This is an original Japanese offset poster printed in 1991 for Comprint International and Ginza Graphic Gallery’s project Japan Print ’91 / Communication & Print. Ten leading designers—Katsumi Asaba, Shigeo Fukuda, Yusaku Kamekura, Mitsuo Katsui, Shin Matsunaga, Kazumasa Nagai, K2, Masayoshi Nakajo, Koichi Sato and Ikko Tanaka—were invited to create new large-format works celebrating contemporary printing for an exhibition first shown at ggg in Tokyo and then in Madrid. Posters from this series, including designs by Tanaka and Fukuda, are now held in museum collections such as M+ in Hong Kong. Art direction here is by Katsumi Asaba (b.1940), one of Japan’s most important art directors and typographic experimenters, celebrated for his advertising campaigns for Seibu and Suntory and for his research into pictographic scripts such as the Naxi Dongba characters of Yunnan in collaboration with linguist Tatsuo Nishida. Photography is by Naruyasu Nabeshima (b.1960), a Tokyo‑based photographer known for editorial and portrait work. The poster was printed in Japan by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., credited along the right edge, matching other Communication & Print works from this campaign.
Design
Asaba’s concept is witty and disarmingly simple. Against an almost blank white field, we see the back of a human figure from mid‑torso to knees, unclothed except for a thin vine tied around the hips and a single long green leaf that hangs straight down to cover the cleft of the buttocks. The framing is clinical rather than erotic: the body becomes a clean, minimal shape set within generous negative space, echoing the clarity of good typography. At the top, the bold sans‑serif title “Communication & Print” anchors the image, while the Comprint International logo sits discreetly in the upper right. Along the bottom margin a bilingual caption pairs Japanese text with the English title “What’s The Leaf For?”, followed by a short anecdote.
In that text Asaba recalls a research trip to Yunnan with Kyoto University linguist Tatsuo Nishida to study living hieroglyphic scripts among minority peoples. During a meal, Nishida tells the group of a people in New Guinea known as the RAMI, who have no written script: the men sometimes hang a green leaf behind them as a sign that they have just relieved themselves and that there may be an odour—an elegant, wordless apology. Asaba describes how the intelligence of this tiny gesture struck him, and how since then the green leaf has been his “teacher” in communication: a reminder that the foundations of language and print lie in the ability to convey meaning clearly and humanely with the simplest of marks. The poster becomes a visual essay on nonverbal signs, humour and the origins of graphic communication, wrapped in a single memorable photographic image.
Details & condition
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Offset lithograph in colours, B1 size – approx. 72.8 × 103 cm (28⅝ × 40½ in), printed on medium‑weight coated stock.
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Credits along the right edge: Art direction: Katsumi ASABA / Photo: Naruyasu NABESHIMA / Printed in Japan by DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.
This example is in very good vintage condition overall.
Please study the photos closely, as they show the exact poster you will receive. It is an original 34‑year‑old printing from 1991, not a modern reprint or reproduction.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
