japanese festival, or ''matsuri'', in which participants wear a minimum amount of clothing; usually just a fundoshi loincloth, sometimes with a short happi coat, and rarely completely naked.
Naked festivals are held in dozens of p ...
'' (). Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1969; English version: ''Naked festival: A Photo-Essay'', New York/Tokyo: John Weatherhill, 1968. With an introduction by
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...
and essays by Tatsuo Hagiwara, Mutsuro Takahashi, and Kozo Yamaji. Translated and adapted for Western readers by
Meredith Weatherby Oscar Meredith Weatherby (February 25, 1915 – June 27, 1997) was an American publisher who was the founder of Weatherhill Publications. He spent a large part of his life in Japan and is known in particular for his English translations of literary ...
and Sachiko Teshima.
*''Otoko: Photo-Studies of the Young Japanese Male'', Los Angeles: Rho-Delta Press, 1972. Dedicated to the memory of
Yukio Mishima
, born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...
.
Notes
See also
*
Homosexuality in Japan
Records of men who have sex with men in Japan date back to ancient times. Western scholars have identified these as evidence of homosexuality in Japan. Though these relations had existed in Japan for millennia, they became most apparent to schol ...
References
*
Angles, JeffreyInterview with Takahashi Mutsuo ''Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context,'' Issue 12, January 2006. Briefly discusses Yatō's sex life and declining health.
*
Richie, Donald. ''The Japan Journals: 1947–2004'', Stone Bridge Press (2005). Donald Richie's autobiography mentioning Yato in a number of different context
(browsable scanned version at GoogleBooks)*
Richie, Donald. ''Naked Festival: The Art of Tamotsu Yato'', Kyoto Journal no. 44, Kyoto / New York, 2000.
*
Tagame, GengorohGay Erotic Art in Japan vol. 2: Transitions of Gay Fantasy in the Times(PDF file)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yato, Tamotsu
Japanese photographers
Japanese erotic artists
Japanese LGBT people
Gay artists
1920s births
1973 deaths
LGBT photographers
20th-century LGBT people