Japanese title: 「麥秋」 / modern 「麦秋」 (Bakushū — literally “barley harvest season”; released in English as Early Summer)
Size: STB / approx. 20 × 57 in. (51 × 145 cm)
Country / Studio: Japan / Shochiku (松竹)
First Japanese release: 3 October 1951
Printed for the film’s original 1951 Japanese theatrical release, this first-release STB / tatekan sits at the very top tier of Ozu poster collecting. Standard Japanese B2 posters from the early postwar period are already difficult to obtain; a full-height STB for a central Yasujirō Ozu / Shochiku title is rarer still. These tall theatre-display posters were made for practical exhibition rather than preservation: printed in two sections, mounted vertically, and usually discarded after the engagement. To find a complete Early Summer STB, with strong colour and matching upper and lower sections, is exceptional.
During research, we have not located a major Western auction-house sale record for this exact first-release STB format. Public traces are extremely sparse, underlining how rarely this poster appears outside specialist circles.
Design highlights
This is a superb example of early 1950s Shochiku house-style poster design: elegant, restrained, and emotionally direct, but with real graphic authority. The upper register is dominated by luminous period colour portraiture, while the lower register presents the domestic ensemble with the quiet formality associated with Ozu’s cinema. The enormous brush-calligraphy title 「麥秋」 bridges the two halves of the composition, giving the poster its dramatic centre.
The right-hand orange vertical banner carries the period promotional copy, while the front also notes 「文部大臣賞受賞」 — recipient of the Minister of Education / Arts Festival distinction. The printed billing includes Setsuko Hara, Shūji Sano, Chikage Awashima, Chishū Ryū, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura, Kuniko Igawa, and Hiroshi Nihon’yanagi, with screenplay by Kōgo Noda and Yasujirō Ozu and cinematography by Yūharu Atsuta. The result is a beautifully balanced poster: part star portrait, part family tableau, and part calligraphic object.
Cultural impact
Early Summer is one of Ozu’s key postwar works and the middle entry in his celebrated “Noriko trilogy,” between Late Spring and Tokyo Story. Starring Setsuko Hara as a young woman called Noriko, the film delicately explores family expectations, postwar social change, arranged marriage, personal choice, and the quiet dissolution of the extended household. It is a deeply human work: serene on the surface, but emotionally complex beneath.
The film was ranked No. 1 in Kinema Junpo’s 1951 Japanese film Best Ten and received the Arts Festival Minister of Education Award. Criterion has described Early Summer as one of Ozu’s most complex works and one of his enduring classics. Its stature within Japanese cinema is central to the importance of this poster: this is not merely rare Ozu paper, but rare paper for one of his essential films.
Condition
Excellent, especially for a 1951 STB. This exact example presents beautifully, with rich colour, strong saturation, and exceptional freshness to the portrait imagery, central title calligraphy, orange side panel, and Shochiku credit area. The poster retains its original two-section STB character, with the upper and lower sheets present.
Visible condition is limited to light, honest age wear: original fold / storage lines, minor handling impressions, slight age toning, very small edge and corner softness, and normal reverse toning / show-through. The reverse also bears a small red pencil notation, consistent with period storage or later collection cataloguing. No major tears or paper loss. Please review the photos carefully, as they show the exact poster for sale.
It is over 74 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
About STB (Tatekan) posters
Japanese STB / tatekan posters were tall standing-board cinema advertisements, generally around 20 × 58 inches, formed from two vertically aligned sections and intended for prominent theatre display. Because they were functional advertising objects rather than archival material, survival rates are dramatically lower than for standard B2 posters. For a major Ozu title from 1951, this format is especially significant.
A fantastic museum-grade piece of Japanese cinematic history.
