1914年、岩手県の盛岡に生まれた写真家・内村皓一(1914-1993)は、小学生の頃から写真に興味を持ち、当時流行の一円カメラで写真を始める。1940年、関東軍に徴用され、中国・奉天に赴任、約二年にわたって3,000枚の写真を撮影、戦争によって厳しい生活を強いられながらも力強く生き抜く、現地の人々のポートレイトや奉天の美しい風景などを捉えた。終戦後に三十数本のフィルムを忍ばせ帰国したが、残りは自らの手で焼却した。帰国後は花巻市で家業の印刷業を営むかたわら、国際サロン展に出品し、数多くの受賞歴がある。1969年に写真家は引退したが、写真クラブ「皓友会」を結成するなど後進の育成に力を入れた。日本の写真史において、あまり言及されることの少ない写真家ではあるが、彼が師と仰いだ詩人・高村光太郎(1883-1956)は彼のことを「光の詩人」と呼び、その作品を高く評価している。こちらは『内村皓一写真集』に所収の一枚であり、戦前の中国・奉天の露天で肉を売る女性が被写体となっている。プリント裏面にはおそらく当時内村が親しかった人物に宛てて、献呈署名と写真の解説が記載されている。
「肉を売る女」
板囲いのその露天には、切り刻まれた獣の死骸やボロボロの臓腑がちらばっていて、血や、汗や、にんにくなどでむせるような臭気の中に、一人の肉を売る女が立っていた。ほう丁を盤台に置いて、いぶかし気に凝視するその表情と油やアカに光る顔や衣服......。私はそこで、肉を食用として生きて行かなければならない人間の悲しい宿業の姿をはっきりと見た。
Born in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture in 1914, photographer Koichi Uchimura (1914-1993) developed an interest in photography from a young age, starting with a one-yen camera that was popular at the time. In 1940, he was conscripted into the Kwantung Army and stationed in Fengtian, China, where he took approximately 3,000 photographs over two years, capturing portraits of local people who were bravely surviving the harsh life imposed by the war, as well as the beautiful landscapes of Fengtian. After the war, he returned to Japan with over thirty rolls of film, but burned the rest himself. After returning to Japan, he ran his family's printing business in Hanamaki City while also exhibiting at international salon exhibitions and winning numerous awards. He retired as a photographer in 1969, but dedicated himself to nurturing the next generation of photographers, including forming the photography club "Koyukai." Although he is a photographer rarely mentioned in the history of Japanese photography, the poet Kotaro Takamura (1883-1956), whom he revered as his mentor, called him the "poet of light" and highly praised his work. This is one of the photographs included in the "Koichi Uchimura Photographs," and the subject is a woman selling meat at a street stall in Fengtian, China, before the war. On the back of the print is a dedication signature and commentary on the photograph, probably addressed to someone Uchimura was close to at the time.
"The Woman Selling Meat"
At the stall, enclosed by wooden boards, the carcasses of dismembered animals and tattered organs were scattered, and amidst the suffocating stench of blood, sweat, and garlic, stood a woman selling meat. Her face and clothes, gleaming with oil and grime, as she gazed suspiciously at the meat with her knife on the tray... There, I clearly saw the sad fate of humans who must live by eating meat.
撮影年 photographed year:1940s
プリント年 printed year: 1940s -60s
イメージサイズ image size:H347×W274mm
用紙サイズ paper size:H347×W274mm
状態 condition:サイン。経年並みです。/signed, good.