shashasha

The photobook Kamaitachi, a collaboration between photographer Eikoh Hosoe and the ankoku butoh dancer (and founder) Tatsumi Hijikata, was originally released in 1969 and holds a legendary status in the photobook community.
Hosoe photographed Hijikata’s and his visit to a farming village in northern Japan and the impromptu dance performances held in cooperation with the villagers and inspired by ‘kamaitachi’, a mythological demon that haunts fields and kills farmers with its sickle.

A fascimile of the book (limited to 500 copies) was created in close dialogue with Hosoe and published by Seigensha in 2005, followed by a republication in 2009, which added eight previously unpublished photographs from the series, and this second edition of the 2009 publication.
In addition to Hosoe’s images, the photobook features essays by Donald Keene and Shuzo Takiguchi, an afterword by Eikoh Hosoe and a poem by Mutsuo Takahashi (all in Japanese).