Eikoh Hosoe

Ordeal by Roses is Hosoe's collaboration with writer Yukio Mishima, published in book form in 1963. It stages Mishima's body through theatrical, erotic, and symbolic black-and-white images.

VIVO was a Japanese photographers' collective co-founded in 1959 by figures including Eikoh Hosoe, Shomei Tomatsu, and Ikko Narahara. It became important for postwar experimental photography in Japan.

Hosoe photographed the butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata in the series Kamaitachi. The work links rural Japanese folklore with the physical intensity of postwar avant-garde performance.

Hosoe often staged bodies, gestures, and symbols rather than simply recording events. Ordeal by Roses from 1963 is a clear example of his theatrical approach.