25 October 1909 – 15 September 1990 (Japanese: 土門 拳), was a Japanese photographer of the Shōwa period. Born in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, he initially aspired to become a painter before studying law at Nihon University. In 1933 he began training in photography under Miyauchi Kōtarō and soon joined the design studio Nihon Kōbō, contributing to the illustrated magazine Nippon.

After the Second World War he worked as a freelance photographer and established his own laboratory for developing and printing photographs. His work spans photojournalism, portraiture, and extended documentary projects, and he became associated with a realist approach to photography. Among his notable projects is The Children of Chikuhō, for which he received major national awards, as well as his long-term photographic work on Buddhist temples and cultural heritage in Japan.

From the 1960s onward he developed large-scale book projects, including the multi-volume series Pilgrimages to Ancient Temples, published between 1963 and 1975. His photographs were widely recognized in Japan, receiving awards such as the Japan Journalists' Association Prize and the Kikuchi Kan Prize. In 1983, the Ken Domon Museum of Photography was opened in his hometown, dedicated to his work.

Reference
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition. Retrieved March 17, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domon_Ken