TOKYO TATTOO 1970 by Martha Cooper 1st edition 2011 HARDBACK photobook SCARCE

Tokyo Tattoo 1970

by Martha Coope

Published by Dokument Press, Sweden, 2011

First edition

Hardback in dustjacket.

76 pages, text in English

Tokyo Tattoo 1970 is a book about the traditional art of tattooing and a portrait of a master artist. In 1970, photographer Martha Cooper came to Tokyo and immediately focused on documenting traditional Japanese tattooist Horibun I. 

Japanese tattoo was a secret art form in the early 1970s. No one could foresee the incredible rise of the art of tattoo internationally in the past 20 years. The masters of the traditional techniques were working in small studios, and tattooing was something for a distinguished few.

Horibun I worked with traditional Japanese methods, tattoos made by hand, with different sized needles bound to sticks which he dipped into coloured inks. His motifs were all derived from traditional Japanese legends. Horibun I was a rare tattooist, as he was open to letting a foreigner come to photograph him and his customers.

In Tokyo Tattoo 1970 we see him at work, meet his customers, who show their tattoos, and follow Horibun on a pilgrimage to a holy Shinto shrine. Martha Cooper's pictures show the process of the tattooist's work as well as finished motifs from an era long gone.

This is the rare hardcover first edition.

Very good condition - slight wear to dustjacket - free from inscriptions.