“SHŌJO KAMEN” & “ARE KARA NO JOHN SILVER” (1971) – ORIGINAL JAPANESE THEATRE POSTER – KUNIYOSHI KANEKO Ultra Rare Oversize | Japanese Angura Theatre | Kuniyoshi Kaneko Artwork | Situation Theater / 劇団状況劇場 | HA38 | 76.5 × 106 cm (30.1 × 41.7 in)

An ultra rare original Japanese theatre poster for the 1971 double-bill production of Shōjo Kamen (少女仮面 / Girl Mask) and Are kara no John Silver (あれからのジョン・シルバー / John Silver Since Then), staged by Gekidan Jōkyō Gekijō (劇団状況劇場), the legendary underground theatre troupe founded and led by Jūrō Kara (唐十郎).

The poster was illustrated and designed by Kuniyoshi Kaneko (金子國義, 1936–2015), one of Japan’s most distinctive post-war artists. Kaneko’s work is celebrated for its theatrical eroticism, decadent beauty, and strange literary atmosphere—drawing from sources as varied as Lewis Carroll, European Symbolism, the Marquis de Sade, and classical Japanese sensuality. This sheet is a superb example of his mature graphic language: seductive, unsettling, and unmistakably tied to the radical visual culture of Japan’s Angura underground theatre movement.

Date & Japanese Theatrical Context
This poster dates to 1971, during the height of Japan’s post-war underground theatre scene. It advertises performances by Gekidan Jōkyō Gekijō, also known as the Situation Theater, whose productions were famously staged in a mobile Red Tent rather than conventional institutional theatres.

The bottom schedule panel lists performance dates across August, September, October, and November, together with venue, contact, and ticket information, including the period admission price of ¥600. These practical details anchor the poster firmly in its original theatrical context.

The Production & Its Place in Cultural History
This sheet represents a vital moment in Japanese avant-garde theatre. Under Jūrō Kara, Gekidan Jōkyō Gekijō rejected polite, commercial theatre in favor of itinerant performance, political intensity, myth, eroticism, and street-level spectacle.

The two works advertised here—Shōjo Kamen and Are kara no John Silver—belong to Kara’s charged theatrical universe, where identity, memory, sexuality, and fantasy are staged with startling visual force. Posters for these productions were not merely announcements; they were part of the performance culture itself, operating as public-facing extensions of the plays’ atmosphere.

Original theatre posters from this period are now highly prized because they document a rare convergence of radical performance, experimental graphic design, and post-war Japanese counterculture.

Design Notes
This poster is a striking example of Kaneko’s theatrical imagination and reads powerfully at its large oversize format:

Central circular vignette: the composition is built around a large tondo-like image set against a deep black field, creating the effect of a private scene viewed through a theatrical aperture.

Kaneko’s figure style: the intertwined couple displays the artist’s signature traits—pale skin, elongated limbs, dramatic eyes, erotic tension, and an atmosphere suspended between intimacy and unease.

Black ground: the stark black surround intensifies the central image, giving the poster a stage-like presence and allowing the reds, pinks, greens, and flesh tones to register with exceptional clarity.

Theatrical placards: the left-side vertical sign reads 少女仮面 (Shōjo Kamen / Girl Mask), while the right-side panel announces あれからのジョン・シルバー (Are kara no John Silver), both designed like fragments of street signage, kabuki playbills, or fairground announcements.

Surreal period detail: objects within the image—including printed materials such as 夏休みの宿題 (“summer vacation homework”)—add a strange narrative charge, blending childhood, sexuality, nostalgia, and performance.

Portrait panel: the right-side military/sailor-style portrait introduces a cool, almost icon-like counterpoint to the sensual central scene.

Footer schedule panel: the dense bottom band of dates, prices, venue information, and theatre details preserves the poster’s original function as a working performance advertisement.

The Oversize Japanese Theatre Format and Why It’s So Hard to Find
At 76.5 × 106 cm, this is a substantial oversize Japanese theatre poster, slightly larger than standard B1 proportions and significantly more imposing than the smaller formats more commonly encountered.

Large theatre posters from the Angura period were working street and venue advertisements. They were posted, handled, folded, pinned, pasted, transported, and often discarded after short performance runs. Survival rates are therefore exceptionally low, particularly for posters connected to major underground theatre figures such as Jūrō Kara and major artists such as Kuniyoshi Kaneko.

In practical collecting terms, this is exactly the kind of object that has become increasingly difficult to source: large-format, original, artist-designed Japanese counterculture paper from the early 1970s.

About the Artist: Kuniyoshi Kaneko
Kuniyoshi Kaneko occupies a singular position in Japanese post-war art. Painter, illustrator, photographer, and designer, he developed a world of beautiful, troubling figures—often androgynous, erotic, theatrical, and psychologically charged.

His imagery frequently fuses European literary decadence with Japanese theatricality. The result is neither purely Western nor traditionally Japanese, but something more unstable and compelling: a private visual mythology of masks, desire, childhood, costume, and performance.

This poster is especially important because it shows Kaneko working in dialogue with live theatre. Rather than functioning as a decorative commercial image, the design becomes an extension of the production’s emotional register—intimate, transgressive, dreamlike, and confrontational.

Artists, Theatre Posters & the Angura Movement
During the 1960s and 1970s, Japan’s underground theatre scene produced some of the most adventurous graphic design of the post-war period. Directors such as Jūrō Kara and Shūji Terayama collaborated with major artists and designers including Tadanori Yokoo, Aquirax Uno, Kiyoshi Awazu, and Kuniyoshi Kaneko.

These posters were treated not simply as advertising, but as independent works of visual art. They blended pop art, psychedelia, erotic illustration, Meiji and Taishō-era typography, ukiyo-e references, shunga-like sensuality, political provocation, and street theatre energy.

By appearing in public spaces—on walls, streets, theatre sites, and urban noticeboards—these works brought avant-garde art directly into the city. Today, original Angura theatre posters are recognized as major documents of Japanese graphic culture and as some of the most visually daring theatrical posters produced anywhere in the world.

Condition Report
Overall presentation: Excellent.
A highly impressive original example with strong visual impact, rich blacks, vivid reds, and excellent preservation of Kaneko’s central illustration. The sheet presents beautifully, with no major display distractions.

Front: excellent overall display quality, with strong color saturation, crisp typography, and a clean, dramatic black field.

Reverse: generally clean for age, with light toning, faint handling evidence, and minor age-related marks visible on the blank back.

Minor signs of use: light edge and corner handling, faint surface waviness, small handling marks, and minor age-related surface impressions consistent with storage and use of a large-format theatre poster.

Unrestored: no linen backing, no touch-ups, and no conservation work performed.

Authenticity: Original 1971 Japanese theatre poster — not a reproduction or modern reprint.