The Asahi Photo Studio has been in business for several generations and had moved to the Endoji Shopping Street in the postwar years. In the photo is Mr. Iwai’s mother and his elder brother who is in the stroller. At the time Endoji was a family neighbourhood. The lady on the right is a housewife from the adjacent Habashita neighborhood and had collected her son from the nearby elementary school which the children of the Nodasen shoe store in Endoji also attended. Today the teacher had read along with the students Hatoju Muku’s Wild Dogs of an Island. As a dog lover, he was frustrated to learn about the fear of dogs that the islanders had.
「アサヒ写真館前の母と息子」、ゼラチン・シルバー・プリント、1970年、7.8 x 11.2 cm、 岩井良憲蔵
アサヒ写真は、戦後から円頓寺商店街にあり、代々親しまれてきた。これは、岩井氏の母親と、ベビーカーに乗った彼の兄の写真だ。円頓寺が家の近所だった時のものだ。右の若い女性は、お隣の幅下に住む主婦で、円頓寺にある老舗履物店の野田仙の子どもたちも通っていた近くの小学校に息子を迎えに行ったところだ。この日、教師は子どもらと共に、椋鳩十の『孤島の野犬』を読んだ。そして、愛犬家だった彼は、犬たちと触れ合う島民たちの恐怖に対して、苛立ってしまったのだ！