The Dogs’ Quarter. Epic Poetry on the Threshold: Moriyama Daidō’s 'Shinjuku'

Tanaka Jun presents a new, philosophical, and urban-anthropological perspective on Moriyama Daidō’s photographs of Tokyo. The first part of the essay discusses the motif of the city with reference to Walter Benjamin’s theory of arcades and methods of “collective photographic observation” of the city, following the ideas of Akasegawa Genpei, Gotō Noriaki, and Sekine Yasumasa. It is argued that Moriyama Daidō’s series on Tokyo’s Shinjuku district represents the place as one to experience as a “passage.” Tanaka’s analysis of Moriyama’s photography as a form of urban representation will appeal to readers interested in philosophy and aesthetics as well as photography and urban studies.