Motoichi Kumagai

He is sometimes credited as Motokazu Kumagai or Motoiti Kumagai.

• Name — Motoichi Kumagai • Native Name — 熊谷元一 • Born — 12 July 1909 • Birthplace — Ōchi, Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan • Died — 6 November 2010 • Place of death — Tokyo, Japan • Occupation — Photographer, Illustrator • Language — Japanese

Kumagai was born on 12 July 1909 in the village of Ōchi-mura (now part of Achi), Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. His given name is generally romanized as "Motoichi", but is also sometimes written as "Motoiti" or "Motokazu". From 1930 to 1933, Kumagai worked 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 (a Konishiroku derivative of the Vest Pocket Kodak), 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. He went to Tokyo in 1939 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 featuring 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 has received various honours for his work since 1990. The village of Achi created a gallery called Kumagai Motoichi Shashin Dōgakan to permanently exhibit his work. He died of natural causes on 6 November 2010 in a nursing home in Tokyo.

• Mura no Fujin Seikatsu (Shinhyōronsha, 1954) • 2nd edition (Shinhyōronsha, 1956) • Nōka no Shiki (Ie-no-Hikari Kyōkai, 1961) • Inadani o Egaku (Shūbunsha) • Inadani o Egaku (1967) • Inadani no Warabe Uta (1968) • Kuroda Ningyō (1969) • Inadani no Kaiko (1969) • Tenryūgawa no Kawaranbe (1972) • Mura no Shashin Sensei (Ie-no-Hikari Kyōkai, 1968) • Nazuna Hanasaku (Minami Shinshū Shinbunsha Shuppankyoku, 1996) • Natsukashi no Shōgaku Ichinensei (Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2001, as writer) • 50-sai ni Natta Ichinensei (Kumagai Motoichi to Ichinensei no Kai, 2001, no ISBN) • Sansoku no Waraji (Minami Shinshū Shinbunsha Shuppankyoku, 2003, no ISBN) • Utsushitsuzukete 69-nen: Ōchi-mura–Achi-mura: Shōwa, Heisei (Kumagai Motoichi Shashin Dōgakan, 2003, no ISBN) • Ichinensei no Tki Sensō ga Hajimatta: Warera Kokumin Gakkō Funsenki (Nōsangyoson Bunka Kyōkai, 2005., as illustrator and photographer) • Shashinka Kumagai Motoichi to Media no Jidai: Shōwa no Kiroku/Kioku (Seikyūsha, 2005.)

• Gakkō Ehon: Shūshin no Maki (Suzuki Jin Seidō, 1936) • Itachi to Kodomo (Kin no Seisha, 1941) • Ujigami-sama Kodansha, 1942) • Yama no Mura (Kyōyōsha, 1942) • Ano Mura Kono Mura (Hakubunkan, 1943) • Yamaguni no Fudoki (Sanseidō, 1943) • Yoi Ko no Mura (Nōsangyoson Bunka Kyōkai, 1943) • Furusato no Ehon: Fuyu no Maki (Miyajima Shoten, 1946) • Furusato no Ehon: Natsu no Maki (Miyajima Shoten, 1947) • Furusato Monogatari (Kodansha, 1949) • Shizen no Naka de (Popura-sha, 1969) • Yama no Fūkko (Bunkendō Shichiseisha, 1969) • Genjii to Fushigi na Mura (Akane Shobō, 1975) • Mune ni Tomoru Tō (Chikuma Shobō, 1975) • Furusato to Nōgyō o Minaosu Nōkyō Ehon Shirīzu (Iida Chūō Nōgyō Kyōdō Kumiai) • Ishi no Kataribe: Mura no Rekishi o Kangaeru Hon (1981) • Mura no Ishibumi: Nōkyō no Rekishi o Kangaeru Hon (1982) • Irori: Nōka no Kurashi o Hangaeru Hon (1983) • Moraiburo: Nōka no Kurashi o Kangaeru Hon (1984) • Kobashi Yasumi: Mura no Shikitari o Kangaeru Hon Sono 1 (1985) • Kowashimizu (Kiyose-shi Kyōdo Hakubutsukan, 1985) • Furusato o Minaosu Ehon (Nōsangyoson Bunka Kyōkai, 1986) • Yatauchi: Mukashi no "Mugizukuri" • Osanaburi: Mukashi no "Gomezukuri" • Okaiko-sama: Mukashi no "Kogai" • Mushi Fūji: Minna no Kenkō) • Ishi no Kataribe: Mura no Rekishi • Mura no Ishibumi: Kyōdō Kumiai no Rekishi • Irori: Nōka no Kurashi 1 • Morai-buro: Nōka no Kurashi 2 • Kobashi Yasumi: Mura no Shikitari 1 • Mura Matsuri: Mura no Shikitari 2 • Inadani no Sanson Seikatsushi (Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1988) • Kumagai Motoichi no Sekai: Gashū (Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1992) • Shōnen no Inadani (Shinano Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1992) • Reibāchan no Inadani no Mukashibanashi (Minami Shinshū Shinbunsha, 1993)

• Ōchi-mura: Ichi Nōson no Shashin Kiroku (Asahi Shinbunsha, 1938) • Reprint (Kumagai Motoichi Shashin-hozon-kai, 1985) • Kaiko no Mura (Iwanami Shoten, 1953) • Reprint (Iwanami Shoten, 1988) • Minami Shinano no Nōson no Fujin (Iwanami Shoten, 1954) • Reprint (Iwanami Shoten, 1988) • Ichinensei: Aru Shōgaku Kyōshi no Kiroku (Iwanami Shoten, 1955) • Reprint (Iwanami Shoten, 2007) • (Shinano-ji, 1975) • Furusato no Shōwa-shi: Kurashi no Hen'yō: Gurafikku Repōto (Iwanami Shoten, 1989., as photographer and writer) • Kumagai Motoichi Sakuhinshū: Ichinensei to Sono Ato (JCII, 1992, no ISBN) • Mura no Ichinen (Kōbundō, 1993.) • Kumagai Motoichi Shashin Zenshū (Kyōdo Shuppansha, 1994) • Senzenhen • Sengohen 1 • Sengohen 2 • Inadani no matsuri • Kumagai Motoichi (Iwanami Shoten, 1997) • Kiyose no 365 Nichi (Kiyose-shi, 1999) • Shinshū Shōwa no Genfūkei: Kumagai Motoichi Hakuju Kinen Shashinshū (Issōsha Shuppan, 2008.)