Flower & Snake (1974)
Naomi Tani from the classic 1974 Flower & Snake.
From the liner notes:
Based on the novel by Oniroku Dan, this beautifully lensed film helped usher in the S&M Roman Porno genre in Japan and many numerous sequels and remakes. Flower & Snake ’74 (aka Hana to Hebi) was directed by Masaru Konuma (Wife to be Sacrificed) and boasts an ultra-groovy score by Riichiro Manabe (Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster).
photo via Harakiri Chamber
New Tokyo Decadence: The Slave
Above is a still from one of my favorite Japanese films, New Tokyo Decadence: The Slave which was directed by Osamu Sato. If you are into this type of thing, this movie is amazing. It was released by one of my favorite studios Pink Eiga (which translates appropriately to Pink Film). If you have ever seen the movie The Secretary with James Spader, well trust me when I tell you it doesn’t hold a candle to this film. This is the ultimate in “secretary” films.
Roman Porno
If you are not familiar with this genre of film, you should get familiar.
We bid you farewell Maki Asakawa
Japanese Jazz and Blues singer and composer Maki Asakawa (Ishikawa-ken)died at the age of 67 on January 18th, 2010 from heart failure.
Viva Genki-Genki
I know a lot of you may think I post some of this content for “shock value”, but I would like to express the fact that it is not why I post some of this. The above picture is courtesy of Genki-Genki, which some of you may be familiar with from the Vice site, and their short video documenting the people behind the site and videos.
Yes, ths is absolutely shocking to most, but once again it is a perfect example of the amount of work and dedication that goes into the art. Yes, I did just refer to this as art. Fuck off, it’s my blog and I curate it how I please.
Never Not Working
Nobuyoshi Araki hard at work. If you have not seen the documentary, Arakimentari you need to put it at the top of your list. Watching Araki work is pretty amzing and somewhat surreal. The amount of energy this man has is simply amazing, and the amount of work he has produced is purely unbelievable.
Araki
Excellent photo of Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki holding up a photo of his late wife Yoko.
Burst Magazine-Japan August 2002
I was actually in Burst Magazine back in 2001. This is one of the shots…
Welcome to Japan, we have plenty of rope.
I’m sure that you can tell from the constant flow of Araki posts that I am slightly fond of Shibari. To be honest, its not so much the sexual aspect of this whole production but more so the amount of work that goes into this. I’ve been quite familiar with Shibari for a while, but never really took the time to care for it. I believe I have been influenced by Nobuyoshi Araki and find myself seeking out as much Shibari photography as I can when I can.
As for the films, I could really care little for those as well. Its really just the photos and the shear discipline that goes into it. All that work for a few kept shots. When it really comes down to it, no one does it better than Japan. This guys are the fucking Michael Jordan’s of this shit. Western fools make very weak attempts at replicating it, but can’t even come close to touching it. Americans especially, always so worried about the technical phot aspect of it, with their goofy lighting, bullshit props, and horrible typical gothic styling. Go back to art school you fucking skels.
More pictures after the jump… (more…)
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