OGAWA, Kazumasa (photo.).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Tokubetsu daienshu shashin-cho ("Photographs from the Special Grand Manoeuvres"). First editions, first printings, of these photobooks of the annual Special Grand Military Exercise. The 1925 version contains a loose slip indicating it was a presentation copy from General Kawai Misao, chief of the general staff since 1923. The publishers spared no expense, employing Ogawa Kazumasa and even including two 3D photographs and the required red-blue glasses. From 1900 to 1945, the Japanese Army ran an annual co-ordinated military exercise called the Tokubetsu Daienshu ("Special Grand Military Exercise"). The Emperor attended as the director and chief inspector of the exercise, along with high-ranking Japanese military leaders and foreign attachés from around the world. The drills lasted a number of days, culminating in a banquet for the troops at imperial expense. It was held in a different part of Japan each year and broadcast on the radio countrywide, which increased participation from different divisions, boosted morale, and inspired confidence and courage among the general public.These photobooks were produced to commemorate and publicize the event. They were published by the Special Manoeuvres Supervision Department with collotype photographs by Ogawa Kazumasa. Ogawa spearheaded the development of photography and photochemical printing in Japan. "While Commodore M. C. Perry opened Japan to the world in 1854, it was the distinguished and influential artist Ogawa, many years late

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