was a Japanese editor and photographer, known for photographing Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 for over half a century.

Kuwabara was born in Tokyo in 1913. He started taking photographs around 1931 with a Vest Pocket Kodak, but his interest increased as a result of an invitation by his neighbor Hiroshi Hamaya

Hiroshi Hamaya

was a renowned Japanese photographer.-Books of Hamaya's works:*Senkō shashinjutsu . Ars Shashin Bunko. Tokyo: Ars, 1941.*Ura Nihon . Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1957.*Henkyō no machi . Sekai Shashinka Shirīzu. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1957....

 to go to a photo-shoot in Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

. His photograph, taken with a Leica C, won second prize in the related contest, leading him to submit his work to photographic magazines, which accepted them.

In 1940, he went to Manchuria

Manchukuo

Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...

 to take photographs for military purposes.

He returned after the war and became editor of the magazine Camera

Camera (Japanese magazine)

, or Ars Camera , Arusu Kamera), is one of the older and longer running of Japanese camera magazines. It was published by the company Ars.The first issue of Ars Camera is dated April 1921: predating Asahi Camera by five years...

and thereafter edited other photographic magazines, putting the nurture of new talent and photographic criticism ahead of his own photography.

Kuwabara's own photographs received more critical attention from the late 1960s, but the revival only took off in the mid-70s. He came to be regarded as one of the foremost street photographers, particularly among those active before the war. While his earlier photographs of Tokyo had concentrated on Asakusa

Asakusa

is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals.- History :...

 and elsewhere in the Shitamachi (area traditionally populated by artisans), his later photographs (many in color) show Setagaya-ku

Setagaya, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood within the ward. The ward calls itself the City of Setagaya in English...

, where he later lived.

Nobuyoshi Araki

Nobuyoshi Araki

is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He is also known by the nickname .-Life and career:Araki was born in Tokyo, studied photography during his college years and then went to work at the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki...

 did much to promote the revival of interest in Kuwabara's works, and the pair had a joint exhibition, "Love you Tokyo", in the Setagaya Art Museum

Setagaya Art Museum

The is an art gallery in Setagaya, Tokyo.The gallery, which opened in 1986, has a permanent collection, some of which is on show at any time, and mounts exhibitions....

 in summer 1993.

Kuwabara died on 10 December 2007, a fact that was only announced in February 2008.

Books of Kuwabara's photographs

Tōkyō Shōwa jūichinen . Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 1975. Photographs taken 1935–9 (and for the most part 1936–7) in Tokyo — particularly Shitaya-ku and Asakusa-ku — and nearby places such as Kamakura. Texts and captions in Japanese only. Manshū Shōwa jūgonen . Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 1975.

• Watakushi no shashinshi . Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 1976.
• Yume no machi: Kuwabara Kineo Tōkyō shashinshū ). Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 1977.
• Tōkyō chōjitsu: Kuwabara Kineo shashinshū / Tokyo Days. Sonorama Shashin Sensho 15. Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1978. Photographs of Tokyo, with an emphasis on the 1970s. With a summary in English as well as Japanese.
• Tōkyō 1934–1993 . Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1995. Edited by Kazuo Nishii
  Kazuo Nishii
  was a Japanese magazine editor and photography critic.Nishii was born in Tokyo in 1946. He graduated in economics from Keio University in 1968, and shortly after this moved to the company publishing Mainichi Shimbun, rising via stints at Sunday Mainichi and Mainich Graph to become editor in chief...
  
  . There are 736 photographs, many of them two to a (rather small) page. The paper and printing quality are not of art-book quality; nevertheless, this book scores on sheer quantity. Short captions in English, longer captions and other texts in Japanese only.
• Kuwabara Kineo shashinten: Tōkyō Shōwa modan. Tokyo: Higashi Nihon Tetsudō Bunka Zaidan, 1995. Kuwabara Kineo . Nihon no Shashinka 19. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1998. ISBN 4-00-008359-7. Photographs 1934–97. Captions and text in Japanese only. Kuwabara Kineo: Raika to Tōkyō: Raika sutōrī bukku / Kineo Kuwabara: Tokyo through a Leica. Issue no. 60 (2001) of Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka . ISBN 4-257-13036-9. Most of this issue of this lavishly produced quarterly is devoted to Kuwabara's works. Despite the alternative English title, the text is in Japanese only. Tōkyō Shitamachi 1930 (1930, Downtown Tokyo 1930). Tokyo: Kawade Shobō, 2006. ISBN 4-309-26929-X.
• Rabu yū Tōkyō . Tokyo: Setagaya Art Museum, 1993. Catalogue of an exhibition held with Nobuyoshi Araki
  Nobuyoshi Araki
  is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He is also known by the nickname .-Life and career:Araki was born in Tokyo, studied photography during his college years and then went to work at the advertising agency Dentsu, where he met his future wife, the essayist Yōko Araki...
  
   at the Setagaya Art Museum
  Setagaya Art Museum
  The is an art gallery in Setagaya, Tokyo.The gallery, which opened in 1986, has a permanent collection, some of which is on show at any time, and mounts exhibitions....
  
  .

Other books with photographs by Kuwabara

• Modan Tōkyō rapusodi / Rhapsody of Modern Tokyo. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1993. Catalogue of an exhibition held in 1993 of photographs of Tokyo from the 1930s at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
  Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
  The is an art museum focused on photography. The museum was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is located in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo...
  
  . Pages 60–85 are devoted to Kuwabara's works.