"people who live and the sea full of joy and sorrow ... ... I will immerse myself in their world. "-Yanlaizhen (Iwase Yoshiyuki), 1983
1904 years, yanlaizhen was born in Chiba East of Tokyo Bay on the Pacific coast of the peninsula called Royal (Onjuku) of the small fishing village in 1924, after graduating from Meiji University law school, beginning his lifelong pursuit, while business family sake brewery, while records of Japan increasing extinction of traditional culture to the seaside. At the end of 1920, young yanlaizhen received an early Kodak camera. As the small town vitality are mainly derived from the sea, he was naturally attracted to the sea, and soon for those who have "the beauty of simple, almost the original" sea women-from the seaweed underwater fishing, and top shell, abalone and the woman had a strong love.
Royal host only in sea water temperature between June and September of each year is more appropriate, and the big wave is unable to do a lot of fishing, so dive days each year only about 20 days. Sea women diving in three periods a day, must rest to a large number of eating and keep warm. Day fishing, sea-diving 60 to 80 times women, each for up to two minutes, so they have to keep enough fat to prevent hypothermia. Sea women can get from such a harsh and dangerous work higher salaries, they often can get in a short season than men working for one year of higher revenues in the village. At the end of 1920, about 200 women active in the Royal and the sea in the vicinity of seven ports. To the end of the 1960 's, they no longer exists, become a part of the yanlaizhen of this series of works on the last of these divers, is the most comprehensive set of image record. Later, his subject matter expanded to local fishermen and scenes of his hometown, record postwar Japan's traditional culture, and became the Japan modern nude photography pioneer. (Translation: there are)
