was a Japanese photographer. Born in 1931 in Tosa, Kōchi Prefecture, Inoue became the first apprentice to Takeji Iwamiya in Osaka in 1951. While continuing to work with Iwamiya in 1954, he started work as temporary cameraman for

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...

in Osaka. Iwamiya recognized his talent and from 1958 encouraged the young Inoue to roam the streets of Kamagasaki in Nishinari-ku, Osaka, permitting him to develop his private work in the studio darkroom. During the 1950s, Inoue developed a reputation as a young documentary photographer. In 1959 he was a prizewinner in the

Fuji Photo Film , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from the ...

Contest Professional Section. In Tokyo, during May 1960, he held his first solo exhibition, "The Hundred Faces of Kamagasaki", which was awarded Newcomer Prize by Camera Geijutsu magazine. In 1961 he also received the Newcomer's Award from the Japan Photography Critics' Association. In 1959,

Daidō Moriyama is a Japanese photographer best known for his black-and-white street photography and association with the avant-garde photography magazine ''Provoke (magazine), Provoke''. Moriyama’s rough, unfettered photographic style makes use of sharply t ...

joined Iwamiya's studio before moving to Tokyo in 1961. Moriyama credits Inoue with setting him on the road to photography and as being highly influential in developing his photographic style. Writing for Inoue's Retrospective exhibition in 2005, Moriyama wrote: "his words - 'You coming, Mori?' - calling me to accompany him to Kamagasaki set me on the road to becoming a photographer" and "without the pioneering Inoue I would not have set out upon the long road of photography that I have followed".''Shashinka Inoue Seiryū Kaikoten'' () / ''Retrospective Exhibition of Seiryū Inoue, Photographer.'' Amagasaki City Sogo Bunka Centre, 2005. In Japanese. Inoue continued to work in Osaka, becoming a teacher of documentary photography at Osaka Geijutsu (Art) University and eventually a full professor in 1987. Following his work in Kamagasaki, Inoue photographed ethnic Koreans emigrating from Japan to North Korea and the festivals and city of Kyoto, among other subjects. He was engaged in photographing daily life on the Amami Islands in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

when he met an accidental death in Tokunoshima in 1988.

Books of Inoue's works

* ''Inoue Seiryū Shashinshū Kamagasaki'' () / ''Seiryū Inoue Photography Book: Kamagasaki'' Ginga Shobo, Osaka, 1985. Includes poetry by Kamagasaki resident Higashibuchi Osamu　(). In Japanese. * ''Hysteric One: Inoue Seiryu'' Hysteric Glamour, Tokyo, 2005. * ''Shashinka Inoue Seiryū Kaikoten'' () / ''Retrospective Exhibition of Seiryū Inoue, Photographer.'' Amagasaki City Sogo Bunka Centre, 2005. In Japanese. This book also contains a detailed biography and several articles in memory of Inoue, including one by

. * ''Inoue Seiryu / Kojima Ichiro'' Rat Hole, Tokyo, 2007.

References

Osaka University of Arts faculty Photography academics Japanese photographers People from Tosa, Kōchi 1931 births 1988 deaths Accidental deaths in Japan {{Japan-photographer-stub