On the Cover Photo

“I try to get a feeling for the Japanese soul and understand the situation from the inside out,“ Werner Bischof explained, in 1952, in a letter to his Magnum colleague Robert Capa. There had previously been a dispute, because Bischof had entered into a direct contract with the American magazine LIFE, which did not meet with the Agency's approval. LIFE, however, offered Bischof more time and greater freedom, and the payment was another reason for taking on the assignment for the magazine. It became increasingly important to Bischof to deal with long-term subjects, in order to be able to tell stories in more depth. “I always go too deeply into the material, and that's not journalistic,” he told Capa. “What I feel is also not journalistic; and yet I presume to know more about the country, after a short time, than most of the 'world journalists' in the witch's house known as the 'Correspondents’ Club'.”

During his time in Japan in 1951/1952, Bischof developed a number of themes that found their way into his book Japan, dealing, above all, with the contradictions in the country between tradition and modernity. With 109 colour and black and white images, and text by Robert Guillain, the photo book was put out simultaneously in 1954 by a number of publishers – Robert Delpire, Paris; Manesse Verlag, Zurich; Simon & Schuster, New York; Sylvan Press, London; and Garzanti, Milan.

Bischof conveys a very personal impression of the country in the three chapters: What has not been lost; Japan today; and Will Japan's ancient theatre art last much longer? He came across the motif of the silk ribbons when he left Tokyo to explore other parts of the country. “October 7, 1951. Yesterday was a wonderful autumn day and I drove out in a taxi to the Imperial Country House. On the way, I came across silk washers - washing long and colourful ribbons of silk in the river, and leaving them to dry on long bamboo poles. Can you imagine how beautiful it looks? All the colourful ribbons waving and whispering in the wind... wonderful...” Bischof wrote in a letter to his wife, Rosellina. “Of course, I couldn't just drive by, but spent over an hour there.”