“Easy Rider (イージー ライダー)” – Original Japanese First Release Two‑Sheet Billboard Poster, Printed in 1969 (Film 1969; shot 1968) Extremely Rare, Massive B1 × 2 Format (approx. 145 × 103 cm) – Exceptional, Gallery‑Grade Example

A breathtaking, ultra‑rare original Japanese theatrical two‑sheet for Dennis Hopper’s counterculture landmark Easy Rider (イージー★ライダー) — a film widely hailed as a defining “cult road movie,” and a pivotal work at the heart of late‑60s American counterculture cinema. 

Produced for the film’s first Japanese theatrical release (Japan opened January 1970), this is the spectacular B1 × 2 configuration: two separate, oversize B1 sheets designed to be displayed together as a single towering cinema‑display billboard. This is the same instantly recognisable Japanese graphic concept collectors chase worldwide — bold, modern, and unmistakably “Japanese” in its typography and impact. 

What makes this example so special is the sheer presence of the format and the state of preservation: the colours remain vivid, the blacks strong, and the paper presents beautifully for a poster of this scale and age — a true centrepiece poster, and the first time we have ever seen and handled this enormous two‑sheet configuration in our gallery.

Poster Details
Title: Easy Rider (イージー★ライダー)

Country / Year: Japan, 1969 (first Japanese release; film released 1969, shot largely in 1968)

Format: Original Japanese theatrical two‑sheet billboard (B1 × 2; two separate sheets)

Dimensions:
• Top sheet: 103 cm × 72.5 cm
• Bottom sheet: 103 cm × 75 cm
• Overall display size: approx. 145 cm (H) × 103 cm (W)

Studio / Distributor: Columbia Pictures / コロンビア映画 (as issued) 

Description
This is, quite simply, one of the most striking and best‑designed Japanese poster interpretations of a Western film — a masterclass in bold late‑60s/early‑70s graphic minimalism. The upper sheet abstracts the American flag into towering hot‑orange vertical bands punctuated by red stars, while a torn negative silhouette evokes the U.S. itself — a perfect visual shorthand for the film’s mythic “search for America.” 

Anchoring the composition is the stylised portrait of Peter Fonda, rendered in a gritty, cross‑hatched pop‑print style — a look that feels halfway between underground comics and protest‑era graphic design. Collectors often single out this Japanese design for its unusual colourway and star motif (there is also a known blue colour variant in smaller formats), but in the flesh, at B1 × 2, it becomes a true wall‑dominating billboard artwork. 

The lower sheet delivers the knockout finishing punch: the vast, instantly recognisable katakana title logotype イージー★ライダー in bold black, with the star‑divider acting like a graphic emblem — part title, part icon. Surrounding credits emphasise the film’s rock‑era identity (including the era‑defining use of contemporary rock artists), while the overall design feels less like conventional film advertising and more like a modernist poster artwork. 

In person, the impact is enormous. This format was conceived to stop pedestrians outside a cinema — and it still does. Ideal for a dramatic installation in a home cinema, studio, office, gallery wall, music space, or blue‑chip private collection.

Rarity
Japanese B1 × 2 theatrical posters are rarely encountered in any title because they were produced for large‑scale display, used hard, and almost always discarded. For Easy Rider, scarcity is amplified by the fact that collectors worldwide overwhelmingly chase the standard Japanese B2 sizes (and the very rare B1 size), while true two‑sheet billboard configurations surface exceptionally seldom.

Just as importantly, the film’s Japanese cultural footprint was huge: released in Japan in January 1970, it became a phenomenon at Tokyo’s Yurakucho Subaru‑za, running 23 weeks and drawing 178,000 admissions at that single theatre — with contemporary accounts describing bikes lining up outside, fashion and Harley imagery becoming part of the buzz. That kind of impact tends to reduce long‑term survival of paper, because the posters were heavily demanded, widely displayed, and then thrown away.

Condition
Condition: Very Good to Excellent, especially for an original Japanese two‑sheet of this scale from 1970.

• Strong, unfaded colour presence (the orange/red palette remains bold).
• Paper presents cleanly with only typical handling wear consistent with careful long‑term storage and safe display.
• No major tears, no major paper loss, and no restoration noted.
• Supplied as issued as two separate sheets (B1 × 2).

Given the age, the size, and the usual fate of large Japanese cinema display paper, this is a remarkably well‑preserved survivor and absolutely qualifies as a museum‑worthy display piece in practical collecting terms.

Cinematic Significance
Directed by Dennis Hopper (his breakthrough as director/co‑writer/co‑star) and produced/co‑written by Peter Fonda, Easy Rider is widely recognised as a defining countercultural road film — a “youth anthem” whose success helped ignite the New Hollywood era. 

The film premiered in Competition at Cannes in 1969 and won the Prize for a First Work, and it earned Academy Award nominations including Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson) and screenplay. 

Its legacy is now formally canonised: the Library of Congress selected Easy Rider for preservation in the National Film Registry (1998) as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. 

And crucially for collectors of motorcycle culture: in Japan, the film landed like a cultural spark. Contemporary Japanese accounts describe how its Harley/chopper imagery and fashion resonated with young audiences — and Japanese motorcycle media and retrospectives repeatedly point to Easy Rider as a key reference point in the rise of Japan’s chopper/Harley enthusiasm in the 1970s.

Within the broader landscape of Japanese youth motorcycle subculture, later movements drew inspiration from chopper aesthetics and Western rebel imagery — part of the same cross‑cultural feedback loop that makes Easy Rider such a lasting icon. 

Additional Information
Authenticity: Guaranteed original, first‑release Japanese theatrical issue (コロンビア映画); not a reproduction or reprint.

Documentation: Certificate of Authenticity included.

An unrepeatable opportunity to acquire an ultra‑rare, wall‑dominating Japanese two‑sheet for one of cinema’s most culturally seismic films — and in a design that remains among the most instantly recognisable pieces of Japanese movie‑poster art ever created.