Category Archives: Photography

Shoetsu Otomo and His Models

Posted on by
38

Shoetsu Otomo (大友正悦) was born in 1950. Very little information about his life prior to meeting his most famous model, Satomi Hiromoto (廣本悟己)is available. At the time he met her, in the latter half of 1980 or the first half of 1981, Otomo was already a photographer. When the Kanji characters for his name are entered into an automatic translator, the name is rendered as Masayoshi Otomo. On the covers of his books, however, Otomo spells his name with the Latin alphabet as Shoetsu Otomo, and that is the spelling I will use. Many thanks to a Pigtails reader who provided most of the photographs that illustrate this article.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi (circa 1984)

An article on the lolicon website Argonorakuza implies that Otomo specialized in travel and landscape photography. Children often appeared in the background of the scenes he photographed. Otomo was quoted as saying , “I can’t compete with the smiles of children.” and “When you meet the smiles of cute children, you can’t help but press the shutter.”

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi at Age Eight (1980-81) (1)

Satomi Hiromoto was born in Tokyo, Japan on June 5, 1972. In 1979 she entered Oizumi Elementary School attached to Tokyo Gakugei University. When Satomi was eight years old, Otomo noticed her playing in a park. He approached Satomi’s mother and asked if he could take some photos of the daughter. The mother agreed, and in the discussion with her, Otomo learned that Satomi’s family was quite artistic. Satomi’s father was a painter, and her brother was a pianist. Satomi could also paint and play piano, but her main interest was the practice of classical ballet. Over the next two years, Otomo became a friend of the Hiromoto family. In addition to whatever photos were taken in the park, Otomo photographed Satomi at age eight wearing a white dress and frolicking in a field of tall grass. Although these photos were taken in 1980 or 1981, they were not published until 1995.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi at Age Eight (1980-81) (2)

When Satomi was ten years old, in the summer of 1982, Otomo planned a photo shoot for her in Spain. This shoot would be Satomi’s first experience in nude modeling, and would provide material for Otomo’s first lolicon book. Mallorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, was chosen as the location for the photo shoot. Otomo, Satomi, and a crew including a producer and a stylist travelled over 6,000 miles on a flight that lasted over 22 hours for the shoot. It was quite an elaborate production, and a gamble for Otomo who had never made a lolicon book before. It paid off when the photo book Satomi 10 Year Old Myth (さとみ十歳の神話) was released in January 1983 and quickly became one of lolicon’s biggest hits.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (1)

Satomi was photographed both indoors and outdoors, both clothed and nude. She was usually alone, but a Spanish woman and a Spanish girl are present in a few of the photos. It is remarkable how comfortable she appears on her first nude shoot and in a foriegn land. Her training as a ballerina is evident in the grace with which she handles many of the poses. In photographs by Otomo, more than other lolicon photographers, it is apparent that the both the model and the photographer contribute to the success of the image. This is especially shown in the indoor photos of Satomi in Spain; note how she positions her arms and legs. In the photograph of Satomi with a seated Spanish woman, the woman is sitting casually while Satomi seems to be in a ballet inspired pose. In three illustrations for this article, Satomi is standing with one knee up and her foot resting against her leg. This is a common pose for Satomi, but it is not used by Otomo’s other models. This leads me to believe that posing this way is Satomi’s idea, rather than a pose dictated by the photographer.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (2)

There are sequences in which Satomi stood by a mirror or lay on the floor and asssumed various poses while Otomo snapped the pictures. Satomi was uninhibited in her poses, but Otomo was restrained in choosing what to photograph and publish. When Satomi posed with legs open too far, if Otomo photographed it at all he did so at an angle from which the pubic area was not visible. He did this in the top photo of the illustration captioned Satomi in Spain (1982) (7); a page from the book Satomi Forever. A Spanish man is with Satomi in two of the photos in Satomi 10 Year Old Myth. Whenever a male is present in a photograph by Otomo, all figures, male and female, are clothed.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (4)

Satomi 10 Year Old Myth also contains photographs of the Spanish landscape and architecture. Satomi is present in most, but not all of the landscape photos. Otomo is known for photographing models in natural settings. The photo of Satomi standing at the corner of a building Is typical of Otomo’s architectural compositions. I believe this photo is from Pohnpei, but it could also be from Hawaii.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (5)

More photos from the Spanish photo shoot were released in the book Lolita Doll (ロリータ・ドール) in August 1983, but there were no new photos of Satomi for over a year after Satomi 10 Year Old Myth. Disappointed fans thought that Satomi would be one of many lolicon models with only one photo shoot. Then in July 1984 Otomo’s and Satomi’s second book, Peek-A-Boo (original title in English) was released.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (6)

Peek-A-Boo, like Satomi 10 Year Old Myth, was a very expensive production of photo shoots in natural settings at exotic locales. Two separate locations over 3,000 miles (nearly 5,000 kilometers) apart were used for the photo shoots in Peek-A-Boo. It appears that most photos in Peek-A-Boo were shot on the island of Pohnpei. It is reported that some were shot in Hawaii. This raises the question of why Otomo chose Pohnpei and Hawaii for the photo shoots. Both are tropical Pacific islands with lush vegetation and blue water, but there are other tropical locations that are more economically accessible from Japan. In order to travel from Japan to Pohnpei by commercial air, one must first go to either Hawaii or Guam, then change airplanes to go the Pohnpei. Guam is significantly closer to both Japan and Pohnpei than is Hawaii.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Spain (1982) (7)

Satomi was not photographed with any unique features of either Pohnpei or Hawaii, such as the volcanoes of Hawaii, or in the ruins of Nan Madol of Pohnpei. Therefore, to a layman there seems to be no reason to go to the expense of paying for a production crew to go to the remote locale. There may be subtle differences in the scenery that makes Pohnpei a better choice than other places for an artist like Otomo, but it is likely that Otomo’s passion for artistry resulted in a lower profit margin. Perhaps Otomo and Satomi cared more about fine art than about making money.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Peek-A-Boo (1984) (1)

Peek-A-Boo was released in July 1984, when Satomi was twelve years and one month old. Some sources state that Satomi was twelve when photographed for Peek-A-Boo; according to others she was eleven. It is possible that both are correct, if her twelfth birthday occurred during the project.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Peek-A-Boo (1984) (2)

Satomi’s next, and last photo project was for the book Fly-A-Way, released in December 1984. She was twelve years old when photographed for Fly-A-Way, but she looks older. She was still a minor, but because she matured so quickly Fly-A-Way, in my opinion, is closer to the teen idol genre than to actual lolicon. Fly-A-Way was shot in two locations near opposite ends of Japan; Hokkaido in the north and Yakushima in the south. Yakushima is a small island, most of which is covered by tropical forest, south of the Japanese main islands. Both the photos and a video for Fly-A-Way were recorded in the summer of 1984.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Satomi Forever (1984) (1)

Otomo photographed Satomi in the summer in Spain and Japan, and her other photo shoots were in the tropics. However, photos of Satomi in the winter snow were published in Satomi Forever. I have not been able to discover when or where the winter photos were taken.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Satomi Forever (1984) (2)

Satomi seemed to be proud of her work, and wanted her fans to know her. Unlike many lolicon models, she always used her real name when modeling. She put personal details in her books; for example, her favorite colors are purple and burgundy, she enjoys reading fairy tales, and her favorite food is shrimp.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Fly-A-Way (1984)

On September 27, 1984 Satomi hosted a video release party at the Capitol Tokyu Hotel, a luxury hotel in the Nagatacho district of Tokyo. Fans and the news media were invited. Satomi’s parents and grandparents were there. Satomi’s brother played piano to entertain the guests. Satomi wore a sailor suit, held a press conference, and was reported to be a gracious hostess and a charming young lady. She said that her hope for the future was to become an actress. In my opinion, the video release party illustrates the Japanese attitude about lolicon at the height of the lolicon era. Lolicon was art; it was respectable. One of Tokyo’s finest hotels had no problem with being the site of the lolicon release party, and the mainstream press attended. Support that Satomi received from family, friends, and the public for her art as a nude model was no different than the support she would have received if her art had been painting or ballet. Her fans expected that Satomi would continue modeling.

Shoetsu Otomo – Satomi in Winter (no date)

Surprisingly, Satomi was never in another commercial photo shoot. Also, she never pursued her dream of becoming an actress. In April 1985 some photos of Satomi from old photo shoots, as well as photos of other models were published in Beppin Special Edition Lolita Scramble. After that, no photos of Satomi were published until November 1995. Why did her career end so abrubtly? I don’t know, but I can speculate.

Shoetsu Otomo – Reona (1998)

In 1985 Satomi entered junior high school. There was a report that she had difficulty in getting along with others. It was not specified who made the report or why Satomi had difficulties, but there may be an obvious reason why. Satomi was a glamorous model. She was paid well to travel to exotic locations and be photographed. Her photos were published in books which no doubt attracted favorable attention of the boys in her school. It would seem natural, in these circumstances, for girls in her school to be jealous of Satomi. Perhaps Satomi felt that she had to choose between continuing her career as a model or being accepted by her female classmates. On graduating from school Satomi married and devoted her time to raising a family; she had no time for a career away from home.

Shoetsu Otomo – Aoi (1996) (1)

Another possibility for the reason she quit modeling could be that she was getting old for lolicon. I don’t think that was the reason she quit modeling, because other lolicon models continued to model as adults. Of the many lolicon models that were active during the 1969 through 1999 lolicon era in Japan, four of them, Satomi Hiromoto, Rika Nishimura (real name unknown), Nozomi Kurahashi (aka Ayumi Yoshizawa) and Shiori Suwano (real name Shigeko Niimi) achieved exceptionally great popularity and may be considered lolicon supermodels. Rika and Nozomi continued to model successfully as adults. Shiori did not like modeling, but used the fame she gained as a model to launch a successful acting career. Otomo photographed models well past puberty, so it seems unlikely that he quit photographing Satomi because of her age.

Shoetsu Otomo – The Room (1997)

Although there were no new photos of Satomi, photos from old shoots were again published after she graduated high school. Two books exclusively dedicated to Satomi were Satomi, released November 1995; and Satomi Forever, released November 1998. Satomi and other models photographed by Shoetsu Otomo were featured in the book Dreams, released May 1998. After Satomi was printed, but before it was released for sale, three American service men on Okinawa gang raped and severely beat a young Japanese girl. I remember seeing news reports of the incident in both American media and an English language newspaper from the Philippines. Although it was reported from different viewpoints, I do not remember any report that lolicon was in any way involved. Nevertheless, the publisher of Satomi decided that because of the rape, it would be best to censor the book. Sandpaper was used to erase the pubic area of photos in books sold in bookstores. The books sent by mail to individuals who ordered them were not censored. They were mailed in white boxes and are known as “White Satomi“; they are sought after as collector’s items today.

Shoetsu Otomo – Shinobu on Saipan (1984) (1)

Shoetsu Otomo photographed eight other models, in addition to Satomi, who are usually classified as lolicon. Five of them are in my opinion, a little old for lolicon. Reona (Minori Ishiki) began her career as an advertising model at age five. She is one of the famous models of the lolicon era, and was very good at modeling. She was twelve when she modeled for Otomo, and was well developed for her age. She was still a child, but looked more like a teenager with fully developed breasts, a womanly figure, and pubic hair. Two photo books of Reona photographed by Otomo were released in 1998, and she was also in the book Dreams released the same year. Aoi Inoue, a Japanese actress, was fourteen when she modeled for Otomo, and also too old for lolicon in the strictest sense. Her book Sonatine was released in 1996. Three anonymous southeast Asian teen girls modeled for Otomo in the book The Room (1997). One source stated they were from the Philippines. They appear to be amateurs and trying not to laugh, aware that they are getting away with something (posing nude) that would not normally be allowed. The Room appears to be a low budget work, shot in one session in a hotel room with local amateur girls.

Shoetsu Otomo – Shinobu on Saipan (1984) (2)

Of the three models, other than Satomi, who definitely are lolicon, the first is Shinobu Nemoto (根本しのぶ). Shinobu started modeling at age eight months in an advertisement for powdered milk. She continued modeling in print advertisements and acting in television commercials through her childhood, appearing in about 200 television commercials and about 3,000 print ads. When Otomo photographed her in 1984, she was one of the most recognized faces in Japan. Shinobu was photographed on Saipan where she celebrated her eleventh birthday on January 19, 1984. The photos were published in the book I’m not a Child (こどもじゃないモン) which was released on May 30, 1984. There are no nudes in the book. The text is handwritten, aledgedly by Shinobu herself, and tells of her impressions of Saipan and the excitement of turning eleven. In the second picture of Shinobu in this article she is holding a seed pod from a tree. She wrote that she enjoyed swinging the pod like a sword. I’m not a Child gives the reader the feeling of being a guest at Shinobu’s birthday party. Saipan is a popular destination for Japanese tourists, and is also the site of Teruo Maeba’s lolicon photos of Shiori Suwano.

Shoetsu Otomo – Emi in Hawaii (c1996) (1)

Emi’s Summer Vacation (えみちゃんの夏休み), released in 1996, is similar to Shinobu’s book, in that both offer the reader a glimpse of the model’s personal life. Emi’s Summer Vacation gives the impression that the reader is tagging along with Emi Hirose (広瀬 絵美) and her parents on a vacation in Hawaii. The text is written in a childish hand by Emi, telling about her trip to Hawaii. Emi is not as polished in her poses as the more experienced models. In some photos she seems bored, as if she wants to stop posing and have fun. Emi’s Summer Vacation was shot in several locations in Hawaii, and even though Emi was not an experienced model, her photo sessions appear to have been an expensive project. Was Emi a relative of Otomo, or the daughter of Otomo’s friends?

Shoetsu Otomo – Emi in Hawaii (c1996) (2)

Satomi married young, and when she was nineteen gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Kirara. Shortly before the new Japanese law brought the lolicon era to an end, Otomo did a nude photo shoot of Satomi’s daughter Kirara. The photos were not published in a book, but were distributed to Satomi’s fans. People who have seen the photos say that Kirara looks much like her mother. If lolicon had lasted a little longer, Kirara may have been the second generation lolicon star in her family.

Shoetsu Otomo – Emi in Hawaii (c1996) (3)

Random Images: Full-Body Exposure

Posted on by
8

My apologies for the provocative-sounding title; I just couldn’t help myself. The exposure being referred to is sunlight. The prevalence of rickets increased after the advent of the Industrial Revolution but it was not until the early 20th century that the connection was made between this disease and a deficiency in Vitamin D. It was also learned that the human body produces this nutrient when exposed to adequate sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Although it is common practice to simply provide supplements in pill form, some people are unable to metabolize this nutrient in this form and sunlamps are sometimes needed. This technique was quite popular in middle of the 20th century, especially for children of more affluent parents or in a clinic where multiple children could be treated concurrently.

A reader provided a link to a photographic collection featuring images of this sunlight treatment. Browsing the images, one can see that these examples come from many countries in more northerly latitudes such as: the Soviet Union, Germany, UK, Canada and the US. Undoubtedly, other northern countries were also represented. I would recommend perusing the many examples that can be found with the above link including vintage advertisements for the lamps and treatment.

(Photographer Unknown) – From the Bundesarchiv, Berlin (1940)

Random Images: 1944 Liberation of Paris

Posted on by
4

This submission from a Pigtails reader shows a scene of a German sniper attack during the liberation of Paris during World War II in 1944. US Army photographers were on the scene to document these events. The credit given in the caption indicates the name of the senior officer of the No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, Captain E. G. Malindine, but Lieutenant Handford and Sergeant Hardy were also part of this unit and so it cannot be determined who captured this particular shot. The explanation for this image being submitted is the apparent heroism of the adults attempting to protect the children by surrounding them.

Capt E G Malindine et al – The Liberation of Paris 1944 (August 26, 1944)

The original photo is part of the War Office Second World War Official Collection. The attached comment states:

As Gen. de Gaulle arrived at the Notre Dame, German snipers opened fire. These photographs show scenes during the incident as Parisians fled for safety. The General and his staff were unhurt.

Maiden Voyages: August 2023

Posted on by
10

Your Nickname: Understandably, many readers of this site prefer to write comments and articles under an alias. Many of you have requested that a nickname appear when making comments. Members can do this themselves by logging in then selecting ‘users’. Your profile should appear. Under ‘nickname’, you can enter a new name and then just below it, select that new nickname under ‘name appears as’. From then on, your alias will appear when you make comments.

150 Years of Photographing Children: A reader came forward with an interesting link to a project dedicated to the photography of children from 1865 to 2023. Some of the names will be familiar but many will undoubtedly not be. Images are categorized by date, by artist name or by theme.

Nude in the News: One of our Russian readers gave me a lead years ago about a newspaper that actually requested pictures of naked children from its readers to publish. I planned to do a post on this because a website actually posted the relevant images. Now there is a new site with a little more detail about the context of this promotion. Because these images were scanned from a newspaper, they are of low fidelity, but still one can get a clear idea of the range of ages, poses and props in the photographs submitted. In addition to extensive details about this story, this website has pages covering numerous portrayals of nudity with a number of items clearly gleaned from Pigtails. I am told that many other leads came from this site which focuses on female underage nudity and makes a special point of only sharing examples which are not lascivious.

Brooke Shields’ Attitudes: After reading the post on Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby starring Brooke Shields, a reader did some additional research which I thought would be of interest to others. I have appended this material to the end of that post. We also received a nice testimonial from that reader which I reproduce here:

In the first instance, I am writing to compliment you on your splendid website, which I have followed for some time now. I enjoy seeing the beautiful artwork and reading the thoughtful and well researched articles. You tackle topics that are often neglected and avoided by others. Your dedication and resilience in keeping the site going in the face of attacks from a number of quarters is also really commendable. I’m sure it can’t have been easy, and you must have had dark days of doubt. I hope you will be able to continue.

Follow Up on Goebbels Children: I did a post based on a Graham Ovenden poem regarding the group suicide of the children of Joseph and Magda Goebbels during the defeat of Nazi Germany during WWII. A reader did a little digging and offered more details which were appended to the end of that post.

Digging into Divine Forms: A woman who runs a web page was drawn to our site in the course of researching Azuma Itsuko. One of the discoveries was that the books of this artist were published by Sanrio Co., Ltd. who also publish the famous Hello Kitty materials. The Sanrio fan page can be found here.

On the Store Shelf: I have often wondered about the models—babies, toddlers and very young children—on the packages of diapers, training pants and the like. Are these real people? Or a photo-realistic rendering of an artist? I ask these questions because I imagine that being known as a diaper model might attract ridicule later in life and one would not want images of oneself on the packages in the local store. Well, it appears that these are images are of real people and I came across a story of a little girl being filmed while discovering her image on packages in a local store. Perhaps these name brands are responsible enough to move on to other models after a little while, but now there’s another problem: now that this video is on the internet, will this girl ever be able to genuinely put her past behind her? Or will she continue to harbor a kind of strange pride about this stage in her “career”?

Random Images: Admiring a Little Dancer

Posted on by
2

A reader submitted an interesting photo of two girls admiring a statue. The sculpture turned out to be a bronze casting of Edgar Degas’ (1834–1917) La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years) originally sculpted in the early 1880s from an unusual combination of media. Beginning in 1920, bronze casts were made of this remarkable piece and now appear in various museums and private collections. This photograph was taken at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. This casting was made sometime after 1936 and was acquired by the museum in early 1977.

Photographer Unknown – Two girls admiring Degas’ Dancer (after 1977) (monochrome)

For some reason, the monochrome form of this photograph was submitted. In the course of researching this image, the color version was also found.

Photographer Unknown – Two girls admiring Degas’ Dancer (after 1977) (color)

Random Images: Rare Tintype of African-American Father and Daughter

Posted on by
3

A reader contributed this beautiful image. It was sourced from the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has few identifying details except it is from the 1870s (catalog number 94.521). The original tintype would have been a negative and so was converted into the form you see here. An image like this is rare because it comes from the era of early photography and quality portraits of African-Americans would have been especially rare because of the cost at a time of disenfranchisement so soon after the official end of chattel slavery in the US.

Untitled tintype from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art collection(1870s) [94.521]

[Strictly speaking, the relationship between the man and girl portrayed here is purely speculative. -Ron]

Album Covers: Bijelo Dugme

Posted on by
1

Translated as “White Button”, Bijelo Dugme was perhaps the most important band in Yugoslav rock. Since Yugoslavia was a non-aligned state equally open towards the Eastern bloc and the West, it was able to absorb musical influences like rock ‘n’ roll. The band would appear in local festivals in the region including the Italian San Remo festival which aired on television.

Although interest in rock waned in Yugoslavia by the 1980s, there was a real resurgence with Bijelo Dugme, a group from Bosnia led by international music star Goran Bregović. As was the case with many of their contemporaries, they had to publish four successful singles before they were given the opportunity to record an album. Their appeal most likely came in combining Bosnian traditional music with prog-rock. Unusually, their LPs were as popular as their singles and record companies started to understand that rock albums were a viable commercial product. This likely opened the doors for the next generation of rockers to publish their own labels, culminating in the 1980s boom of Yugoslav rock. The album shown here was from a live performance on April 5, 1981 at a club called Kulušić in Zagreb. This was their last performance of a tour starting in 1980 called Doživjeti stotu (Live to Be a Hundred).

Bijelo dugme – 5. april ’81 (1981)

Bijelo dugme – 5. april ’81 (1981) (CD cover)

The album cover was designed by photographer Dragan S. Stefanović who held a photo session with the daughter of actor Mladen Jeličić. The girl was wearing a grownup’s robe and high heels but she started taking her clothes off when she needed to use the potty. Stefanović continued shooting and three of those ended up on the album cover. During that time in Yugoslav history, no one gave a second thought to such images. The later mix of US puritanical influence and reestablishment of the Catholic religion in Croatia, required that the CD version be released omitting the middle image.

Research for this post came from a devoted reader and was only edited down to the current length to cover only the most relevant aspects of the album. You can find more on this band and the album here, here and here. -Ron

Random Images: Bernard Hoffman

Posted on by
1

Bernard Hoffman (1913–1979) was an American documentary photographer. Most of his work appeared in an 18-year period in Life magazine starting in 1936. Most famously, he was known as the first American photographer on the ground after the dropping of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. Hoffman left Life in 1951 to improve photographic technology by establishing Bernard Hoffman Laboratories. Most notably, the lab was asked to process the famous Kennedy assassination footage. He retired in 1973 but stayed active running photography workshops—along with his wife Inez—until his passing.

Bernard Hoffman – Bored schoolgirl in Maine (1942)

Rika Nishimura, a Photo-Lolicon Supermodel

Posted on by
40

Rika Nishimura (西村理香) was the professional name of one of the most famous child models of the Japanese Photo-Lolicon era. Photographer Yasushi Rikitake (力武靖) is responsible for making her famous. Photo-Lolicon first became popular in Japan in November 1969 with Kazuo Kenmochi’s nude photobook of model Tae Umehara. Popularity of the young girl photobooks grew fairly slowly in the 1970s, as naturist magazines were imported into Japan, and some photographers, notably Sumiko Kiyooka began to photograph young girls. Then around 1980 Photo-Lolicon started to boom. Over a hundred Photo-Lolicon books were released in the early 1980s, and some of them sold millions of copies.

Yasushi Rikitake – Before Waking Up Cover (1994)

The first work I can find of Yasushi Rikitake is the omnibus photobook Lolita Sisters, which was released in October 1983. Rikitake was one of eight photographers who contributed to Lolita Sisters. In August 1984 Lolita Friends was released, another omnibus photobook by six photographers including Rikitake. Popularity of Photo-Lolicon peaked in about 1984, and then began a slow decline until 1988. In 1988 Tsutomu Miyazaki was arrested for kidnapping and murdering four girls, age four through seven. A large amount of lolicon anime and manga was found in his home, and the crime so shocked Japan that many came to see lolicon as evil. It was still legal, but less popular that it had been. It became more difficult to find models among Japanese girls since lolicon was tainted with a stigma, so many of the photographers who remained in the business sought models in foreign countries, especially Southeast Asia and Russia.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Before Waking Up (1994)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1994) (1)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1994) (2)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1994) (3)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1994) (4)

In 1989 Rikitake began to be more active in Photo-Lolicon, and in ten years had published about 150 photobooks under his own name, and nearly a hundred more under the pseudonym Ryu Kurokage. He went to Thailand hoping to find models among the girls in rural areas where it was acceptable for pre-pubescent children to go naked. Rikitake was introduced to an alcoholic who needed money and was going to sell his young daughter to a brothel in Bangkok. The man’s wife had run away and deserted the family. Rikitake could hire the girl as a model, but the problem was that after he returned to Japan, the girl’s father would still be able to sell her into prostitution. An arrangement was negotiated in which the girl would live with a loving aunt, and Rikitake would send the aunt a monthly stipend to support the girl. In return, the girl would model for Rikitake when he visited Thailand. This was a very good arrangement for both the girl, who now had a stable, happy home; and for Rikitake who now had a model who would become perhaps the most popular of all Photo-Lolicon models.

Yasushi Rikitake – Friends IV Cover (1995)

Her real name is confidential, as is her hometown. She is known only by the Japanese name she adopted for modelling; Rika Nishimura. Modesty may not be a trait commonly associated with nude models, but Rika likes to keep her personal details private.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Friends IV (1995)

Rika made her debut with the mook (magazine/book) Before Waking Up (目覚める前に), which was released in 1994 by the Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office. This is a photobook of Rika, both clothed and nude, posing alone in the outdoors. Although she is young and this is her first book, she appears to have a natural talent for modelling, and seems to enjoy it. It is not known exactly how young she is. No age is given in Before Waking Up, but she looks to me to be about eight or nine. In 1996 some photos from Before Waking Up were republished in One Million Rem Gaze (百万レムの視線), and her age when photographed is given there as ten. In 1998 some photos from Before Waking Up were published in both Six Years Trilogy (SixYears三部作) and Portraits of Jenny (ジェニー達の肖像), and in each of those works she is said to have been eleven when the photos were taken.

Yasushi Rikitake – Friends V Cover (1996)

The first two illustrations in this article are the cover and a clothed photo from Before Waking Up. The photos are from kansai.nymphs.us, which has many more lolicon photos, all non-nude.  The Japanese text on some of the photos gives the title of the publication, the model’s name, and the photographer’s name. Nude photos of Rika and other Japanese models were common on Japanese internet sites in the 1990s, but the photos suddenly disappeared in 1999 when photographs of nude minors became illegal in Japan. When I wrote this article, I thought it was unfortunate that a nude photo was not available, because Rika Nishimura is famous as a nude model. Two days after this article was published, Bob Freely submitted some nude images of Rika from Six Years Trilogy, Volume One. Many thanks to Bob for making it possible to include a sample of the nudes for which Rika Nishimura is best known.

The next four images are some of Bob’s contributions from Six Years Trilogy. They appear to be from the same photo shoot as Before Waking Up. Judging from her facial expression, Rika appears to be more relaxed in the nude photos than when she is clothed. Perhaps she was more accustomed to going naked, and was worried about getting her new clothes dirty.

 

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Friends V (1996)

Rikitake worked at that time with three publishers; Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office, Pepe, and Circle Company. His own company, Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office, and Pepe were both specialists in Photo-Lolicon, and sold their books in dedicated lolicon shops. Circle Company was the biggest publisher and sold its works in general bookstores. Circle Company censored photos in its books very slightly, by blurring the pudendal cleft, thus making them acceptable for general bookstores. Photos in books by Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office and Pepe are not censored. None of the books with Rika’s photographs were published by Circle Company. In spite of Rika’s books being less widely distributed than books of the models who were published by Circle Company, she became the most popular.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1994) (5)

Pepe published Rika’s next two books; Friends IV (1995) and Friends V (1996). The original titles were in English, the universal language and thus more fitting for books that were presented as fine art. The Friends series consists of five books by Rikitake, and in each book, two or more models were photographed together. In Friends IV the two models were Rika Nishimura and Kayoko Miura. According to Wikipedia, Friends IV was the fastest selling of the Friends series. Rika and Kayoko were also featured, along with four more models, in Friends V. Rika and Kayoko were both twelve years old when Friends IV was photographed. In Friends V Rika’s age is still given as twelve but Kayoko is now thirteen. This would indicate that the ages were reckoned by the western method of adding a year of age at the anniversary of her birth, rather than the traditional oriental method of adding a year on New Year’s Day. Other girls from Rika’s village in Thailand modeled for Rikitake, and in order to maintain good relations with the people of the village, Rikitake was obliged to photograph all of the girls who volunteered. Therefore it is very possible that girls photographed together in the Friends series were actually friends in real life.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (6)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (7)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (8)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (9)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (10)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (11)

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 1 (circa1995) (12)

The next photobook in which Rika appeared is One Million Rem Gaze, Published in 1996 by Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office, but no new photos were in this book. It was only a selection of sample photos of more than one hundred models from books previously released. In January 1998 Rikitake Yasushi Photo Office released the three-volume Six Years Trilogy which is the largest collection of photographs of Rika. Volume One consists of photos of Rika at age eleven and twelve; Volume Two shows her at ages thirteen and fourteen, and she is fifteen and sixteen in Volume Three. It was never explained why Rikitake kept photos of Rika for up to five years without publishing them. By this time Rika was not only Rikitake’s star model, but she was also his photographic assistant and interpreter.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 2 (circa1996) (1)

Two clothed photosfrom Six Years Trilogy which I found on the internet are followed by six photos that Bob Freely submitted. Bob also submitted a scan of the title page for Volume One of Six Years Trilogy, which has the following quote, “No one knows where they came from, where they go, where the wind blows and the seas go round, but no one knows.From Robert Nathan [Portrait of Jenny].”

Japanese publishers during the Photo-Lolicon era were very careful to avoid any sexual activity in their art. While there are some people who would find any nudity offensive, these photos are devoid of any laciviousness. It is surprising that Japanese lolicon nudes are so difficult to find, when edgier works such as the Sally Mann’s Three Graces or some of the photos of Jock Sturges are easily found. In these photos the background is blurry, thus focusing attention on the model. Other photographers who deemphasize the background include Lucas Roels and F.R. Yerbury. Rika seems relaxed and happy to pose.

In 1998 it was apparent that Photo-Lolicon would soon be prohibited. The Law Concerning the Punishment of Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Protection of Children was introduced into parliament, and was passed in May 1999. On November 1, 1999 the law became effective, and Photo-Lolicon was outlawed.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 2 (circa1996) (2)

Rika was in two more books just before Photo-Lolicon was banned. The first was the seven volume Portraits of Jenny. This work was an attempt to leave a legacy that would, because of its artistic merit, remain legal under the new law. Each volume was a full size hardcover 160-page book, printed on acid-free archival quality paper, with what Rikitake thought were his most artistic photographs. About 200 models were included. Some models had photos that were previously unpublished; others had photos that were previously published in a censored version, but all photos in Portraits of Jenny were uncensored. No new photos of Rika were in Portraits of Jenny; all were from the Six Years Trilogy. Portraits of Jenny was an expensive book when it was released in 1998, at over ninety dollars for each volume, and it is even more expensive on the used book market today.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Six Years Trilogy Volume 3 (circa1997)

Rika continued to model through age 22, but only one more book of her photos, Last Christmas (ラストクリスマス, 1999, Sanwa Publishing), was published before the lolicon era came to an end. She was seventeen when photographed for Last Christmas, and was really more of a young woman than a girl. Technically she was still a minor, so for the sake of completeness I have included a photo from Last Christmas in this article. I wonder if Rika thought it was ironic that the business which saved her from being sold to a brothel was abolished by a law that in its title claimed to oppose “Acts Related to Child Prostitution”.

Yasushi Rikitake – Rika Nishimura in Last Christmas (1999)

Ludmila Šechtlová, Model for a Photographer and a Sculptor

Posted on by
3

My language is English, so I initially had some confusion about the Czech names. The model’s legal first name is Ludmila, but in the titles for the photographs she is called Lída, Lidy, Liduška, and Lidušky. These photo titles are from the Šechtl & Voseček Museum site, operated by the Šechtl family, so I have no doubt that they are correct. Lída is a diminutive nickname for Ludmila. Ludmila’s grandfather originally spelled the family surname as “Schächtl”, the German form of the name. Later he began using the Czech spelling “Šechtl”. The feminine of Šechtl is Šechtlová. J.V. Dušek is the most common form of the name of the sculptor for whom she modeled, but in three of the photo titles Lída is identified as the model of J.V. Duška. Dušek and Duška are different forms of the same name.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Rodinné, Liduška (1915)

Lída also modeled for her father, the renowned photographer Josef Jindřich Šechtl. Josef Jindřich’s father, Ignác Schächtl, opened his photography studio in 1876 in the town of Tábor, now in the Czech Republic. Schächtl Studio became Schächtl & Voseček when Jan Voseček became a partner, and later it became Šechtl & Voseček Studio. Josef Jindřich Šechtl operated the studio after the death of his father in 1911. Photos from the Šechtl & Voseček Studio of another model, Eva Záhořová, were featured on Pigtails here.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Lída Šechtlová (1919)

Josef Jindřich was one of the outstanding photographers of his time. He was known for his use of light and shadow in his photographic art. Photographs of women and children, and photos documenting the history of Tábor were his specialties. (The historical photos would later get his son sent to prison.) Josef Jindřich married Anna Stocká in 1911 and their daughter, Ludmila Šechtlová was born in 1912. Anna, like Josef, was artistically inclined. The two were friends with other artists, including the sculptor Jan Vítězslav Dušek, who was also a resident of Tábor.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Liduška (1919)

Many childhood photographs of Ludmila may be found on the Šechtl & Voseček Museum site. A few are included in this post. The first photo is of Ludmila at age two or three. The new clothing, willow branches, rabbit figurine and artificial egg indicate that this was an Easter portrait of Ludmila. Rodinné means “family”, and Liduška could either be her nickname or a Czech word for a human. Ludmila was six or seven when the next two photographs were taken.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Lída Šechtlová, model pro J.V.Duška (1921) (1)

The last five photographs of Ludmila in this article, all nudes, were taken in 1921, when Ludmila was eight or nine. In three of these five photos, she is proudly named as the model for J.V. Duška. She was also the daughter of the photographer, but perhaps it was more prestigious to say that she was the model for a famous sculptor. In the first of these Ludmila is posed between two stands; her pigtails are supported by one stand and her hands by the other. I get the idea, but I am not sure of this, that the stands would allow her to hold a pose for a longer time when modeling for a sculptor. She appears to me to be a bit like the girl on the banner illustration for Pigtails in Paint. The other four nude photos show her posing without any props. Several other photographs like these, with only minor variations to her pose, are in the Šechtl & Voseček Museum.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Lída Šechtlová model pro J.V.Duška (1921) (2)

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Lída Šechtlová,model pro J.V.Duška (1921) (3)

The last illustration in this article is a photograph of a statue modeled by Ludmila Šechtlová, sculpted by Jan Vítězslav Dušek, and photographed by David Peltán. The statue of a girl holding a beehive is titled Spořivost, which means thrift. Dušek created this statue for the Tábor Savings Bank. Dušek was one of the most prominent Czech sculptors. He is famous for his monuments, portraits, and for his competition as an artist in the 1924 and 1936 Olympic Games.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Akt Lidušky (1921)

Spořivost portrays Ludmila as slightly older than she appears in the photographs in which she is identified as “model pro J.V.Duška”. There may be another statue of Ludmila by Dušek, made when Ludmila was younger, but in searching for Dušek’s works on the internet, I could not find it.

Josef Jindřich Šechtl – Akt Lidy Šechtlové (1921)

Josef Jindřich Šechtl died in 1954, and Ludmila’s brother Josef Šechtl inherited the family business. In 1957 the Communist government of Czechoslovakia put Josef Šechtl in prison for a year and confiscated his belongings. The excuse was that he photographed a wedding without obtaining the correct government permit, but the probable real reason was that some people in the Communist Party in 1957 had been supporters of the National Socialist Workers (Nazi) Party during World War II. They believed that the historical photographs documenting Tábor during the war could be embarrassing if the photos gave evidence that they were Nazis, and therefore wanted to confiscate and destroy them. Josef Šechtl’s wife, Marie Šechtlová, was able to save some of the most important negatives, but the majority were lost. It is sad to contemplate what may have been in the art that was destroyed.

Jan Vítězslav Dušek – Spořivost (c1925)