Born in Hokkaido Prefecture in 1934. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Photography. After working at Nippon Design Center and Kawade Shobo Shinsha, he became independent in 1968. Since the early 1960s, he has published numerous photographic works, mainly in camera magazines. He is known as a photographer who pursued “privateness” and “play” through photographic expression.

Fukase established a unique position in the history of Japanese photography in the 1960s through his in-depth view of his own personal life, taking as his subjects his wife, family, his cat, and himself. In the spring of 1976, Fukase headed for Hokkaido, where the original landscape of his childhood remained, to escape his failing marriage. He visited Abashiri and Cape Erimo, and turned his lens on the numerous crows that inhabit the area. When he returned to Tokyo, he showed his photographs to Shoji Yamagishi, who recommended that he use “Ravens” as the title of his exhibition, since ravens were often seen in his photographs. In 1976, he held his first photo exhibition in 15 years, titled “Ravens.” This exhibition earned him the second Ina Nobuo Award the following year in 1977, and “Raven” became one of Fukase’s representative works. He continued to work energetically after that, releasing the “Private Scenes” series in which he himself was the subject. In June of 1992, Fukase fell down the stairs of a bar he frequented, suffering severe after-effects and spending the rest of his life receiving care in a special nursing home, never to take a picture again.

The Masahisa Fukase Archives was established by Tomo Kosuga in 2014, and since then, retrospective exhibitions have been held and photo books have been republished, revealing the full scope of his work, which had long been shrouded in mystery.