Signed; Eikoh Hosoe, Yukio Mishima - Ba Ra Kei [Ordeal by Roses, original first edition] - 1963

SIGNED. BARAKEI - ORDEAL BY ROSES, 1963, COPY NO 979 /1500EX, EIKOH HOSOE, YUKIO MISHIMA.


Perfectly complete box, really very good condition!


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"Ba Ra Kei" (Ordeal by Roses), the original 1963 edition, perfectly complete with dust jacket DJ Dust Jacket and original rigid slipcase, copy no. 979 of 1500 copies, a signed collector's edition by both authors Yukio Mishima and Eikoh Hosoe.

This is one of the rare 1500 copies signed by the author from 1963. This edition is numbered 979 and bears the signatures of the late authors Yukio Mishima and Eikoh Hosoe on the Japanese red slip included in the book.

Pure Collection Photography Book, in its legendary original limited signed edition from 1963, 1st printing 1st edition of 1963: BARAKEI - ORDEAL BY ROSES.


Now the most sought-after and most famous Japanese photography book ever published, a true masterpiece of photography, ranked among the 10 most influential photography books of the 20th century, alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson's 'The Decisive Moment 1952' and Daido Moriyama's 'Japan a Photo Theatre 1968'!


Exceptional photography, absolutely photogenic, captivating and sublime, in perfect black and white duotone. The illustrations are printed on very high grammage marbled paper of excellent quality. The signatures of the authors are on the original red slip at the end of the book. This is a perfectly complete copy, with its original dust jacket and case. It is indeed the 1963 ORIGINAL VERSION! This is not a reproduction (1971,..., 2008, etc.) BUT truly the legendary and inaccessible 1963 ORIGINAL VERSION!


Undoubtedly a magnificent book, as photogenic as those by Nobuyoshi Araki, Daido Moriyama, William Klein, or Henri Cartier-Bresson.


Some descriptive elements:

Born in 1933, Eikoh Hosoe spent his youth in a Japan devastated by war. The avant-garde photographers of his generation, torn between nationalist authoritarianism and an opening to a victorious yet still tempting West, all bear witness, in one way or another, to the collapse of traditions and the millennia-old supremacy of Japan.

Their emancipation involved their gathering within collectives such as Jūnin-no-Me in 1956-57, and VIVO in the early 1960s, but also through numerous interdisciplinary exchanges. Following his encounter with the charismatic creator of Butō theatre, Tatsumi Hijikata, Hosoe was recognized as early as 1961 for his beautifully crafted book – Man and Woman – which transcends the art of eroticism through its graphic theatricality. Then, in 1963, Hosoe collaborated with Yukio Mishima on the album Barakei – Killed by Roses, which features the provocative author and elevates the photographer to sudden international fame.

In Barakei, Mishima, always naked, is alternately captured amidst the kitsch of his Tokyo house or in Hijikata's deserted dance studio, when other shots pay homage to his love for European Renaissance painting, and particularly to his very sensual iconography of Saint Sebastian's martyrdom.

Barakei is an erotic and morbid tale, which, through its provocative allusion to Mishima's originality, expresses the despair of a great erudite author who refuses the decline of his country and his body. Barakei is the undisputed masterpiece of Eikoh Hosoe, and one of the most exceptional graphic works in the entire history of 20th-century photography.


Unique copy, perfectly complete, in very good condition, from the original 1963 edition, signed, limited, out of print, and essential!


Very good / Excellent
Very good!


Complete 100% copy: Book + red numbering slip with authors' signatures + original rigid slipcase + dust jacket = 100% complete copy!


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