Catalog 6: Japanese Photographers

Examples from Our Stock of
Books by Photographers from Japan

To order, follow the link in the title. More photos and longer descriptions can be found at that link as well. All items are subject to prior sale. Please e-mail us to hold a book or books--aanddbooks@verizon.net. For a more detailed list of our policies see our home page on Biblio.com. Many other photography-related books can be browsed on our Biblio site. Click on the images for a larger view.



Araki Nobuyoshi
Obscenities
Tokyo: Photo-planete, 1994. First edition. Full page bleed color plates throughout with two gate-folds. A special edition of Deja-Vu, the Japanese photography magazine. Out of Print. Saddle-stitched wraps. Fine except for a small scrape on front cover and tiny wear to top of spine. $100.00
• Araki's trademark nudes, bound and not, in very explicit poses. Contrasted to those are photographs of flowers. Urban scenes as well. All photos have had their negatives scratched and drawn on. Araki's statement on the idea of "obscenity."



Araki Nobuyoshi
Osaka: January - May 2002: Volumes 3-1, 3-2 & 3-3
Japan: 2002. Three volumes, all hardcover with dj; all 8.75 x 12 inches.
Vol. 3-1: 351 pages; 318 b&w full-page, photographic plates. Fine in a fine dust jacket except for a bit of edge wear to the top of the spine with a fine belly band. Laid in is a sheet in Japanese.
Vol. 3-2: 331 pages; 298 b&w full-page, photographic plates. Very Good+ in a Very Good+ dust jacket with one small closed tear and a little edge wear to the top with a VG+ belly band with a nick to it.
Vol. 3-3: 320 pages; 284 b&w full-page, photographic plates. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a white belly band with light soiling.
Sold as a set of three volumes, $135.00
• Third prefecture out of 47, part of Araki's "Faces of Japan" series (Nihonjin-no-kao), his attempt to photograph every person's face in Japan. These portraits are from Osaka prefecture. Araki: "The human face represents all aspects of sexuality and each one expresses it a bit differently." Scarce.



Araki Nobuyoshi
Blue Period
Japan: Artone, 2005. First edition. 167 pages; color photographic plates throughout; 6 x 12 inches. Out of Print. Cloth bound spine with stiff wraps. Very Good plus with light wear at edges. $55.00
• All of Araki's usual themes--women nude, women bound and tied, portraits of women--except that all of the prints in the book have been tinted with a pale blue wash, as if underwater, rendering them dreamlike. Unusual volume and scarce.



Chie Yasuda
Grace: Wides Photo Collection, vol. 14
Tokyo: Wides Shuppan, 2002. First edition. 86 pages; 16 color and 24 full-page photographic plates; 7.5 x 9 inches. Text in English & Japanese. Advertising materials laid in. Out of Print. Hardback with dust jacket. Near Fine in Fine dj protected by a mylar cover. $65.00
• Mysterious and impenetrable landscapes. Colored plates, one to a spread, are printed on iridescent paper, and black and white plates on thick absorbent mat paper.



Dodo Shunji
A Radiant Land: Kii Peninsula
Japan: Brain Center, 1995. Presumed first edition. 148 pages; 121 full-page b&w photographic plates; 10.5 x 10.5 inches. Text in Japanese with the essays also in English. SIGNED BY SHUNJI DODO. Out of Print. Cloth covered hardback in dust jacket. Near Fine with light wear to the bottom of the boards in a Near Fine dj. $100.00
• Dodo (b. 1947) is a Japanese photographer and teacher from Osaka. After moving to Nara, the ancient capitol of Japan, on the Kii peninsula on the island of Honshu, he became fascinated with the local culture and people. This volume is the result of years of working with an 8 x 10 field camera to record the people and landscape of the area. In 1999, he won the 24th Ina Nobuo award (the first winner was Masahisa Fukase) from the Nikon Salon.

Furuya Seiichi
Seiichi Furuya: Memoires, 1995
Photographs by Seiichi Furuya; Essays by Toshiharu Ito and Urs Stahel
Zurich: Scalo, 1995. First edition. 159 pages; profusely illustrated with color and b&w photographic plates; 6.75 x 9 inches. Out of Print. Hardcover. Very Good in Very Good DJ with a closed tear and light edgewear. $16.50



Hiro
Hiro: Photographs
Photographs by Hiro; Edited by Richard Avedon; Afterword by Mark Holborn; Artist portrait by J.H. Lartigue.
Bulfinch Press / Little, Brown & Co., 1999. First edition. 144 pages; 37 color and 33 duotoned b&w photographic plates; 10.5 x 13.5 inches. Out of Print. Oversized cloth bound hardback in dj. Near Fine with a remainder mark to the top of the text block in a Very Good plus dj with light shelf wear, protected by a mylar cover. $35.00
• A master of precision, elegance, and startling graphic imagery, the range of Hiro's photography is presented for the first time in this book. Includes examples of his fashion work, nudes, landscapes, street scenes and portraits.



Hiromix
Works
Tokyo: Rockin'on, 2000. Appears to be a later edition, published in 2001. Unpaginated; full-page, color photographic plates through out; 7 x 10 inches. Text in Japanese and English. Out of Print. Cloth bound hardback with sewn-in cloth bookmark and belly band, not issued with dj. Fine with belly band that has a tear in it. $85.00
• A massive compilation of Hiromix's best work from 1995 to 1999. Many of the images appeared in magazines, on CD jackets and so on, in Japan. Mostly portraits of Japanese musicians, actors and many self-portraits.



Hiroo Kuwano
Hiroo Kuwano: 1950-1998 Nature of Echigo: Niigata Prefecture
Photographs by Hiroo Kuwano; Introduction by Hiroshi Hamaya
Japan: 1998. Unpaginated; 66 full-page, b&w photographic plates; 10.25 x 9.75 inches. Text in Japanese. Laid in is an unsigned letter from the photographer, a translation of Hamaya's intro and a list of the photos with English captions. Stiff wraps with dust jacket plus cellophane dj, housed in the publisher's plain card stock slipcase. The book is Fine; the cellophane has some short tears; the slipcase is Very Good with some light wear, the photographers name hand written on the spine and a sticker attached to one side that says "Present.". $55.00
• Kuwano was Hamaya's first studio assistant. This is an intimate look at the Niigata area of Japan including town- and city-scapes, landscapes and portraits of artisans and other folk.



Hosoe Eikoh
Eikoh Hosoe (Untitled 42)
Photographs by Eikoh Hosoe. Afterword by Ronald J. Hill.
Carmel, CA: The Friends of Photography, 1986. First edition. 64 pages with 31 b&w plates and 3 reference illustrations. Wraps. 7.5 x 10.75 inches. SIGNED BY HOSOE. $165.00
• The first monograph on Hosoe published in the United States. Issued only in wraps.



Hosoe Eikoh
A Place Called Hiroshima
Photographs by Eikoh Hosoe; Text by Betty Lifton
Tokyo: Kodansha, 1990. First paperback edition. 151 pages; profusely illustrated with b&w plates; 7 x 10 inches. Out of Print. SIGNED BY HOSOE. No markings or writings or remainder marks. Softcover with DJ. Near Fine in stiff wrappers with Near Fine DJ. Has a slight wrinkle at the foot of the spine where the book appears to have been exposed to water. $95.00
• The effects of the bombing on the city and its inhabitants, as told through interviews and graphic historical photographs made on the day of the bombing and contemporary photographs by Hosoe.



Hosoe Eikoh
Eikoh Hosoe: Meta
Photographs by Eikoh Hosoe. Forward by Graham Howe; poem by MatsuoTakahashi; essay by Tatsuo Fukushima
Los Angeles: Curatorial Assistance, Inc, 1991. First edition. With a chronology of Hosoe's career, an exhibition history and selected bibliography. SIGNED BY HOSOE. $140.00



Ikejiri Kiyoshi
Love Ikon
Le Havre, France: L'Art Penultieme / APKI 015, 2001. First edition thus. Unpaginated (76 pages); 34 hand-cut, tipped-in color photographic plates; 6.5 x 6.75 inches. No. 74 from an edition of 100, SIGNED BY IKEJIRI with his hand stamp. Out of Print. Hardback covered in cloth and rough sandpaper; die cut cover and first page; bound-in ribbon ties. Fine. $85.00
• The photographs are mostly female nudes staged in violent and erotic tableaus, drawn from Japanese and Western literary traditions. Many of the images have been distressed with scratching to the negatives or have been rendered with an altered color palette.



Inose Kou
Visions of Japan: Inose Kou
Photographs by Inose Kou; Essay by Ito Toshiharu
Kyoto: Korinsha Press, 1998. First edition. 95 pages; 39 full-page b&w plates; 8.5 x 8.5 inches. Includes a bibliography and list of exhibitions. Text in English. DJ is protected by mylar cover. Out of Print. Cloth covered hardback. Fine in Near Fine DJ with a little rubbing. $24.50
• A dark vision; work from 1982-1994.



Ishimoto Yasuhiro
Eros + Cosmos in Mandala: The Mandalas of the Two Worlds at the Kyoo Gokoku-ji
Photographs by Yasuhiro Ishimoto; Preface by Ryuki Washio; Essays by Shunsho Manabe, Taka Yanagisawa, Koichi Tanikawa, Arata Isozaki
Tokyo: The Seibu Museum of Art, 1978. First edition. Unpaginated (120 pages); profusely illustrated with color and b&w photographic plates; 10 x 9.5 inches. Text in English. Out of Print. Oversized trade paperback. Near Fine with a light bump to one corner. Gallery sticker to the inside front cover. $39.50
• The Mandalas of the Two Worlds reside in the Kyoo Gokoku-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan. They are from the 9th century, and are rarely seen by the public. One depicts the Diamond Realm and the other the Womb Realm and together they are considered a compact expression of the entirety of the Dharma in Mahayana Buddhism. Ishimoto photographed the core as well as the deities that surround it.



Ishiuchi Miyako
Mother's
Tokyo: Sokyu-Sha, 2002. First edition. Unpaginated (58 pages); 40 b&w and 8 color photographic plates; 5.5 x 7.5 inches. Text in Japanese and English. Out of Print. Hardback with publisher's card slipcase with die-cut window. No dj as issued. Fine in a Fine slipcase. $250.00
• Estranged from her mother when she was alive, Miyako Ishiuchi here presents her mother through images of parts of her body and an visual inventory of personal items that once belonged to her. "What I have now are only the things that my mother left behind for me." See Parr & Badger, The Photobook, Vol. 2, p.320.



Ishiuchi Miyako
Scars
Japan Educational Publishing, 2005. 198 pages; b&w full-page photographic plates throughout; 6.5 x 9 inches. Text in Japanese. Hardback with dust jacket and belly band. Fine in a Fine dj protected by a mylar cover. $65.00
• Photographs of scars--literal and metaphorical--accompanied by the stories of how they came about. Also includes cityscapes from Japan as well as New York City. From the artist: "Scars generally carry a rather negative connotation. They are not shown to others, not exhibited in public, and are to be kept quietly hidden away...they belong to an extremely private realm. I take photographs of such scars, which are so very like a personal secret."



Ishiuchi Miyako
Innocence
Kyoto: Akaaka Art Publishing, 2007. First edition. 92 pages; 68 full-page b&w photographic reproductions; 8.5 x 11.25 inches. Text in English and Japanese. Hardcover with dust jacket and belly band. Near Fine with a touch of wear at the tips in a Near Fine dj with a touch of soiling to the spine. $120.00
• Photographs of women's bodies and the scars they carry.



Kawada Kikuji
The Map (Chizu)
Tokyo: Getsuyosha, 2005. First edition thus, first printing. 100 pages with 46 double gatefolds; 85 black and white photographs; 6.25 x 9.5 inches. 16-page softbound booklet laid-in (9 x 6 inches), with text by Kawada and a list of plates. In English and Japanese. Limited edition of 1000 numbered copies, this being #544. Hardcover. Black cloth, with title stamped in black on front cover and spine, with photographically illustrated paper-covered and matching black cloth covered slipcase, no dust jacket as issued. As New in publisher's shrink wrap, opened to determine the edition. $325.00
• From the publisher: "Originally published on August 6, 1965--the 20th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima--The Map is an icon in the history of photographic publishing. Its status as the "ultimate photobook-as-object," coupled with its scarcity, combined to make it one of the most famous and sought-after photographic publications in existence. The Map combines powerful graphic design with a masterful photographic narrative exploring recent Japanese history--its imperialistic past, western-influenced popular culture, and brutally violent clash with the United States." Kawada oversaw the production of the project. See Parr & Badger: The Photobook, Vol. 1, p.286; Roth: The Book of 101 Books, p.174; The Open Book, p.212.



Kobayashi Hibiki
Tribe
Photographs by Hibiki Kobayashi; Introduction by Peter Beard; Designed by Fabien Baron
New York: powerHouse Books, 1998. First edition. Unpaginated (160 pages); full-page tri-toned b&w photographic reproductions; 11.25 x 14.25 inches. Hardback in acetate dust jacket. Near Fine in a Very Good plus dj with light rubbing. $65.00
• Photographs of the men, women, and children of the world's vanishing indigenous tribes from the remotest regions of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and the Pacific Rim. Like Avedon's "In the American West", and Penn's portraits of indigenous peoples, Kobayashi photographs his subjects against a stark white background to reveal in striking detail the tribes' adornments, clothes, postures, and, ultimately, their sublime identities.



Kubota Hiroji
Japan
Photographs and afterword by Hiroji Kubota; Foreword by Elliott Erwitt
W.W. Norton, 2004. First edition. 227 pages; 175 full-page color photographic plates; 11.5 x 12.5 inches. Cloth bound hardback with dj. Fine in a Fine dj, protected by a mylar cover. $29.50
• After photographing China, Korea, and the United States, Kubota, a member of Magnum, spent three years traveling the length and breadth of Japan's many islands, capturing both the ordinary and the extraordinary of his own country.



Lake Mayumi
Poo-Chi
Photographs by Mayumi Lake; Introduction by Joanna Frueh
Tucson: Nazraeli Press, 2002. First edition. 32 pages; 16 full-page, color photographic plates; 7.5 x 10.5 inches. Limited to 1,000 copies. Out of Print. Cloth bound hardback in dust jacket. Near Fine in a Fine dj, protected by a mylar cover. $39.50
• From the publisher: "The images in this book are not what they at first appear to be. Lake's series of color photographs focuses on the wakinoshita, presenting this often-neglected part of the body in a discomforting new light. Know what the true subject is, and while some unease might remain, any revulsion turns to curiosity, admiration and perhaps even delight."



Matsumura Yoshio
Fuji: Photo Collection
Tokyo: Fuji Art Company, 1981. First edition. 276 b&w and color photographs; 8.5 x 12 inches. Mostly Japanese text but there is a section at the back with English captions and an afterword by the author in English. SIGNED BY MATSUMURA with brush and black ink and additionally, stamped with his mark, in red. Out of Print. Silk bound hardback with bound-in ribbon in a publisher's slipcase. Near Fine with a plastic protective DJ in a Very Good slipcase. The plastic cover has some white marks to it. $85.00
• A beautiful production with views of Mt. Fuji, Japan, from every direction, type of weather and mood.



Matsuo Hiroko
Kyo Nishijin
Kyoto: Tankosha Publishing Co., 1999. Presumed first edition. 108 pages; 91 full-page b&w photographic plates; 10 x 7.5 inches. Text in Japanese with English translations. Out of Print. Hardcover with DJ. Very Good plus with light bumps to the tips and light wear at the extremities in a Very Good plus dj with a short closed tear and light wear with a belly band. $55.00
• The makers of obi, the elegant and costly sash worn over the kimono in Japan, belong to an endangered species. These families of manufacturers, weavers, dyers, and other craftspeople centered in the Nishijin weaving district of Kyoto have practiced their craft for generations. In recent decades they have found their livelihood harder to sustain. This book is a documentary exploration of this vanishing world. Hiroko is a former PR executive of a Kyoto textile cooperative who became a freelance photographer and artist.



Minoru Hirata
Zero Dimention (Dimension): Yoshihiro Kato and 60's
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2006. First edition. 128 pages; b&w photographic reproductions throughout; 6.5 x 9.5 inches. Text in Japanese. Hardback in dust jacket. Near Fine with wear along the bottom boards in a Very Good plus dj with light wear at the edges and a short closed tear, protected by a mylar cover. $45.00
• Active in the 1960s, Zero Jigen (Zero Dimension, founded by Yoshihiro Kato and Shinichi Iwata) was an avant-garde artists' group of Dada-esque satirists known for their street performances--they called 'artistic terrorism'--involving surreal costumes and props and public nudity.

Miyoshi Kozo
Far East and Southwest: The Photography of Kozo Miyoshi
Photographs by Kozo Miyoshi; Introduction by Trudy Wilner Stack
Tucson, AZ: Center for Creative Photography, 1994 First edition. Includes a biography and a checklist of the exhibition. 48 pages; 29 b&w plates; 12 x 12 inches. Illustrated stiff wrappers (issued only in wraps). Near Fine. Text in English and Japanese. $16.50



Moriyama Daido
'71 - NY
Photographs by Daido Moriyama; Edited and interview by Andrew Roth; Essay by Neville Wakefield; Text by James Baldwin (excerpted from Another Country)
New York: PPP Editions, 2002 First edition. 428 pages; 210 tritone gravure printed plates; 7 x 9.5 inches in publishers slipcase. Photo was taken before the shrink wrap fell off. From an edition of 3000. SIGNED BY MORIYAMA. Stiff Wraps with dj. As New. $300.00
• In 1971, Moriyama took a trip to NYC. He stayed at the Chelsea Hotel and spent his days at The Museum of Modern Art Photography Study Center looking at pictures by Weegee. He also shot 100 rolls of film with a half-frame camera, yielding 70 images per roll. 210 of those photographs in Moriyama's "image at any cost" style--grainy, high-contrast, deep blacks, motion-blurred--are reproduced here. A great production; one of his best books. See Parr & Badger, Vol. 1, p.301. Roth: The Open Book, p.396. Included on Vince Aletti's list of Best Photo Books of 2002.



Moriyama Daido
Shinjuku
Nazraeli Press, 2002. First edition, first printing. 608 pages; 608 b&w photographic plates, printed full-bleed; 7.25 x 10 inches. From an edition of 500. SIGNED BY MORIYAMA. Laid-in is a 14 x 20 inch, folded broadsheet with text by Moriyama in English and Japanese, and 14 additional b&w photos. Out of Print. Wraps with DJ in publisher's printed slipcase. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. $275.00
• A fantastic production with wonderful work. Included on a number of "Best Photograpy Books of 2002" lists.



Moriyama Daido
Memories Of A Dog
Translated by John Junkerman
Tucson, AZ: Nazraeli Press, 2004. First edition thus. 192 pages; 73 full-page b&w photographic reproductions; 7 x 10 inches. Hardcover with dust jacket. AS NEW. $45.00
• This memoir, first published as a series of essays in Asahi Camera twenty-one years ago, is regarded as a classic in photographic literature. These autobiographical essays, widely considered to be the essential text to gain a understanding of Moriyama, the artist and his work, have until now only been published in Japanese. The photographs were selected by Moriyama especially for this edition.

Naito Tadayuki
Tadayuki Naito: Sakura
Tokyo: Gallery Min, 1991. First edition. 8 pages; 7 full-page, color and b&w photographic plates; 10 x 10 inches. Includes a brief biography. Out of Print. Stapled wraps. Very Good+. $35.00
• Exhibition catalog for a show at the Gallery Min, Tokyo, May 18 - June 13, 1991.



Ohtsuji Kiyoji
Retrospective: Experimental Workshop of Photography
Photographs by Kiyoji Ohtsuji; Edited with essays by Rei Masuda & Shogo Ohtani. Kiyoji Ohtsuji
Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, 1999. First edition. 136 pages; 158 b&w photographic reproductions plus 42 text illustrations; 9.5 x 11.5 inches. Text in English and Japanese. Oversized trade paperback with stiff wraps. Very Good with light soiling. $29.50
• Ohtsuji (also: Otsuji) played a critical role in post-war Japanese avant-garde photography. His documentation in the 1950s of groups such as Experimental Workshop, an interdisciplinary artistic movement of which he was a member, covered everything from stage design to rehearsal sessions to final performances, providing intimate records of their ephemeral choreographed stagings. A renowned photographer, professor and critical writer, Ohtsuji profoundly influenced subsequent generations of Japanese photographers through his analysis of photography as a medium.



Sadakichi Ohki
Tokyo Walking 1995-98: Part 3
Tokyo: Bee Books, 1998. 84 pages; 78 full-page color photographic plates; 12 x 8.5 inches. Out of Print. Cloth bound hardback with dust jacket. Near Fine with light bumps to a couple of tips in a Very Good dj with wear at corners and a small tear at the crown of the spine. $39.50
• Everyday scenes found and shot while wandering around Tokyo.



Shintsubo Kenshu
Umiko
Tokyo: Petit Grand Publishing, 2001. First edition. Illustrated with color photographic plates; 9 x 12 inches. Out of Print. Hardcover, not issued with DJ. Very Good+ with a bump to the foot of the spine and a little shelf wear. $35.00
• Portraits and erotically suggestive photographs of the Japanese model Umiko Shido.

Shirakawa Yoshikazu
Eternal America
Photographs by Yoshikazu Shirakawa; Foreword by William O. Douglas; Essay by Sigurd F. Olson
Toyko: Kodansha International, 1976. Fourth printing. Includes an essay about the National Parks, a biographic essay, notes on the photography and maps. 232 pages with fold-outs; profusely illustrated with color and duotone plates; 10.5 x 15 inches. Out of Print. Cloth covered hardback. Near Fine in VG Dust Jacket with a couple of chips and closed tears, protected by a mylar cover. $18.50
• Fifteen months, 30,000 miles and an eight-color printing process have produced a book of photographs as big and as beautiful as the country depicted. There is truly a magnificent range of geography in the US and it's all covered here: from desert to tundra, from canyons and caves to mountain lakes.



Shirakawa Yoshikazu
Mainland China
Japan: Publisher unknown, 1984. Presumed first edition. 96 pages; 19 color and 11 b&w photographs; 10 x 10 inches. Caption titles are in English, all else is in Chinese. Out of Print. Oversized trade paperback with French folds. Very Good with a bump to one corner, light fading to the spine, an International Center of Photography Library bookplate to the inside front cover (no other library references.). $65.00
• The Japanese photographer Shirakawa is best known for the photobooks "Eternal America" and "Himalayas." The plates--Chinese landscapes--are spectacular and very well printed.



Sugimoto Hiroshi
Theaters
Photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto; Essay by Professor Hans Belting
NYC & London: Sonnabend Sundell Editions and eyestorm, 2000. First edition. 224 pages; 96 full-page quadratoned b&w photographic reproductions; 11 x 12 inches. Exhibition history. Bibliography. Index. Edition limited to 4000 copies. Hardback in publisher's slipcase. The spine was silk-screened with Day-glo ink so it glows in the dark. NEW with a short thin mark to the spine. $350.00
• This book is the only complete collection of the renowned Theaters series, in which Sugimoto opened his shutter as a film began and closed it as it concluded. "Different movies give different brightnesses. If it's an optimistic story, I usually end up with a bright screen; if it's a sad story, it's a dark screen. Occult movie? Very dark." See Parr & Badger, The Photobook, Vol. 1, p.308 "amongst the most ravishing photobooks ever published;" Roth, The Open Book, p.390; Auer, 802 Photobooks, p.757.



Tamotsu Fujii
Esumi
Japan: Little More, 1996. First edition. Color and b&w photography printed in exquisite gravure. 11.5 x 8.75 inches. Text in Japanese. Original paperback with stiff wraps with dust jacket. AS NEW in publisher's shrink wrap. Publisher's promotional sticker on the shrink wrap is soiled. $90.00
• Photographs mostly of Esumi Makiko, most nudes.



Terada Mayumi
In the Bright Room
Tokyo: Kyuryudo Art Publishing, 2003. First edition. 136 pages; full-page b&w photographic reproductions throughout; 7.5 x 9.5 inches. Text in Japanese and English. Trade paperback with stiff wraps and dust jacket, protected by a mylar cover. Near Fine with light wear along the bottom edge in a Very Good plus dj with wear along some edges. There is a three-inch tear at the bottom front corner of the dj that has been crimped and creased. $29.50
• Terada builds diminutive domestic sets she calls 'dollhouses', then photographs them. Her large monochrome images show a world filled with scenes and objects familiar to anyone living in Western culture, yet eerily devoid of human presence. Ultimately though, the real subject of her photographs is light. Terada was born in Japan and lives and works in NYC. This was her first book.



Tomatsu Shomei
Visions of Japan: Tomatsu Shomei
Photographs by Tomatsu Shomei; Text by Ito Toshiharu
Kyoto: Korinsha Press, 1998. First edition. 96 pages; 41 four-color plates; 8.5 x 8.25 inches. Includes a chronology, exhibition history and illustrated bibliography (text is in English, with reproductions of covers of some of Tomatsu's books). Cloth covered hardback with dj. As New in publisher's shrink wrap. $40.00
• The photographs are from a series called "Plastics" taken between 1987 and 1989--still lifes of found objects at the tide mark on a black sand beach.



Tomatsu Shomei
Sparkling Winds: Okinawa (Hikaru kaze: Okinawa)
Tokyo: Shueisha (Nihon no Bi 8), 1979. First edition. 135 pages; 70 full-page color photographic plates plus numerous b&w photographic text illustrations and a full-page map; 11 x 13.5 inches. Text in Japanese. Out of Print. Oversized hardback with dust jacket in slipcase. Near Fine in a Near Fine dj, protected by a mylar cover, and a Very Good plus slipcase with a couple of marks the back, light shelf wear, and a short split along one edge. $120.00
• Tomatsu (b. Nagoya, 1930) moved to Okinawa in 1972 from Japan. This volume focuses on the people of Okinawa, their traditions, rituals and ceremonies. There are as well images of the land, the beaches, native architecture and the animals that share the island. Scarce.



Tomatsu, Shomei
Shomei Tomatsu: Skin of the Nation
Photographs by Shomei Tomatsu; Essays by Leo Rubinfien, Sandra S. Phillips & John W. Dower; Preface by Daido Moriyama.
Yale University Press & San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2004. First edition. Includes excerpts from Tomatsu's writings, a chronology, exhibition history and selected bibliography. 224 pages; 131 duotone & 28 color plates; 10.5 x 9.5 inches. Out of Print. Cloth covered hardback. Fine in Fine DJ, protected by mylar cover. Collophon page has some light staining on the fore-edge; it appears to be a printer's error as it affects no other page. $35.00
• An elegant and gorgeous production. One of the great Japanese photographers: this is an excellent retrospective of Tomatsu's work. Included on Vince Aletti's list of Best Photo Books of 2004.



Ui Makiko
Asir Rera: Ainu Spirits
Tokyo: Yoshiyuki Matsuzaki / Singpoosha, 2004. First edition. Unpaginated; full-page b&w photographic reproductions throughout; 8.25 x 11.75 inches. Text in Japanese with an intro in English. Trade paperback with stiff wraps and dust jacket and belly band. Fine in a Near Fine dj with light soiling, protected by mylar cover. The belly band has a little soiling and a large chip missing. $45.00
• The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group in Japan. Ui first began documenting the Ainu and their traditions in 1992. This, her second book on the Ainu, won an award at the Sagamihara photo festival. The work focuses on a particular woman--Asir Rera--and her family in Nibutani, Hokkaido.



Unknown
Figure's Modeling Art in Photography
• Published in Japan in 2002, this 5.5 x 8.25 inch book has no text after the collophon page: just 160 full page, full bleed color photographs of nude Japanese women in nature settings. Not an article of clothing to be found anywhere. Very odd in one sense: in many of the photos the figure appears to have been PhotoShopped onto a different background. What little information there is is in Japanese, except for the title. Stiff Wraps with French folds. Near Fine: a price-sticker on the back cover and a wrinkle in the laminate on the cover. $45.00



Unknown
Nature Nude Model
• Published in Japan in 2003, this 5.5 x 8.25 inch book features 152 full page, full bleed color photographs of nude Japanese women against seamless backgrounds. Many of the photos are ballet or gymnastic poses. What little information there is is in Japanese, except for the title. Stiff Wraps with French folds. Near Fine. $45.00



Various
The History of Japanese Photography
Anne Wilkes Tucker, Dana Friis-Hansen, Kaneko Ryuichi, Takeba Joe, Iizawa Kotaro, Kinoshita Naoyuki - Editors & essays
New Haven, CT & Houston: Yale University Press & The Museum of Fine Arts, 2003. First edition. Includes exhibition checklist, chronology, artist profiles, major photography clubs, associations and magazines, selected bibliography and an index. 404 pages; 356 color & duotone images; 12.5 x 10 inches. DJ protected by mylar cover. Cloth covered hardback. Near Fine except for a light bump to one tip in Near Fine dust jacket. $52.00
• Covers 150 years of Japanese photography and the works of 203 Japanese photographers. Essential survey, handsomely produced. Won awards or appeared on the "Best of 2003" lists of seven different organizations.



Yanagi Miwa
Elevator Girls
Kyoto: Seigensha Art Publishing, 2007. First edition. 48 pages; 24 full-page color photographic reproductions; 5.25 x 9 inches. A postcard book: each page is perforated and can be removed. Along the strip that remains in the book is a series of photos related to the one on the card. AS NEW with light wear at the spine. $39.50
• The Elevator Girls series--probably Yanagi's best known work--features identically clothed female models posed within surrealistic consumer-oriented architecture. The photographs present the women as anonymous and interchangeable display items as they gaze at the objects of consumer desire around them. According to Yanagi, Elevator Girls is about "myself and other Japanese women" who feel the kind of standardization that exists in modern Japanese society and elsewhere.



Yanagi Miwa
Fairy Tale: Strange Stories of Women Young and Old
Kyoto: Seigensha Art Publishing, 2007. First edition. Unpaginated (approx. 100 pages); full-page b&w and color photographic reproductions throughout; 9.75 x 11.25 inches. Text in Japanese and English. Hardback with embossed lettering and tipped-in photo, no dj as issued, with belly band. AS NEW. $85.00
• In "Fairy Tales," Yanagi focuses on the relationship between young girls and older women. As a point of departure, she starts with the often gruesome, violent and cruel European versions of tales by the Brothers Grimm. Etched into our collective memories, the photographer's images examine and twist the mythologies further using masks, wigs, mixed race models and female children dressed as older women. Gorgeous reproductions.