Midori (with envelope)

Edition : First / Tokyo / Tankisha / 1982 / Softcover. / VG+ / VG+
Small 4to, Unpaginated (ca 28pp). Printed wraps in printed envelope. Numerous Black & White plates. Text in Japanese. Both book and envelope with foxing and sunning.

One of Araki’s more obscure offerings, and one of his rarest of the period. It’s also worth noting that there is no nudity. The simple, elegant and restrained story has 19th century roots, based on Meiji novelist Ichiyo Higuchi’s Takekurabe. Midori is the younger sister of a hostess, and the story is that of her last days before she falls to the same fate. Filled with foreboding regret, Araki’s portrait of a current day masseuse echoes the novel’s tragic and mournful theme.