Background information
"An undisputed masterwork among Japanese photobooks, Eikoh HOSOE and Tatsumi HIJIKATA's 'Kamaitachi' was originally released in 1969 as a limited edition of 1,000 copies.
Eikoh HOSOE, the renowned photographer, and HIJIKATA, the founder of ankoku butoh dance, had visited a farming village in northern Japan, where HIJIKATA improvised a performance inspired by the legend of a weasel-like demon named Kamaitachi.
As Eikoh HOSOE photographed HIJIKATA's spontaneous interactions with the landscape and with the people they encountered, the two artists together enacted an intense investigation of tradition and an exploration, both personal and symbolic, of contemporary convulsions in Japanese society.
In 2005,a limited-edition facsimile in homage to the original, in close consultation with the artist has been published; 2009, this trade edition, an enchanting body of work available in its first ever affordable trade edition, which was painstakingly reworked by renowned graphic artist Ikko TANAKA - the designer of the original volume - shortly before his death.
TANAKA's reinterpretation of this classic book object of 'Kamaitachi', which is truly a paragon of Japanese bookmaking, includes as a special bonus four never-before-published images from the classic Kamaitachi series.
About the Japanese photographer, Eikoh HOSOE (*1933 in Yamagata Prefecture):
Eikoh HOSOE is an integral part of the history of modern Japanese photography, and remains a driving force not only for his own work, but also for his efforts as a teacher and ambassador, fostering artistic exchange between Japan and the outside world.
HOSOE lives in Tokyo and is represented by Howard Greenberg Gallery, NY
Photo books by and with works by Eikoh HOSOE
- Format
- Re-edit, HC with dust jacket, 25 x 33 x 2,5 cm., 112 pp., b/w ills., text language, English