Young Men, Niida, Akita City
青年（秋田市仁井田）
- Birth Year
- 1901
- Death Year
- 1974
- Date
- 1952 (reprinted in ca. 1984)
- Technique, Material, Format
- gelatin silver print
- Dimension
- 20.2 x 29.0 cm
- Category
- Photograph or Moving Image by JapanesePhotographer/Artist
- Inventory Number
- 84-PHJ-142
Three young men are quietly discussing something with judgmental expressions. The photograph captures the moment the man in the foreground turns, having sensed someone approaching. In 1952, photographer Kimura Ihee visited farming villages in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan after being asked to judge a photo competition there. He hadn’t been to a farming village for a long time, and he was interested in the divergence in values he sensed there between the younger and older generations. Believing it was a microcosm of modern society, he traveled to Akita many times afterwards. Speaking of these three young men, he later commented that rural youth at the time had to contend with many problems, such as not agreeing with the conservative traditions of rural villages and having to go elsewhere to earn a living. These are the faces of that generation, he said.
(OSAWA Sayoko)