Terushichi Hirai

was one of the most prominent Japanese photographers in the first half of the 20th century in Japan.

As an amateur photographer, he was very energetic in photography groups, such as Naniwa Photography Club (, Naniwa Shashin Kurabu) and Tampei Photography Club.

In 1937, he founded Avant-Garde Image Group (Avant-Garde Zoei Shūdan, ) with Gingo Hanawa (1894–1957, ), Yoshio Tarui, Kōrō Honjō and Yoshifumi Hattori. The Osaka section of the 2022 Tokyo Photographic Art Museum exhibition Avant-Garde Rising: The Photographic Vanguard in Modern Japan situated the group within the Kansai avant-garde and included Hirai among its artists.

He was good at imaginative, illusionary and surrealistic photography, using photomontages and color painting on prints. His works such as "Fantasies of the Moon" (, 1938), "Mode" (1938, , Mōdo) and "Life" (1938, , Seimei) are known among other important works for the history of Japanese photography before World War II.