Tadanori Yokoo & more – Yu-Kon, Ken Takakura, Melancholic Soul (2009)

In 1971, graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo assembled a sprawling 370-page tribute to Ken Takakura, one of the biggest stars of postwar Japanese cinema and, for the Showa generation, its defining male icon. The book combined behind-the-scenes stills (many by Tsutomu Endo), private snapshots, and photographs contributed by some of the leading names in Japanese photography: Eikoh Hosoe, Daido Moriyama, Yoshihiro Tatsuki, and Kenji Ishiguro. But the book never reached a single bookshop. Between the publisher’s financial collapse and an injunction filed by a film production company, “Melancholic Soul” (Yu-Kon) became a phantom, a legendary book that existed only in rumor for over thirty years.

It finally saw the light of day in 2009, reissued in its original form but benefiting from modern printing technology, this time as a hardcover housed in a slipcase with obi band. The result is a rare convergence of talent: one of Japan’s most celebrated graphic designers curating the work of its most important photographers, all in homage to one of its most beloved actors. A book about a Japanese star, made by Japanese art stars.

Kokushokankokai, 2009. 280 × 203 mm. Hardcover, 370 pages.

First edition. Condition: Very good. Texts in Japanese.