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Japanese publisher NADiff issues a factsimile reproduction of the legendary 1963 photobook Barakei — Killed by Roses , a collaboration between Eikoh Hosoe and writer Yukio Mishima. Originally published in 1963, “Barakei - Killed by Roses” would become one of the most infamous photobooks of the 20th century. In his imaginative portraits of Yukio Mishima, Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe tried to reinvent the public image of the writer. Hosoe used props, personal belongings and backgrounds readily available in Mishima’s house to cast the famous writer as his subject in a sequence of surreal scenery.

NADiff has consulted with Eikoh Hosoe and designer Kohei Sugiura to re-create the original 1963 publication as faithfully as possible. The blacks of the original 1963 gravure print have been reproduced in a modern offset print.

The book is also known under the English title Ordeal by Roses, after a suggestion Mishima’s on occasion of a second edition published in 1971.