RIVER KITAKAMI Kiyoshi Sonobe

This is a photobook by Japanese photographer Kiyoshi Sonobe.
Sonobe began his career in 1942, when he joined Tōhōsha—the publisher of the propaganda photo magazine "FRONT"—as a darkroom technician. That experience gave him the chance to study under the well-known photographer Ihei Kimura, which set him on the path to becoming a photographer himself.

After the war, he worked as a freelance photographer, traveling across Japan. He documented local landscapes, folk toys, and customs, capturing the way people lived closely with nature in the years before Japan’s rapid economic growth.

This particular book focuses on the Kitakami River, which flows through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. Through its pages, Sonobe reveals the deep connection between people and the river, showing both daily life and the surrounding scenery. His photographs offer a glimpse of how people lived in Japan before Westernization began to change everyday life.