Fosco Maraini (; 15 November 1912 – 8 June 2004) was an Italian photographer,

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

, writer,

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

and academic.

Biography

He was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

from the Italian sculptor Antonio Maraini (1886–1963) and Cornelia Edith "Yoï" Crosse also known as Yoï Crosse-Pawlowska (1877–1944), a model and writer of English and Polish descent who was born in

Tállya Tállya is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 45 kilometres from county seat Miskolc, in the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district. Geography Tállya is located at . According to the 2001 Census the village has a total ...

, Hungary. As a photographer, Fosco Maraini is perhaps best known for his work in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

and Japan. The visual record Maraini captured in images of Tibet and on the

Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

has gained significance as historical documentation of two disappearing cultures. His work was recognized with a 2002 award from the Photographic Society of Japan, citing his fine-art photos—and especially his impressions of Hokkaido's Ainu. The society also acknowledged his efforts to strengthen ties between Japan and Italy over 60 years. Maraini also photographed extensively in the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

and

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

mountain ranges of Central Asia, in Southeast Asia and in the southern regions of his native Italy. Gasherbrum IV expedition 1958

As an anthropologist and ethnographer, he is known for his published observations and accounts of his travels with Tibetologist

Giuseppe Tucci Giuseppe Tucci (; 5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984) was an Italian orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and the history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian fascism ...

during two expeditions to Tibet, first in 1937 and again in 1948. As a mountaineer, he is perhaps best known for the 1959 ascent of

Saraghrar Saraghrar () is the fourth-highest independent peak in the Hindu Kush and located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The entire Saraghrar massif is a huge, irregularly stretched plateau at elevation around , lying above vertical granite and ice faces, which ...

and for his published accounts of this and other Himalayan climbs. As a climber in the Himalayas, he was moved to describe it as "the greatest museum of shape and form on earth." From 1938 to 1943, Maraini's academic career progressed in Japan, teaching first in Hokkaido (1938–1941) and then in Kyoto (1941–1943); but what he himself observed and learned during those years may be more important than what he may have taught.

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

, his eldest daughter, would decades later recall that "the first trip I took was on the sea from Brindisi to Kobe." Two of his three daughters were born in Japan: Yuki (registered as Luisa in Italy) was born in Sapporo in 1939, Antonella (Toni) in Tokyo in 1941. After the Italians signed an armistice with the allies in World War II, the Japanese authorities asked Maraini and his wife Topazia Alliata to sign an act of allegiance to Mussolini's puppet

Republic of Salò The Italian Social Republic (, ; RSI; , ), known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy (; SNRI), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (, ), was a List of World War II puppet states#Germany, German puppe ...

. They were both asked separately and separately they refused, and were interned with their three daughters of six, four and two years old in a concentration camp at Nagoya for two years. Those memories of 1943 through 1946 evolved into some chapters of the book "Meeting with Japan" by Fosco Maraini.

Dacia Maraini Dacia Maraini (; born November 13, 1936) is an Italian writer. Maraini's work focuses on women's issues, and she has written numerous plays and novels. She has won awards for her work, including the Formentor Prize for ''L'età del malessere'' ...

's collection of poetry drawn from those difficult years, ''Mangiami pure,'' was published in 1978. The Maraini family retreated to Italy after the Allies occupied Japan. This period became the core of another book by Dacia Maraini who remembers that they left Asia "without either money or possessions, stripped bare, with nothing on our backs except the clothes handed out by the American military."Marcus, James
" Broken Promises,"
''New York Times.'' 9 April 1995. The years in Italy are described in the book, ''Bagheria,'' named after the Sicilian

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

not far from Palermo where the family lived. In time, Maraini did return to his "adopted homeland" of Japan; and in 1955, this journey of rediscovery became the basis for his book, ''Meeting with Japan.'' In an interview, one of his daughters explained that one of her earliest memories of her father speaking is when he claimed: The head of the Tuscany regional government publicly explained that Maraini had "honored Florence and the Tuscany by teaching us to be tolerant of other cultures." Fosco Maraini was, with Giuliana Stramigioli among others, a founding member of the AISTUGIA – the Italian Association for the Japanese Studies. The 1963 film ''

Violated Paradise ''Violated Paradise'', also known as ''Scintillating Sins'' and ''Sea Nymphs'', is a 1963 Italian sexploitation film directed and produced by Marion Gering and starring Kazuko Mine. Although film contains mild nudity, it is presented more as a ...

'', directed by

Marion Gering Marion Gering (June 9, 1901 in Rostov-on-Don – April 19, 1977 in New York City) was a Russian-born American stage producer and director. He moved to the United States in 1923 as an artist. He became involved in the theatrical community in Chic ...

was based on Maraini's work ' (1960). A few images shot by Maraini's crew were used in the production.

Selected works

Maraini has had numerous photographic exhibitions in Europe and Japan; and he wrote over twenty books, many of which have been translated into several languages.

Books

* ''Secret Tibet'' (1952) * ''Ore Giapponesi'' (1959) * ''G4-Karakorum'' (1959) * ''Meeting with Japan'' (1960) * ''L'Isola delle Pescatrici'' (1960) * ''Paropàmiso'' (1963). English version: ''Where Four Worlds Meet: Hindu Kush 1959'' (1964) * ''Tokyo'' (1976), Photography by Harald Sund; The Great Cities

Time Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and direct marketeer seller ...

Books Amsterdam. * ''The Island of the Fisherwomen'' (1962) * ''Jerusalem: Rock of Ages'' (1969), Photography by Alfred Bernheim and Ricarda Schwerin; Translated by Judith Landry; New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. * ''Patterns of Continuity'' (1971) * ''Gnosi delle Fànfole'' (1994) * ''Nuvolario'' (1995) * ''Case, amori, universi'' (2000)

Articles

* "Tradition and Innovation in Japanese Films," ''Geographical Magazine.'' Oct. 1954: 294–305.

Honors

Photographic Society of Japan The is an organization set up in December 1952 to advance photography in Japan. Its membership of about 1,400 includes both amateur and professional photographers, as well as researchers, critics, and people in the photographic industry. Its addr ...

, International Award—2002. *

Japan Foundation The is a Japanese foundation that spreads Japanese culture around the world. Based in Tokyo, it was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture. I ...

Award—1986, *

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

, 3rd class—1982.Rogala, Jozef
''A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English: A Select List of Over 2500 Titles with Subject Index'', p. 144.
/ref> * International Society to Save Kyoto's Historic Environment, (ISSK) – First Honorary President.

Notes

References

* Lane, John Francis
Obituary, "Fosco Maraini, Italian Explorer and Travel Writer Who Brought His Understanding of the East to the West,"
''The Guardian'' (Manchester). 15 June 2004.

''The Independent'' (London). 19 June 2004.
Obituary, "Fosco Maraini: Dauntless Italian travel writer who devoted himself to exploring Asian civilisations, and once lopped off a finger to prove his courage,"
''Times'' (London). 29 June 2004. * Rogala, Jozef. (2001)
''A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English: A Select List of Over 2500 Titles with Subject Index.''
London:

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

External links

Official website

*

��referencing father *

��referencing father
Toni Maraini's bio (in Italian)
��daughter's bio, referencing father

��photographer influenced by Maraini *

Japan Mint The is an Independent Administrative Institution of the Japanese government, responsible for producing and circulating the coins of Japan. The agency has its head office in Osaka with branches in Saitama and Hiroshima. The Japan Mint does not p ...

2004 International Coin Design Competition – see competitor design, "Homage to Fosco Maraini, famous Italian anthropologist, orientalist, writer and photographer"
https://web.archive.org/web/20071114062858/http://www.mint.go.jp/eng/event/finaljudge2004.html ... also see "Excellent Work" plaster model, Maurizio Sacchetti (designer)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Maraini, Fosco 1912 births 2004 deaths Photographers from Florence Italian ethnologists Italian mountain climbers Italian Japanologists Photography in Tibet Photography in Japan Italian anti-fascists