For a Language to Come

by Takuma Nakahira (Photographer), Akihito Yasumi (Contributor), Franz K. Prichard (Translator)

Published in 1970, For a Language to Come is recorded in the history of photography as the first photobook by Takuma Nakahira, the photographer who brought about a turning point in contemporary Japanese photography from the late 1960s to the early 1970s by radically breaking away from the existing image aesthetics at that time. This book consists of one hundred black and white photographs including his work from the legendary photography magazine Provoke. However, forty years after the publication of the original book, we have not as yet had the opportunity to examine (and enjoy) his works enough with the exception of a few photographs that has been repeatedly introduced on various occasions (this is particularly true in Europe and the U.S. where the history of contemporary Japanese photography remains less appreciated). Through radical self-critique, Nakahira would repudiate much of this early body of work in his 1973 essay, “Why an Illustrated Botanical Dictionary?” and considered it as something that must be overcome. Yet, for us to reconsider the meaning of the author’s rejection of his inaugural work, it is extremely valuable to know what the works themselves show. Has our history of photography finally caught up with Nakahira?

The 2010 republication of For a Language to Come with a new cover design is an attempt to engage Nakahira’s photographic point of departure again in the present, to discover this work as one that is more vibrantly resonant today.

For a deeper appreciation of his critical thought and practice, the supplement to the republication presents three essays written by Nakahira in the early 70s.
-An introduction by Akihito Yasumi, “Trajectory of Nakahira Takuma: Situating the Republication of For a Language to Come.”
-Three Essays by Takuma Nakahira:
“Has Photography Been Able to Provoke Language?”
“Rebellion Against the Landscape: Fire at the Limits of my Perpetual Gazing . . .”
“Look at the City or, the Look from the City”

Genres: Photography, Art, Japan

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Takuma Nakahira was a Japanese photographer and photography critic.

While working as an editor at the art magazine Today's Focus (Gendai no me), Nakahira published his work under the name of Aki Yuzuki. Up through the publication of the phonebook For a Language to Come (Kitarubeki kotoba no tame ni) in 1970, Nakahira had been well versed in a style in the vein of Daido Moriyama's Are, bure, boke (rough, blurred, and out of focus). In 1973, he published Why an Illustrated Botanical Dictionary (Naze, shokubutsu zukan ka), shifting away from the style of Are, bure, boke and instead moving towards a type of catalog photography stripped of the sentimentality of handheld, or a photography resembling the illustrations of reference books.

Reviews

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite photography books. The images are purposefully grainy, full of fathomless blacks and irradiated whites, composed using blown out contrasts that flirt with overexposure. A collection of defamiliarized Tokyo landscapes and residents from the late 1960s, it's nothing short of visionary. Nakahira was one of the founders of the radical Provoke magazine and this was the most extreme manifestation of that all too short-lived movement. Beautifully reprinted by Osiris Books, this edition contains four lucid English language essays that outline the reasons and ramifications of his "year zero" approach to picture taking. Overly romantic but necessary sidenote: Shortly after finishing this book, Nakahira temporarily lost his sight and later suffered from a severe bought of amnesia.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is a masterpiece of post war japanese photography. really the heartbeat of the provoke vision. and this osiris reprint has fantastic plates!

[Vogisland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost as good as Takanashi Yutaka's Toshi-e (this is a much better edition than the Errata reprint of Tosh-e). Nakahira employs the same methods (extreme contrast and grit) as Moriyama Daido but his sensibility is relatively less earthy and more spectral / haunted. Subjects such as a ship belching black smoke, a florist, and the ceiling of a train station have turned absolutely demonic in these photos.