"TADANORI YOKOO - DIARY OF A SHINJUKU BURGLAR", Japanese Contemporary Art / Movie Poster, Original Offset 1968, Rare, Size (c.50 x 70cm) O252

DIARY OF A SHINJUKU THIEF (新宿泥棒日記), 1969 — Original Japanese B2 Theatrical Poster
Design & Illustration: Tadanori Yokoo (signed “T. Yokoo” in the image)
Director: Nagisa Ōshima • Distributor: Art Theatre Guild (ATG) • Studio: Sōzōsha
Printing: Offset lithograph, Japan, 1969

A scarce, first‑release Japanese poster for Ōshima’s New Wave landmark Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, starring Tadanori Yokoo—who also designed the film’s advertising artwork. (Yokoo plays the lead “Birdie Hilltop,” opposite Rie Yokoyama; the film was produced by Sōzōsha and released by ATG.)

Design

Yokoo’s poster is a tour‑de‑force photomontage in acid‑bright colour:

• A filmstrip of repeated portrait panels spans the header, punctuating the work like leader tape.

• At centre, a tattooed fundoshi‑clad figure stands on a red pennant against a cyan sky; above, ukiyo‑e lovers kiss—Yokoo’s playful collision of Edo iconography and contemporary Shinjuku.

• The lower medallion frames a kneeling woman with handwritten calligraphy; flanking monochrome portraits are garlanded with paper‑cut roses.

• A turquoise ATG monogram anchors the credit block at lower right, while Yokoo’s seal and “T. Yokoo” signature appear lower left.

The poster exemplifies Yokoo’s late‑1960s language—psychedelic palette, collage of publicity stills and vernacular graphics, and witty historical pastiche—which museums regularly note in discussing his work for this very film. 

Historical note

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969) is a seminal Japanese New Wave work: Ōshima’s agit‑pop study of desire and revolt set in Shinjuku’s bookshops and streets. Cast listings and release details confirm Yokoo in the lead and ATG distribution. 

Rarity & significance

Original B2s for this title are notoriously hard to find, and examples credited in‑image by Yokoo are coveted for connecting one of Japan’s most important graphic artists directly to Ōshima’s cinema. Museum catalogues and archives single out Yokoo’s Shinjuku Thief designs as signature works of his poster practice. 

Condition

Very good overall: richly saturated colour. 

Please refer to the imagery (both front and back) as this is the exact poster that is for sale. 

It is over 56 years old!

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.