"Yatsuhaka-mura" (Village of Eight Gravestones) – Original Japanese B1 Poster
八つ墓村 / Yatsuhaka-mura, 1977
Art by Saikan (Masakane) Yonekura (米倉斉加年)
An exceptionally scarce, theatre-issued Japanese B1 poster for Shochiku’s 1977 adaptation of Seishi Yokomizo’s celebrated mystery novel 八つ墓村. Distinguished by its non-photographic, painterly key art, this is a quintessential example of late-1970s Japanese graphic audacity: part cinematic advertising, part standalone work of contemporary illustration.
The Film
八つ墓村 (Yatsuhaka-mura / Village of Eight Gravestones) is a mystery–horror–thriller steeped in folklore and generational vengeance—its narrative propelled by a remote village curse and a brutal lineage of violence. The poster itself announces the tone with dramatic copy invoking “400 years of怨念 (resentment/vengeance)”, promising a world of 怪奇 (the uncanny) and ロマン (dark romance).
Production: Shochiku (松竹)
Release year: 1977
Based on: the novel by Seishi Yokomizo (横溝正史)
Notable credits featured on the poster:
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Screenplay: Shinobu Hashimoto (橋本忍)
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Director: Yoshitarō Nomura (野村芳太郎)
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Music: Yasushi Akutagawa (芥川也寸志)
Key cast (as commonly cited for the film): Rentarō Mikuni, Shintarō Katsu, Mayumi Ogawa, among others.
The Artist
The illustration is credited in-print: “Designed & Illustration by Masakane Yonekura”—the given name of Saikan Yonekura (米倉斉加年), celebrated as both an actor and an artist. This poster is especially coveted because it bears the unmistakable hand of a practicing visual maker: not merely a studio layout, but a fully realized, authored image with gallery-grade presence.
The Artwork
Composition & Iconography
Yonekura’s composition stages an unforgettable, psychologically charged tableau against a searing sulphur-yellow field bordered by midnight blacks and ash greys.
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At center, a pale, languid woman—part femme fatale, part mournful apparition—sits draped in a voluminous charcoal cloak, crowned by an oversized hat adorned with a crimson flower. A single ink-like tear tracks down her cheek.
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Threading through her silhouette, ribbons of hair unfurl in saturated bands—red, teal, ochre, violet—like streamers of fate or theatrical curtains, lending the image a hypnotic, operatic motion.
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In her grasp: a grimacing kabuki-like face (mask-like in its severity), a potent symbol of performance, identity, and violence. The figure’s posture reads as both embrace and restraint—tenderness weaponized.
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Below, a monumental three-dimensional gravestone-cross form rises like a constructed relic; a thin rivulet of blood stains its face, a stark, minimalist gesture that lands with maximal force.
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Along the bottom margin, a silhouette that reads as a profiled headland / human profile contains a moody landscape—dark trees, distant ridges, and a scattering of birds—suggesting memory, terrain, and ancestral haunting collapsing into a single image.
Colour, Typography, and Period Presence
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The title 八つ墓村 appears in blood-red kanji on a lacquer-black vertical panel—graphic, ceremonial, and uncompromising.
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Dense blocks of Japanese text and cast listings frame the image like a printed chorus, while the Shochiku crest presides in the upper right, giving the sheet an unmistakably official studio authority.
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The overall effect is simultaneously elegant and brutal—a poster that does not “depict” horror so much as compose it.
Condition
Excellent Condition.
A vintage, near-five-decade-old paper poster with honest handling evidence consistent with age and display history.
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Front: scattered edge wear and light creasing visible in areas (notably near corners/upper margin in the close-up imagery); overall colours remain bold and highly presentable.
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Back: blank with light age toning/handling marks visible in the photograph.
(Please review all photos closely for the clearest, condition-accurate impression.)
Please refer to the imagery (both front and back) as this is the exact poster that is for sale.
It is over 48 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
