
Online Exhibition

Los Angeles
By 1922, Wakaji was an active photographer in the Los Angeles photography community. By 1925 he was an assistant at Toyo Miyatake’s studio in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo.
Toyo was the son of the first Japanese confectioner in Los Angeles. Like Wakaji, he yearned to be an artist and did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps. After Toyo took a course with local photographer H. K. Shigeta, he bought the Paris Photo Studio in 1923 and renamed it the Toyo Studio LA. It would eventually become the best-known studio in Little Tokyo.

In 1926 and 1927, Wakaji produced extraordinary panoramas of Japanese American tenant farmers in the Los Angeles area. Families and their workers stood in the fields as if they were rooted in the ground like the produce they grew. These poignant photographs show the difficult challenges confronting Japanese Americans, as well as their resolve and resilience in facing those challenges. He also recorded activities from his own life, including his family farm, Little Tokyo, the produce market, and his children’s schools.
During the 1920s, Wakaji also created photographs as a form of personal expression. As a member of the Japanese Camera Pictorialists of California (JCPC) in Little Tokyo, he was at the center of an influential community recognized for its modernism. The club’s visual style was admired by members of the European avant-garde, such as Moholy-Nagy, whose compositions often used the same visual effects. While Little Tokyo seemed to be an isolated, almost insular ethnic enclave, such was not the case. JCPC photographers established extensive connections throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. Their work was exhibited in London, Paris, and Tokyo, and was reproduced in international publications.
Although Wakaji did not exhibit his work extensively, he presented six prints in the JCPC club’s first exhibition during 1926: California Field, Silent Under the Bridge, Road to Valley, Study, Parade, and In the Temple. None of these prints are known to exist today with the exception of In the Temple, which was taken inside the Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist temple when it was constructed in 1925. Although his output was small, his art photographs demonstrate his contributions to the vital photography community in Little Tokyo during the early 1920s.
JCPC members were also associated with Edward Weston and Margrethe Mather, both of whom were interested in Japanese art. Weston visited JCPC members’ studios and Mather juried the first exhibition of art photography in Little Tokyo that was sponsored by The Rafu Shimpo in 1924.
Watch the video to learn more about Wajaki’s art photography and explore his work in three photo galleries.
Los Angeles
Ongoing
Los Angeles
Wakaji Matsumoto—An Artist in Two Worlds: Los Angeles and Hiroshima, 1917–1944 highlights an artist’s rare photographs of the Japanese American community in Los Angeles prior to World War II and of urban life in Hiroshima prior to the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.
This online exhibition also features essays by Karen Matsumoto, Wakaji’s granddaughter, and Dennis Reed, the curator of the exhibition, a timeline, photo galleries, short documentary videos produced by JANM’s award-winning Watase Media Arts Center, and educational resources.
Wakaji Matsumoto was born to Wakamatsu and Haru (née Motoyama) Matsumoto on July 17,1889, in Jigozen, Hatsukaichi-shi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. He traveled from Japan by way of Canada before reaching the US to work on his father’s farm. Although he worked in the fields and drove produce to Los Angeles, he really aspired to become a graphic artist. Luckily, Wakamatsu taught Wakaji’s wife, Tei, to run the farm, allowing Wakaji to become a professional photographer in Los Angeles and Hiroshima. He was seventy-six years old when he died in Jigozen in 1965. Tei continued to live in the family home and was 101 years old when she died in 1995. Wakaji’s photographs remained undisturbed until 2008 when they were discovered by the Matsumotos’ grandson, Hitoshi Ohuchi, himself a photographer. Upon recognizing their value and significance, he arranged for them to be placed with the Hiroshima City Archives.
View this online exhibition on a desktop computer for the best experience.

Dennis Reed is a curator, collector, artist, and writer who is best known for rediscovering Japanese American art photographers whose works were lost in the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. He has curated over 50 exhibitions for such institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Huntington, the Corcoran Gallery, and JANM. Among his publications are Pictorialism in California: Photography, 1900-1940, Japanese Photography in America, 1920-1940, and Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920-1940. He is the retired Dean of Arts at Los Angeles Valley College and the former chair of the Photographic Arts Council at LACMA.

Karen Matsumoto, granddaughter of Wakaji Matsumoto and retired educator, serves as project liaison for Wakaji Matsumoto: An Artist in Two Worlds. She was executive producer of Honor and Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story, a 2013 documentary about her father. The documentary featured photographs by Wakaji Matsumoto, and provided inspiration to share the collection with a broader public. She has designed curricula related to the Japanese American World War II incarceration experience and has been a consulting teacher for the National Japanese American Historical Society in San Francisco. She is a trustee for the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.
Wakaji Matsumoto—An Artist in Two Worlds: Los Angeles and Hiroshima, 1917–1944 was made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Humanities Planning Grant, Humanities For All grant from California Humanities, and Berkeley JACL. Assistance was provided by Hitoshi Ohuchi, grandson of Wakaji Matsumoto, contributor and logistics coordinator with the Hiroshima City Archives; Hiroshima City Archives; Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; Chugoku Shimbun; and Hiroshima Film Commission.
This exhibition was also made possible by Shizue Kawamoto, Pat Dupes-Matsumoto, Clyde Matsumoto, Dawn Ehrlich, Makoto and Keiko Kawamoto, Natsumi Kawamoto, Satoshi Yano, Fumi Matsumoto, and John deChadenedes, who helped provide information about Wakaji and the Matsumoto family history.
All photographs in this online exhibition were taken by Wakaji Matsumoto (copyright Matsumoto Family) and include the JANM watermark to signify that they are a part of a JANM exhibition.
Above photos: “Wakaji Matsumoto Self Portrait,” “Downtown Hiroshima from the Aioi Bridge, 1938,” “Itaoka and his trucks.” All photos by Wakaji Matsumoto (copyright Matsumoto Family)
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org.
Media Sponsor:
For more information about these photographs, please contact Karen Matsumoto at WakajiExhibition@gmail.com.
Los Angeles
Ongoing
Los Angeles
Wakaji Matsumoto—An Artist in Two Worlds: Los Angeles and Hiroshima, 1917–1944 highlights an artist’s rare photographs of the Japanese American community in Los Angeles prior to World War II and of urban life in Hiroshima prior to the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.
This online exhibition also features essays by Karen Matsumoto, Wakaji’s granddaughter, and Dennis Reed, the curator of the exhibition, a timeline, photo galleries, short documentary videos produced by JANM’s award-winning Watase Media Arts Center, and educational resources.
Wakaji Matsumoto was born to Wakamatsu and Haru (née Motoyama) Matsumoto on July 17,1889, in Jigozen, Hatsukaichi-shi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. He traveled from Japan by way of Canada before reaching the US to work on his father’s farm. Although he worked in the fields and drove produce to Los Angeles, he really aspired to become a graphic artist. Luckily, Wakamatsu taught Wakaji’s wife, Tei, to run the farm, allowing Wakaji to become a professional photographer in Los Angeles and Hiroshima. He was seventy-six years old when he died in Jigozen in 1965. Tei continued to live in the family home and was 101 years old when she died in 1995. Wakaji’s photographs remained undisturbed until 2008 when they were discovered by the Matsumotos’ grandson, Hitoshi Ohuchi, himself a photographer. Upon recognizing their value and significance, he arranged for them to be placed with the Hiroshima City Archives.
View this online exhibition on a desktop computer for the best experience.

Dennis Reed is a curator, collector, artist, and writer who is best known for rediscovering Japanese American art photographers whose works were lost in the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. He has curated over 50 exhibitions for such institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Huntington, the Corcoran Gallery, and JANM. Among his publications are Pictorialism in California: Photography, 1900-1940, Japanese Photography in America, 1920-1940, and Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920-1940. He is the retired Dean of Arts at Los Angeles Valley College and the former chair of the Photographic Arts Council at LACMA.

Karen Matsumoto, granddaughter of Wakaji Matsumoto and retired educator, serves as project liaison for Wakaji Matsumoto: An Artist in Two Worlds. She was executive producer of Honor and Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story, a 2013 documentary about her father. The documentary featured photographs by Wakaji Matsumoto, and provided inspiration to share the collection with a broader public. She has designed curricula related to the Japanese American World War II incarceration experience and has been a consulting teacher for the National Japanese American Historical Society in San Francisco. She is a trustee for the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.
Wakaji Matsumoto—An Artist in Two Worlds: Los Angeles and Hiroshima, 1917–1944 was made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Humanities Planning Grant, Humanities For All grant from California Humanities, and Berkeley JACL. Assistance was provided by Hitoshi Ohuchi, grandson of Wakaji Matsumoto, contributor and logistics coordinator with the Hiroshima City Archives; Hiroshima City Archives; Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; Chugoku Shimbun; and Hiroshima Film Commission.
This exhibition was also made possible by Shizue Kawamoto, Pat Dupes-Matsumoto, Clyde Matsumoto, Dawn Ehrlich, Makoto and Keiko Kawamoto, Natsumi Kawamoto, Satoshi Yano, Fumi Matsumoto, and John deChadenedes, who helped provide information about Wakaji and the Matsumoto family history.
All photographs in this online exhibition were taken by Wakaji Matsumoto (copyright Matsumoto Family) and include the JANM watermark to signify that they are a part of a JANM exhibition.
Above photos: “Wakaji Matsumoto Self Portrait,” “Downtown Hiroshima from the Aioi Bridge, 1938,” “Itaoka and his trucks.” All photos by Wakaji Matsumoto (copyright Matsumoto Family)
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org.
Media Sponsor:
For more information about these photographs, please contact Karen Matsumoto at WakajiExhibition@gmail.com.
Wakaji Matsumoto—Episode 2: Little Tokyo
Wakaji Matsumoto—Episode 2: Little Tokyo
Wakaji Matsumoto—Episode 2: Little Tokyo
ART
Discover the art of daily life through photographs that Wakaji created as a form of personal expression.
Click “Gallery View” to view the photographs and captions in full frame. Click on the magnifying glass to use our extended zoom feature.
Priest on Staircase with Hanging Lamp
The Nishi (Hompa) Hongwanji Buddhist Temple at First Street and Central Avenue
Window Study
Boy on Steps of Building
Shadows on Wall
Skylight Abstraction
Rooster and Hen
Wakaji made this image into a postcard.
Matsumoto Farm
Roy and Takeshi at the Matsumoto farm
Wakaji Matsumoto Self Portrait


FARMING AND COMMUNITY
Experience the vibrancy of the Los Angeles Japanese American community through Wakaji’s lens.
Click “Gallery View” to view the photographs and captions in full frame. Click on the magnifying glass to use our extended zoom feature.
Little Tokyo Parade
Salvation Army band playing in a parade in Little Tokyo along East First Street, ca. 1925
Picnic at the Beach
Tei Matsumoto at Los Angeles Farm
Tei loved reading novels, unlike Wakaji, who read newspapers and educational books.
Roy Matsumoto with Broken Leg
Roy (Hiroshi), Wakaji’s oldest son, in a cast after being kicked by the farm’s draft horse, Joe, 1918
Wakaji and Friends
Wakaji and friends sitting in front of California Bank on South San Pedro Street
Japanese Funeral at Evergreen Cemetery
Funeral of Japanese community member at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights, ca. 1927
Japanese Businessmen
Japanese businessmen, most likely union members of the Southern California Agricultural Association in Little Tokyo. The framed scroll on the wall is a gift from Rokuro Yashiro, former Minister of the Japanese Navy which could be read "National Thought, One Heart." Portraits of US presidents are also on the wall, 1925.
Friends Visiting Matsumoto Farm
September 1925
Visiting Zaimoku Farm
Wakaji’s children (Hiroshi and Takeshi) visiting Zaimoku Farm, 1918
Parade Passing Nishi Hongwanji Temple, Little Tokyo
Japanese children wearing Shinto regalia in parade at Nishi Hongwanji Temple, which was built in 1925 and is now known as JANM’s Historic Building


PANORAMIC PHOTOS
Witness the challenges, energy, and serenity of the Japanese American farming community in Los Angeles through Wakai’s panoramic photography.
Click “Gallery View” to view the photographs and captions in full frame. Click on the magnifying glass to use our extended zoom feature.
Los Angeles City Market
City Market of Los Angeles on 9th Street and San Pedro, established by Mr. Louis Quan, ca. 1925
Nakatani Farm
Takuichi Nakatani farm with children playing baseball in the background, July 4, 1927
Itaoka and his Trucks
Trucks owned by Tanizo Itaoka on his farm, May 29, 1927
Omokawa Brothers Farm
Omokawa brothers farm, May 15, 1927
Matsuoka Farm
Matsuji Matsuoka farm, March 26, 1927
Bandini Saturday School
Rafu Council 1926
Rafu (Los Angeles) Japanese Council, November 17, 1926
Bandini School, June 1927
Names of all students and faculty are written on the photo. Commerce, CA.
Matsumoto Farm with Neighbors and Wakaji’s children, 1926
Wakaji’s children (Tsutomu, Noboru, Harue, Isao, and Shizue) and neighborhood children with parents, ca. 1926
Heisaku Nakatani Farm, 1927
Komaki Farm, 1927


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