Shomei Tomatsu was one of the most influential Japanese photographers of the post-war era. He focused on the lives of the people after Japan’s defeat, but previous studies have emphasized his original photographic method, that is, “group-photographs (gun-shashin)”, the symbolism of which has received much discussion. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the hardships of the lives of his subjects, which he realized and sought to express. The authors first highlighted his traumatic experience of war, which shaped his way of life. It has been suggested that “group-photographs” was created by his mixed feelings about defeat in the war and the rapid social changes in post-war Japan. On the basis of the above findings, the authors examined the ways in which he deepened his understanding of the life and death of atomic bomb victims living in Nagasaki over 30 years by analyzing his “group-photographs” and other materials. This study thus shows how Tomatsu gradually came to perceive individuals in their everyday lives while he also primarily focused on the lives of the survivors of the atomic bomb, living in the misery that it caused. The wounds of the Fifteen Years’ War characterized the way in which he depicted people’s lives.
