In Hunter (Japanese: 狩人), Daido Moriyama charts the urban and cultural flux of late 1960s and early 1970s Japan through a fragmented and restless photographic journey. While echoing the raw aesthetic of his project Farewell Photography, which challenged traditional notions of photographic representation, Hunter reimagines the photographer as a mobile observer, intent on capturing fleeting encounters. Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Moriyama specifically emphasizes Japan’s routes and urban corridors as his personal "hunting grounds", highlighting a proactive pursuit rather than merely documenting his surroundings.
Moriyama was deeply involved with the Provoke movement, which significantly influenced the artistic vision and thematic concerns of Hunter. In this project, the Provoke aesthetic serves not merely as a stylistic gesture but as a conceptual framework—reflecting Moriyama’s commitment to portraying reality as unstable, elusive, and subject to interruption.
Unlike his more deconstructive approach in Farewell Photography, Hunter channels this ethos through the metaphor of pursuit, suggesting movement through and engagement with the world rather than its systematic dismantling. Through technical manipulation of film and print, Moriyama intensifies grain and contrast to reflect Hunter’s restless, nonlinear visual journey.
Exhibited internationally at landmark shows including New Japanese Photography at MoMA (1974), Stray Dog at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1999), and retrospectives at Tate Modern (2012), The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2011), SFMOMA (1999), and The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2023–24), Hunter quickly became central to Moriyama’s reputation. Published originally in 1972 and reissued in 2011, the book’s sequencing and design cemented its place in photobook history.
