Homo Ludens
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A 2025 reprint of Masahisa Fukase's 1971 debut photobook Yugi, edited by Shoji Yamagishi and structured across six photographic series from the 1960s. Published by Akaaka Art Publishing. Hardcover, 128 pages, 280 × 225 mm. Includes essays by Shoji Yamagishi and Nada Inada in Japanese and English.
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 128
- Size: 280 × 225 mm
- Publisher: Akaaka Art Publishing, 2025
- Language: English, Japanese
- Edition: Reprint (originally published 1971 by Chuokoronsha)
Homo Ludens — Masahisa Fukase's Debut Photobook, Reprinted by Akaaka Art Publishing (2025)
First published in 1971 by Chuokoronsha under the Japanese title Yugi, Homo Ludens is Masahisa Fukase's debut photobook — a document of his earliest sustained photographic work, assembled from series made across more than a decade. This 2025 reprint, issued by AKAAKA Art Publishing, restores the complete original to print for the first time in over fifty years. It is part of a broader catalogue of Japanese Photobooks available here.
The book was edited by Shoji Yamagishi, then editor at Camera Mainichi, and is structured in six chapters. Each represents a distinct photographic series from the 1960s, and together they establish the tonal and formal range that would define Fukase's subsequent career.
The Six Chapters
- Slaughter — Photographs made between 1961 and 1963 at a slaughterhouse in Shibaura. Among Fukase's earliest known bodies of work.
- Congratulations — A record of the early period of Fukase's marriage to his wife, Yoko.
- Frolic — Images from Shinjuku in the summer of 1968, focused on underground youth culture.
- Memento — One of Fukase's earliest known works, concerned with his first marriage, to Yukiyo.
- Mother — Made in 1963, in which Fukase directed Yoko and her mother into unusual poses.
- Music — A quieter, more domestic series depicting life with Yoko, her mother, and a Siamese cat in an apartment complex.
This Edition
The 2025 reprint reproduces all photographs and texts from the original 1971 edition. The design gives particular attention to the relationship between image and surrounding negative space — a considered formal decision rather than a neutral presentation. Two essays are included in both Japanese and English: one by Shoji Yamagishi, originally published in the 1971 edition, and one by Nada Inada. This volume sits alongside other titles in the Photography & Photobooks section of the catalogue.
Masahisa Fukase
Masahisa Fukase (深瀬昌久) was born in 1934 in Bifuka, Hokkaido. He studied photography at Nihon University College of Art, graduating in 1956, and worked at the Nippon Design Center and Kawade Shobo Shinsha before becoming a freelance photographer in 1968. His major publications include Yugi (Chuokoronsha, 1971), Yoko (Asahi Sonorama, 1978), and Ravens (Sokyusha, 1986). His work was included in "New Japanese Photography" at MoMA, New York, in 1974, and "Black Sun: The Eyes of Four" at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford in 1985. He received the 2nd Ina Nobuo Award in 1976 and the Special Award at the 8th Higashikawa Photography Awards in 1992. A comprehensive survey of his career is available in the Masahisa Fukase 1961–1991 Retrospective. Fukase died in 2012.
Year: 2025
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 128
Dimensions: 280 × 225 mm
Weight: 0.8 kg
Language: English, Japanese
ISBN: 978-4-86541-197-3
Edition: Reprint (originally published 1971 by Chuokoronsha)
Publisher / Manufacturer:
AKAAKA Art Publishing, Inc.
Country of origin:
JAPAN
Website:
http://www.akaaka.com
Importer
Idea Books
Website:
https://www.ideabooks.nl/
Email:
idea@ideabooks.nl
Phone:+31 20 6226154
Address:
Idea Books
Danzigerbocht 27 C
1013 AM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
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