YOUNG SAMURAI: BODYBUILDERS OF JAPAN. Photographs by Tamotsu Yato; Introduction by Yukio Mishima. Tokyo: John Weatherhill, Inc., 1966. Inscribed by Yukio Mishima on the title page “To Norris with best wishes -Yukio Mishima Feb. 1967”
First English edition, preceding the more common Grove Press edition. Original black and brown cloth, Japanese character boldly stamped in black on front cover, gilt-lettered spine. Fine condition in a near-fine unclipped dust jacket with very slight chipping at the top of the spine and bottom right corner, as pictured.
A striking monograph featuring 140 full-bleed black-and-white gravure photographs of over 50 of Japan’s most perfectly developed young men, showcasing their rigorous training routines and various bodybuilding poses. Mishima, a fervent enthusiast of physical fitness, appears as one of Yato’s models here (pp.54-55). Yato, a self-taught photographer, is considered the pioneer of Japanese homoerotic photography and has left an indelible mark in the field of contemporary photography.
