Description:
Tamotsu Yato was a photographer who worked in Tokyo in the 60ies in immediate proximity of such prominent figures as Yukio Mishima, Donald Richie and Meredith Weatherby. His photobooks (extremely rare and out of print by now) have been made under the patronage of Yukio Mishima and can be valuable (depending on one's preferences) as a document of the Japanese New Wave, as a visual expression of Mishima's retro-utopian ideals of masculinity, or as an early example of Japanese male erotic photography. Of the three, Young Samurai is the most straightforward, Otoko is the most artistic, and Naked Festival is a homage to the Japanese male festivals known for their images of intense comraderie and unrestrained physical expression. |
