Bukō Shimizu

Bukō Shimizu (清水 武甲, Shimizu Bukō, 1913–1995) was a Japanese photographer who lived in and photographed Chichibu (Saitama).

Shimizu was born on 12 October 1913 in Chichibu, the eldest son of the family running a photography studio in Kumaki, Chichibu.[1] His unusual given name, Bukō, is written with the same characters as those used for Mount Bukō; the family had intended it to be pronounced Takekatsu, but when interviewed in his late seventies Shimizu did not remember "Takekatsu" as having been used.[2] In 1929, Shimizu's father suddenly gave up working at the family's photography studio in Chichibu,[3] and the 16-year-old Bukō had to teach himself photographic technique (even the manufacture of photographic paper) from books bought second hand in order to keep the business running[2] From around 1937 he also energetically photographed the topography and people of Chichibu.[1][4]

Shimizu provided the photographs for a large number of books about the Chichibu area. In 1972 he won the annual award of the Photographic Society of Japan.[5]

Shimizu also wrote much about Chichibu; a three-volume collection of his writings was published in 1983.[3] He worked on behalf of the area's libraries and drama, and towards creation of Chichibu National Park.[4]

Shimizu died on 23 January 1995.[4]

Photographs by Shimizu are in the permanent collection of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.[3]

Books by Shimizu

Some photobooks by Bukō Shimizu

Notes

  1. 1 2 Teruo Okai (岡井輝雄, potted biography of Shimizu, Nihon rettō shashin jinhyōden: Fūdo to shashin no kōkei (日本列島写真人評伝　風土と写真の光景), Photo Contest bessatsu (Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kikaku, 1992), p.132. (in Japanese)
  2. 1 2 Shimizu in conversation with Teruo Okai, in Nihon rettō shashin jinhyōden: Fūdo to shashin no kōkei, pp. 132–36.
  3. 1 2 3 Mihashi Sumiyo (三橋純予), "Shimizu Bukō", Nihon shashinka jiten (日本写真家事典) / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ISBN 4-473-01750-8), p.175. (in Japanese) (Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.)
  4. 1 2 3 Nihon no shashinka (日本の写真家) / Biographic Dictionary of Japanese Photography (Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 2005; ISBN 4-8169-1948-1), p.248. (in Japanese)(Despite the English-language alternative title, all in Japanese.)
  5. ↑ List of award winners, PSJ. (in Japanese) Accessed 20 October 2010.


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