Tomatsu Shomei first visited Okinawa in 1969, when the islands were still under American military occupation, and continued to photograph there through the reversion to Japanese control in May 1972. Having grown up near an American base in Nagoya on the mainland, he wished to explore the Americanisation of his homeland further. During the time he spent on the islands, he discovered that, on the whole, the people of Okinawa were able to preserve their customs and traditions in a way that many of those in mainland Japan had not, remarking that 'upon leaving the Okinawa Islands for Japan, that he had not really come to Okinawa but to Japan, and was not leaving for Japan but for America.' The first half of The Pencil of the Sun comprises black-and-white photographs of Okinawa; the second comprises colour photographs made in other Southeast Asian countries he visited during this period. The title refers to how the people he met lived closer to nature—keeping time, not by a clock but by the sun.

First edition; oblong 4to (242 x 259 mm, 9½ x 10¼ in); black-and-white and colour photographs printed in offset, edited by Kitjima Noboru, toning to edges, foxing to preliminary and end leaves; photo-illustrated adhesive-bound wrappers, spine sunned, wear to extremities, creasing to covers, a good copy; [252]pp.

The Japanese Photobook 1912-1990 351 pp427.