“What I want to do is, to observe them. I want to see as many persons as possible as precisely as possible…It is a must to keep tight the surface tension of the world.” 

—Seiji Kurata

During the summer of 1975, Japanese artist Seiji Kurata (1945-2020) began photographing the seedy streets of Ikebukuro in north-western Tokyo at night, using a medium-format camera (Asahi Pentax 6x7) and a strong strobe. Focusing on the underbelly of Japanese society, his subjects included yakuza, strippers, transvestites, prostitutes and their clients. Tattooed Man – the powerful and provocative photograph offered here – presents a heavily tattooed yakuza in his loincloth, with neck extended and samurai sword in hand, standing on a building rooftop. This captivating photograph was taken in October 1975 during Kurata’s first year of nightly adventures in the entertainment district of Ikebukuro where he encountered scenes he described as ‘whirlpools of excitement’. Writing in 2013, Kurata recalled his indelible encounter with the yakuza that resulted in this iconic photograph: 

The town is bright with streetlights, pubs, game centres, cafes, restaurants, arrays of neon and spotlights. Two tall men call out to me. They look and act like playboys. 

– Hey you, that’s a big camera, huh? I bet it takes good photos. Take one of us!  
– Huh, black and white? Are you broke?  
– What, don’t you even have colour?  
– Not even a studio?  
– Money! Sure, we’ll pay you. 

As if following a script, they keep up their big talk. I try hard to break in, saying I can’t do it in the middle of a crowd of people, or that I might be caught by the police, but in the end, I promise to photograph them three days later. There are no nice landscapes, no skylines or good scenery, and we decide to make the top of a building our studio. On the emergency staircase the two play for ages with their swords like actors in a samurai film and tell me to make them look like [the actor] Ken Takakura. They also tell me to show them all the photos taken, and to make big prints of any that are good. 

As the cover image of Kurata’s seminal photobook Flash Up: Street PhotoRandom Tokyo 1975-1979, Tattooed Man epitomised the raw and gritty underworld of 1970s Tokyo. In referring to his photographs taken in the 1970s, Kurata later remarked, ‘If you asked me to take these pictures today, I couldn’t. Those things that were previously hidden were all brought to the surface.’ In the present photograph, Kurata cuts through the darkness with his bright flash to reveal the pride and determination of his subject.  

Kurata’s work resides in such prominent institutions as the Brooklyn Museum and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, both of which hold a modern print of Tattooed Man, as well as the International Center of Photography, New York.