Grass Labyrinth (草迷宮) — Kyoka Izumi, illustrated by Takato Yamamoto — Regular Edition, Signed
This is a combined illustrated literary volume and art book: the complete Japanese text of Kyoka Izumi's Grass Labyrinth, accompanied by 29 monochrome underdrawings and 28 full-colour finished works by Takato Yamamoto. The copy offered is the first edition (first issue, 4 November 2014), signed by the artist inside the front cover. It is part of the Art & Illustration Books catalogue at Lokator100.
Contents
The book is structured in two distinct registers. The literary text of Kyoka Izumi's Grass Labyrinth runs throughout and is accompanied by 29 detailed black-and-white underdrawings by Takato Yamamoto, integrated as illustrations within the narrative. Separately, 28 full-colour finished paintings are presented as a standalone pictorial sequence. The two sets of images are not interchangeable and should not be conflated: the monochrome underdrawings serve the text; the colour works constitute an independent body of art.
Additional contributors: critical commentary by Tamaki Anakura, curator at the Izumi Kyoka Memorial Museum; afterword by Takato Yamamoto.
About the Text: Kyoka Izumi
Kyoka Izumi (1873–1939) is regarded as one of the foremost authors of modern Japanese fantasy literature, known for prose that draws on classical theatrical forms, supernatural folklore, and a distinctive aesthetic of sensuous dread. Grass Labyrinth is among his most celebrated works, a text in which the boundary between the real and the spectral is held in sustained, deliberate suspension. The story was adapted into a short film by Shuji Terayama, a reference point for those approaching the text through its wider cultural reception.
About the Artist: Takato Yamamoto
Born in 1960, Takato Yamamoto developed the "Heisei Decadence" style from his earlier "Ukiyo-e Pop" practice — a mode of illustration that fuses the compositional vocabulary of classical Japanese woodblock printmaking with imagery drawn from decadent literature, eroticism, and the grotesque. He has produced illustration work for aesthetic, fantasy, erotic, and historical novels, as well as book cover art and advertising. He is a member of the International Ukiyo-e Society.
Publisher and Series
Published by Editions Treville as part of the Pan-Exotica series. Printed in Japan.
Other Works by Takato Yamamoto
Dispatch
Dispatched from Germany the next business day after order confirmation. All orders are sent tracked and carefully packed.
