“Double Suicide” (心中天網島), Original Japanese First-Release Movie Poster 1969, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) Q75
This is an original Japanese first-release B2 theatrical poster for Masahiro Shinoda’s 1969 masterpiece Double Suicide (Shinjū: Ten no Amijima), starring Kichiemon Nakamura and Shima Iwashita. The poster design is by Kiyoshi Awazu, and the National Film Archive of Japan has included the B2 of this design in its major exhibitions on Japanese film posters, a strong indication of its standing within the canon of postwar Japanese graphic design (we have included an image taken by us at the NFAJ by us in April 2026).
Film background
Adapted from a play by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Double Suicide is one of Shinoda’s most extraordinary achievements: a stylised black-and-white tragedy that fuses cinema with the visual and theatrical grammar of bunraku puppet theatre. Criterion notes that the film uses traditional Japanese theatrical forms with “shocking cinematic effect,” while the cast list confirms Nakamura as Jihei and Iwashita in the dual role of Koharu / Osan. The score is by Toru Takemitsu, whose music adds further tension and ritual beauty to the work.
Poster design
This poster is, quite simply, one of the great designs of Japanese cinema. Awazu’s composition is both graphic and theatrical: a dense central field of linework and symbolic imagery framed by a border of stark monochrome film stills, all anchored by the bold vertical title calligraphy. The result mirrors the film’s own fusion of abstraction, performance, and emotional extremity. It is not merely an advertisement but a fully resolved work of graphic art, and its repeated exhibition by the National Film Archive of Japan helps explain why collectors regard it so highly.
What makes this example especially important is that it is the original first-release B2, the format most closely associated with Japanese theatrical display, yet far scarcer in this title than ordinary commercial posters of the period. For collectors of Japanese film design, Awazu, Shinoda, ATG-era aesthetics, or major 1960s poster art, this is a museum-level piece.
Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale. The poster presents extremely well overall, with strong contrast, rich blacks, and excellent display impact.
It is over 57 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
