To the women in my life: Yoshiko, daughters Mika and Yura,and granddaughter LunaContentsIntroduction

7The photos

19

Oyako Day137

About the photographer

142

Acknowledgements

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Oyako: An Ode to Parents and Children by Bruce Osborn
Photographs and text © 2018 by Bruce Osborn
All rights reserved. No portion of this book in excess offair use considerations may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means without written permission
from the copyright holder.
Published August, 2018 by Sora Books LLC
Yokosuka, Japan 240-0105
www.sorabooksjapan.com
ISBN 978-4-9909966-6-6

親 Yasuko Tarumi / housewife
子 Gen Tarumi / entrepreneur

ThehistoryofOyako

Oyako is the Japanese word for “parentand child.” It is unique in that this vertical
relationship is seen as one unit and is
described by a single word. It is clearly
different than the word kazoku, which is
the word for the family.
My fascination with oyako and what
was to be the start of my “Oyako Project”
began with a magazine assignment I wasgiven in 1982 to photograph Japanesepunk musicians. It was at the time when
my wife was expecting our first child,
so while I was considering how to takethe photos of the rockers, I was also
contemplating becoming a father. Thesethoughts converged when I hit on the idea of taking
photos of the punk musicians with one of their parents.
There is a Japanese saying – Oya no kao ga mitemitai, or“I’d sure like to see his parents" – that is often utteredwhen coming in contact with bad-mannered children,and that helped solidify the idea for my photo shoot.
I thought it would be an amusing way to bring out thedifferences in lifestyles and fashions between the twogenerations.
But, surprisingly, what came through were thesimilarities. I realized that when I looked beyond that outershell of clothing and hairstyles, they shared many thingsin common. It might be a nose, or a way of laughing, or
how they walked. The child had a unique connection
with each of his parents that could never be broken

8

親 Yae Nakano / housewife
子 Shigeru Nakano / musician

1982

I was hooked. In fact, the pictures revealed so muchabout the generational relations that it made me wantto continue exploring the theme as a way of looking
at society and the tremendous changes we go throughin our lifetimes. I decided to take more oyako photos,
and more deeply explore the significance of what I had
glimpsed in that first shoot.
In order to focus on the oyako relationship without
any other distractions, and to give it more continuity,
I chose to shoot in black-and-white film against aplain background. I sought parents and children froma wide range of traditional, everyday and unusual
occupations. Soon, what had started as a minor
interest became a passion. With the support of my wife,
Yoshiko, the series continued.

As I got further into this project and my own
family grew, I remained fascinated by the special
relationship that exists in every oyako, along with themore common bonds that are shared by all parents
and children. When taking an oyako photograph, I
feel I am looking at more than just a moment in time;as they stand together, I can see their past, presentand future. There is another Japanese proverb, ko wa
kasugai, that means “children bind couples together.”But I believe it’s more than just the parents that areaffected. Children tie the family to society, generation
to generation, and add another link to the bonds thatexist between all living things. Such thoughts helpedme realize just how deep an impression these families
have made on me.

101993

Moving to Japan opened my eyes to another wayof thinking. By nature, Japanese are shy when it
comes to showing outward affection, and express
their feelings in other ways. It is common practicefor young children to sleep with their parents and to
take baths together. Considering the harmony of thegroup over one’s personal desires is the philosophyof the culture. Parents are the first people that anewborn child meets, and the deep bond that is
cultivated is important as the basis for all future
relations. Like nurturing a small plant, as the childgrows, so do the roots that connect them to theirfamily, relations and community.
If you take to heart the fact that life itself is passed
from parents to children, creating a long chainthat has brought us to this very day, you realizethat the oyako concept transcends both borders
and beliefs. After meeting so many parents andchildren and pondering their unique ties, I see these
relationships as permeating not just the family but
moving throughout society, regions and even nature.
We are as much bonded to Mother Earth and its
environment as we are to each other: it's a vision of
the world that instills reverence for life and inspires
world peace.
Though we had no idea how significant this series
would become, like raising a child, it has grown into
a lifelong project for us. Over the last 36 years, I haveshot over 7,000 photos of oyako, and now a selectionof them are making an appearance in this book.

122003

Parents
always want
their children
to be normal
like everybodyelse,

14

butwheneverI get seton thosetracks, I
get just so
far before
I feel likegetting off.
– Shigeru Nakano

2012Oyako are the hope of the planet!
– Sizzle Ohtaka

20

親 Yasuko Ohtaka / housewife
子 Sizzle Ohtaka / singer

親 Danjuro Ichikawa / kabuki actor
子 Shinnosuke Ichikawa / kabuki actor

親 Itsuko Sagara / housewife
子 Lucy / musician

“The chant, ‘appearance is an illusion andemptiness* is form,’ expresses the Buddhist
belief that letting go of fixed ideas leads
to deeper understanding. Though life isfleeting, I am filled with happiness at seeing
energy flow from me to my children and totheir children. This is the way of nature andthe continuation of life.”
Taijun Kagenaka*Emptiness, void, sky, heavens (空 – ku and sora)
親 Taijun Kagenaka / Buddhist monk
子 Akira Kagenaka / Buddhist monk

29

The better a family gets along,the closer they become to their friends.
First between parents and children.
That’s the foundation.

It then continues
on to friends,friends of friends,friends of friends
offriends.
.
.
and all the way round the world.
– Tetsuya Chiba

親 Tetsuya Chiba / mangaka (cartoonist)
子 Kozo Chiba / CG artist33

I used to think all adults had
patterns on their bodies.
So what a shock it was the first time
I went to a public bath:nobody had any tattoos!
– Keiko Ohwada

親 Mitsuaki Ohwada / tattoo artist Akie Ohwada / housewife
子 Keiko Ohwada / elementary school student47

親 Hiroshi Matsui / restaurant owner
子 Hikaru Matsui / junior high school student親 Seiji Nakata / carpenter
子 Akiko Nakata / carpenter

親 Miyazo Tsukahara / fish wholesaler
子 Yoshio Tsukahara / fish wholesaler

親子の日 /Oyako Day

In 2003, my wife Yoshiko and I decided to take things one stepfurther. We created a special day to think about the parentchild bond, in hopes that it would provide an opportunity for
all of us to re-examine and reaffirm this bedrock relation thatis tied to our lives. Since the second Sunday of May is Mother's
Day and the third Sunday of June is Father's Day, we felt thefourth Sunday of July would be a fitting day to celebrate Oyako
Day. The first Oyako Day was celebrated on July 27, 2003, when
we invited 100 families to have their photos taken. Yoshiko
and I were so thrilled by the response that we have continued
to do this event every year since. Even if you don’t havechildren of your own, we all have parents that gave us the giftof life. Oyako Day is about the celebration of that life.

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2nd Sunday of May is Mother’s Day
3rd Sunday of June is Father’s Day

4th Sunday ofJuly is Oyako DayAbout thephotographerBruce Osborn was born in Southern California and raisedin its surf and skateboard culture. He began his career inLos Angeles as the photo editor and chief photographer atPhotographic Record Magazine before moving to Tokyo in 1980.
Bruce’s clientele has included Brutus, Interview, and National
Geographic (Japan). He has shot ad campaigns for Sony, Parco,
and Visa, and photographed Etta James, Ron Wood, BillGates, Kenzaburo Oe, and Richard Branson, among others.
He has held photo exhibitions at Kanazawa’s 21 Century
Museum of Contemporary Art, Boston Children’s Museum
and the Shizuoka City Museum. His life-long project is theOyako (parents and children) photo series. In 2003, Bruceand his wife Yoshiko created the Oyako Day social action.
They were recently awarded the Higashi-Kuninomiya
International Culture Award for their contributions toJapanese society. A documentary film about their project,
Oyako ~ Present To The Future, was released in 2014.
bruceosborn.com

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