Minamata: The Story of the Poisoning of a City, and of the People Who Choose to Carry the Burden of Courage

200 Pages·1975·35.034 MB·English

by  W. Eugene Smith, Aileen M. Smith

The
story of the
poisoning of a city
and of the
who
people choose
to
carry the burden of courage.
i i i
M
AILEEN SMIT
and
ISBN: 0-03-013636-8
$20.00
MINAMATA
is a fishing and farming
townonthesouthernJapaneseislandofKyushu.
Its people joined the industrial age when the
Chisso Corporation built a chemical factory
there. The disaster that then befell them, and the
ways in which some have managed to respond,
reachfarbeyondJapan.Theircourageis a flag of
—
hope for all life but it will have signaled no
victory unless it awakens other people to action
in every corner of this planet.
An uneasiness developed in the town in the
early 1950s. Many individuals fell ill with the
same symptoms: limbs and lips tingled and then
became numb; speech slurred; motor functions
wentoutof control. Some died. Was this strange
new disease contagious? Nobody knew.
Ifyou have heard of Minamata before this, it
is because W. Eugene Smith, the photographer
whose essays have been regarded as classics
since he helped to invent the form over thirty
years ago, focused attention on what he calls
"the widening damnations of pollution'.'
Minamata'sdisease was recognized as methyl
mercury poisoning from industrial wastes. The
mercury reached people through contaminated
fish. Some doctors suggest that the number of
persons affected might reach 10,000. So far, 103
have died and some 700 others have been veri-
— —
fiedas seriously and permanently damaged.
As groups of victims pressed a turbulent, multi-
sided crusade to force industry and government
to take responsibility, Smith and his wife,
Aileen, moved to Minamata.
Smith, asalways, isbothobserver and partici-
pant. During one demonstration, Chisso union
men smashed him to the pavement so hard,
crushing several vertebrae, that he feared he
would never be able to hold another camera.
Aileen Smith covered for both of them until he
could raise his arm again. From the beginning,
she has made this study of Minamata possible;
speaking Japanese (born in Tokyo, she divided
herfirsttwentyyearsequallybetweenJapan and
the U.S.), she interprets for Smith, made the
notes from which much of the book is written,
and took about one-fourth of the photographs
publishedhere.The SmithseatfishintheirMina-
mata house, not from bravado but simply be-
cause that is what one eats there, just as an
American city dweller breathes the air during a
smoggyspellandeats three meals a day contain-
ing chemical preservatives.
The result of their collaboration is an endur-
ingdocumentthatcrownsthework of one of the
world's great photographers. W. Eugene Smith
(continuedon backflap)
Jackc 1'^sign by oarcleThomas 0575
BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

MINAMATA

MINAMATA
words and photographs by
W
EUGENE
SMITH
SMITH
AILEEN
and M.
An Alskog-Sensorium Book
New
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, York, 1975
Rrt 1231
An Alskog-Sensorium Book
©
Text copyright 1975 by W. Eugene Smith
and Aileen M. Smith.
©
Photographs copyright 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
by W. Eugene Smith and Aileen M. Smith.
©
Medical report text copyright 1975
by Masazumi Harada and Aileen M. Smith.
Executive producer: Lawrence Schiller
J.
Editorial consultant: John Poppy
Production manager: Ira Fast
Design consultant: Philip Kaplan
Design assistant: Julie Asher Palladino
Proofreading: Judith R. Holtzer
Production consultant: Arthur Gubernick
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book
or portions thereof in any form. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote brief passages in a review.
Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-
Minamata.
"An Alskog book'.'
1. Mercury—Toxicology—Pictorial works. 2. Water
—Pollution—Minamata, Japan—Pictorial works. I. Smith,
Aileen Mioko, joint author. II. Title.
RA1231.M5S65 362.1'9 74-15467
ISBN (Deluxe): 0-03-013641-5
ISBN (Hardcover): 0-03-013631-8
ISBN (Paperback): 0-03-013636-9
First edition.
Published simultaneously in Canada by
Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, Limited.
Typography by Phototype House, Los Angeles
Printed by Rapoport Printing Corp., New York
Printed in the United States of America.
In dedication
who
to those do not
take the past as proof
against the future.
and our deeply
felt
. . .
appreciation to John Poppy,
who contributed so much
book
to this that it is also his book.