Tokyo Polytechnic University is the most traditional and longest-established photographic institution in our country since 1923. Among other university establishments, Shadai Gallery was opened in 1975 as Japan’s pioneer facility and existence that exhibits, collects and researches both domestic and international photographs.
Shadai Gallery archives more than ten thousand photographs and as for an institution affiliated with an educational establishment, this number should be renowned to the world.
The gallery’s collection includes works from worldly known photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Nadar, and Edward Weston as well as Ihei Kimura, Shomei Tomatsu and Ikko Narahara. Also among them, over twelve hundred important works of Ken Domon and a nine hundred early works of Daido Moriyama should be noted as an important part of the collection.
These collections are put to practical use for education and research daily, and are exhibited to the public for photography fans inside and outside of campus throughout the year.