Photographer Eikoh Hosoe, who snapped Yukio Mishima, dies at 91

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Eikoh Hosoe, known for his aesthetic photographs of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, died last week in a Tokyo hospital due to an adrenal gland tumor, his family said Wednesday. He was 91.

Hosoe, whose works have been exhibited worldwide, including in the Museum of Modern Art, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Photographic Society of Japan in 1963 for his photo collection “Barakei”(Ordeal by Roses) featuring Mishima. Hosoe died on Sept. 16.

Born Toshihiro Hosoe, the native of Yamagata Prefecture in northeastern Japan entered what is today’s Tokyo Polytechnic University and joined the Demokrato Artist’s Association in 1952. He was greatly influenced by the Japanese avant-garde artist Ei-Q.

In 1959, Hosoe established the photography agency VIVO alongside members like Shomei Tomatsu and Ikko Narahara to pursue photography different from realism or journalism.

He is also known for his series “Kamaitachi” featuring butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata, published in 1969.

Hosoe served as a professor at his university and director of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in promoting photography. He was designated a Person of Cultural Merit in 2010 and was awarded the government’s prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in 2017.