Shōji Ōtake

Ōtake was born in Yokosuka (which later became Ōsuka, then Kakegawa), Shizuoka on 15 May 1920, the oldest son of a father who worked in the sake industry and a mother who performed on the koto and (transverse) flute.

He started at school, quickly showing an aptitude for drawing, gaining a special mention in a national contest.

In 1947 he managed to attach himself to GHQ, for which he photographed singers and actresses at the Ernie Pyle Theatre.

By the 1980s, Ōtake's fame and commercial success as a portraitist and photographer of nudes had eclipsed his earlier and very different work.

Republication within the volume dedicated to him of the series "Shōwa Shashin Zenshigoto" (1982), and the publication the following year of Haruka naru uta, brought it great acclaim.