Eikoh Hosoe: Kamaitachi

New York: Aperture, 2005. First edition, number 469 out of 500 copies signed by the photographer. A fine copy, unmarked and in well-preserved condition. 16 x 12.75 inches. 132 pages. Profusely illustrated. Original cloth; mylar dust jacket; clamshell case. "Fans of Japanese culture, for a little more than the cost of the prix-fixe sushi dinner at New York restaurant Masa, you can own one of the classics of Japanese photography. More than 35 years after it first appeared, "Kamaitachi," a long out-of-print masterwork by Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe, gets its first publication outside Japan. Not just a reprint but a recreation in collaboration with the photographer and in homage to the innovative original, this limited edition holds 40 black-and-white tritone images, each of which receives the scope of a gatefold. Slipcased and protected by a clamshell box, the book is not just a publication but an objet d'art in itself. Hosoe was known for pushing the boundaries of traditional photography through his interactions with important Japanese artists such as Butoh dancer Tasumi Hijikata and novelist Yukio Mishima. In "Kamaitachi," he sought to recapture, with choreographic style, some of the lost landscapes and images of his childhood experience in the closing years of World War II" (the publisher).