GANGS OF KABUKICHO

New York: PPP Editions / Andrew Roth Inc, 2006. 1st edition. Wraps. Near Fine. Wantanabe Katsumi. 1st edition, 2006. Near Fine. 4to., unpaginated, black & white images on thick paper. Bound in publishers illustrated stiff wraps with publishers clear acrylic sleeve. Black end papers allow vision to the white portions of wrapper, thru the hinges. Spine appears to have been over glued. Sleeve shows some minor scratching and rubbing, otherwise clean and unmarked. The subjects of itinerant Tokyo portrait photographer Watanabe Katsumi's 1960s and 70s photographs are the prostitutes, street people, drag queens, entertainers and gangsters (Yakuza) that populated Kabukicho, the red-light district of Shinjuku, at night during that era. Watanabe made his living by selling these photographs to his subjects, offering three prints for 200 yen. A modest gentleman, Watanabe had a keen sensitivity to the natural posturing of his subjects, which allowed them to uninhibitedly reveal their identities. He saw Kabukicho as a stage, and his photographs document the performers. To accompany the photographs collected in this volume, which borrows its title from Watanabe's first book, The Gangs of Shinjuku.