Born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1931. Passed away in January 2020. Graduated from Chuo University, in 1954. Received a M.A. in Art History from the Graduate School of Waseda University, Tokyo in 1959.
In 1959 he founded the photo self-agency "VIVO" with Shomei Tomatsu, Eikoh Hosoe, Kikuji Kawada, Akira Sato and Akira Tanno (which was dissolved in 1961). He lived in Paris from 1962 to 1965 and in New York from 1970 to 1974, and since 1974 has been active in Tokyo, where his work has been highly acclaimed both in Japan and abroad. He has published dozens of photography books, including Where Time Has Stopped (Kajima Institute Publishing Co., Japan, 1967), and Where Time Has Vanished (Asahi Shimbun, Japan, 1975). Selected solo shows: “Human Land” (Matsushima Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 1956), “Ikko Narahara” (Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 2002–2003), “Mirror of Space and Time: Synchronicity” (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan, 2004). Selected awards: “The Most Promising Photographer Award” (Japan Photo Critics Association, 1958), “Bronze Medal” (Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia, Venezia, Italy, 1959), “Mainichi Arts Award (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, 1968), “Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon” (The Government of Japan, 1996). The exhibition will feature the “Zen” series of “Japanesque” photographs, first serialised in Camera Mainichi in 1969 and compiled in 1970 in a photobook designed by Ikko Tanaka and published by Mainichi Shimbun.