Motoichi Kumagai

Who was Motoichi Kumagai?

Motoichi Kumagai was a Japanese photographer and illustrator of books for children, known for his portrayal of rural and school life.

Born in Ōchi, Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, Kumagai worked from 1930 to 1933 as a teacher. He had his first work for children published in the May 1932 issue of the magazine Kodomo no Kuni. In 1936 he bought a Pearlette camera, with a simple meniscus lens, and started to use this to photograph village life; his first photograph collection was published two years later by Asahi Shinbunsha. In 1939 he went to Tokyo as a government photographer and was later sent three times to Manchukuo; after the war, he returned to teach in his village.

A book of photographs of school life published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955 won a photography prize from Mainichi Shimbun.

Kumagai published books of works for children as well as books of photographs. His photographs are held in the permanent collection of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and a volume of the series Nihon no Shashinka is dedicated to his work. He received various honours for his work, especially since around 1990. The village of Achi created a gallery, Kumagai Motoichi Shashin Dōgakan, for the permanent exhibition of his work.