Archive · 16 Sep 2026
Rare Japanese Photographs Revisit Nagaland’s 1979 Cultural Life
A Japanese photographer named Yuzo Morita visited Nagaland in 1979.
He took many pictures of people, places and traditions.
More than 40 years later, those pictures are being shown in Kohima.
The exhibition helps people see what life in Nagaland was like at that time.
Some traditions have changed, while others are still practiced.
The exhibition was organised by the Nagaland State Museum and a museum in Osaka, Japan.
The two museums also created a database about Naga artefacts.
They made Morita’s photographs available online in a digital archive.
This work helps students, researchers and future generations learn about Nagaland’s cultural history.
A four-day exhibition in Kohima presents Yuzo Morita’s photographs from his 1979 journey across Nagaland.
The images document Nagaland’s communities, landscapes, traditions and everyday life more than four decades ago.
The Nagaland State Museum organised the exhibition with Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka.
A database of Naga artefacts and a digital archive of Morita’s photographs were launched.
The collaboration aims to expand research, documentation, cultural exchange and public access to Naga heritage.
- Who
- Yuzo Morita, the Nagaland State Museum and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka are central to the exhibition and collaboration.
- What
- A four-day exhibition is presenting Morita’s 1979 photographs of Nagaland, alongside launches of a Naga collection database and a digital photography archive.
- When
- The exhibition was inaugurated on September 16; the related cooperation agreement was signed on August 5, 2025.
- Where
- The exhibition is being held at the State Museum of the Directorate of Art & Culture in Kohima, Nagaland.
- Why
- The project seeks to preserve and share Nagaland’s cultural memory while strengthening research and cultural ties between Nagaland and Japan.
- Exhibition
- “Time Travel to Nagaland, 1979: A Japanese Photographer’s Record of Life and Tradition”
- Photographer
- Yuzo Morita, a Japanese ethnographic photographer and ethnologist
- Duration
- Four days
- Organisers
- Nagaland State Museum, Department of Art & Culture, and the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka
- Naga artefacts
- The National Museum of Ethnology holds around 250 artefacts related to the Naga people
- Digital access
- Morita’s 1979 photographs have been digitised and made available through a new archive
- Cooperation agreement
- Signed by the two institutions on August 5, 2025