Shunkichi Kikuchi was a Japanese photographer best known for his documentation of Hiroshima and Tokyo immediately after the war. Kikuchi was born in Hanamaki, Iwate on 1 May 1916. After graduating from the Oriental School of Photography, Kikuchi was employed in the Photography Division of Tokyo KÅgeisha and began his career as a news photographer. In 1941 he worked in the photography division of TÅhÅsha, a company established by SÅzÅ Okada and in 1942 was a member of the photographic staff of the magazine Front. His work took him to China, "Manchukuo" and the Philippines. In 1945, the Ministry of Education organized the "Science Council of JapanSpecial Committee on the Damage Caused by the Atomic Bomb, Hiroshima/Nagasaki Survey Group", and commissioned Nippon Eiga-sha as its Documentary Film Division. Kikuchi served as a still photographer attached to the division and was hired to shoot for medical purposes. He recorded post-atomic bomb Hiroshima from 30 September to 22 October 1945. In November he was back photographing Tokyo, particularly a home for vagrant children. Kikuchi also helped establish a new magazine where he became involved in scientific photography for the first time. From 1951 Kikuchi's photographs were published in such prominent magazines as Sekai, ChÅ«ÅkÅron, and Fujin KÅron. Kikuchi died on 5 November 1990 aged 74 from leukemia, which many have attributed to his extensive work in irradiated Hiroshima.
Books with works by Kikuchi
YÅ«enchi. Tokyo: Toppan, 1954.
Kikaika butai no shuryoku sensha. Rikugun Shashinshū. Tokyo: Green Arrow, 1994..
Association to Establish the Japan Peace Museum, ed. Ginza to sensÅ / Ginza and the War. Tokyo: Atelier for Peace, 1986.. Kikuchi is one of ten photographers who provide 340 photographs for this well-illustrated and large photographic history of Ginza from 1937 to 1947. Captions and text in both Japanese and English.
Hiroshima: SensÅ to toshi. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1987..
Shashinka wa nani o hyÅgen shita ka: 1945-1960. Tokyo: Konica Plaza, 1991. Pp. 16-17.
TÅkyÅ sen-kyÅ«hyaku-yonjÅ«gonen, aki / Tokyo: Fall of 1945. Tokyo: Bunka-sha, 1946. A stapled booklet of sepia photographs of life in Tokyo immediately after the end of the war. Text and captions in both Japanese and English.
TÅkyÅ: Toshi no shisen / Tokyo: A city perspective. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1990. Includes two photographs of Tokyo taken immediately after the war. Text and captions in both Japanese and English.
