“Nagano 1998 – Games from the Heart” (愛と参加の長野オリンピック), Rare Original Japanese Official Olympic Poster by Koji Kinutani, B1 Size (c. 73 × 103 cm), Gold Foil Olympic Rings HAK-A
This is an original official Japanese B1 poster produced for the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic Games, featuring the spectacular allegorical painting by celebrated Japanese artist Koji Kinutani (絹谷幸二).
This is not simply Nagano-related advertising: the design is documented by the Olympic Museum as an official Nagano 1998 poster, with the Museum holding an example of this same 103 × 73 cm design in its permanent collection. The poster was created by the Nagano Organizing Committee (NAOC) and Koji Kinutani, and represents one of the principal fine-art images commissioned for the Games.
The XVIII Olympic Winter Games took place from 7–22 February 1998, the dates printed prominently across the poster. They were the second Winter Olympics staged in Japan, following Sapporo 1972, and brought together 2,176 athletes from 72 countries and regions.
Design
This is one of the most elaborate and expressive artworks created for Nagano 1998—a remarkable fusion of Japanese contemporary painting, Olympic symbolism, winter sport and the mountainous landscape of Nagano.
At its centre is a monumental allegorical female figure, described in the Olympic Museum's collection as a goddess wearing a laurel wreath composed of athletes from the different Olympic sports.
Kinutani renders her face in explosive passages of vermillion, scarlet, orange and brilliant yellow, articulated with vigorous dark outlines and highly visible painterly marks. Rather than attempting conventional realism, the portrait possesses the intensity and immediacy of a modern fresco.
The closer the image is examined, the more extraordinary its construction becomes.
The goddess's hair and laurel crown are populated by miniature winter athletes in motion. Skiers descend across its contours; skating and sliding disciplines emerge from the dense arrangement; groups of competitors, sporting equipment and abstract decorative forms are woven together until human figure, ornament and hair become almost inseparable.
This extraordinary crown effectively transforms the goddess into a personification of the Winter Olympic Games themselves.
Elsewhere, flowers, snowflakes and other decorative elements appear within the composition. At the left side of the face, a golden treble clef and musical notes emerge beside the goddess, introducing music and cultural celebration into an image otherwise dominated by athletic competition.
Beneath her, a vast range of snow-covered mountains extends across the horizon. The finely articulated white and dark-blue peaks establish Nagano's alpine geography while creating a dramatic visual contrast with the fiery reds and yellows of the central figure.
Splashes of white across the goddess's neck and shoulders visually merge her body with the surrounding snow, further dissolving the boundary between humanity, sport and landscape.
The entire painted image is isolated against an intense field of deep cobalt blue, amplifying the warmth of the central figure and giving the poster extraordinary presence at full B1 scale.
Gold Foil Olympic Rings
One of the most impressive physical features of this particular poster is the treatment of the Olympic rings.
Rather than being reproduced simply as flat printed colour, the five enormous rings extending across the lower portion of the artwork are finished in a reflective metallic gold foil / metallic gold treatment.
The supplied close-up photographs show the metallic surface catching and reflecting ambient light, creating an effect that cannot be fully conveyed in a conventional front-facing photograph. At B1 scale, the rings form a substantial physical and visual element of the composition, crossing the boundary between the painted image and surrounding white field.
This premium metallic treatment gives the original poster a richness and material presence substantially beyond that of an ordinary reproduction.
Typography and Olympic Identity
Across the upper section appears the monumental:
NAGANO 1998
THE XVIII OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Alongside sits the official multicoloured Snowflower emblem, Nagano 1998 wordmark and Olympic rings, followed by the exact dates:
February 7–22
The lower margin presents the philosophical identity of the Games in three languages:
“Games from the Heart — Together with Love”
“Les Jeux du Cœur — Ensemble, passionnément”
and in Japanese:
「愛と参加の長野オリンピック」
The Japanese phrase expresses the concept of an Olympics founded upon love and participation, reinforcing the fundamentally humanistic message of Kinutani's central painting.
The relationship between these words and the artwork is particularly successful. The goddess does not represent victory by a single athlete or nation. Instead, her identity is constructed from many athletes, many disciplines, culture, music and the landscape itself—an allegory for collective participation.
Koji Kinutani
Koji Kinutani (絹谷幸二, b. 1943) is one of Japan's most prominent post-war painters, renowned for his intensely coloured figurative works and distinctive synthesis of Japanese and European artistic traditions.
After studying oil painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Kinutani continued his training in Italy, where he studied classical and fresco techniques. That experience became fundamental to his mature visual language: brilliant colour, vigorous line, monumental human figures and the physical immediacy associated with mural and fresco painting.
His contribution to Nagano 1998 therefore represents something quite different from conventional sports advertising. The Organizing Committee effectively commissioned a major Japanese contemporary artist to interpret the philosophy and emotional character of the Olympic Games through fine art.
The Olympic Museum's documentation confirms Kinutani as the artist responsible for this official poster, while related Nagano 1998 sport posters—including skiing, skating, curling, bobsleigh and ice hockey—also reproduced his paintings.
This principal allegorical image stands at the centre of that artistic programme.
Historical Significance
Nagano 1998 was conceived around themes extending well beyond competitive sport. The Japanese Olympic Committee records “Coexistence with Nature” as a guiding principle of the Games, with environmental considerations influencing venues, the Athletes' Village and other aspects of their organisation.
Kinutani's artwork translates that broader philosophy into a human image. The athletes become the goddess's crown; the mountains form her environment; snow crosses into her body; music and flowers emerge alongside sporting imagery.
The result is an unusually ambitious conception of an Olympic poster—not simply an announcement of an event, but an attempt to visualise the cultural meaning of the Games.
The Olympic Museum describes this exact design as an official Nagano 1998 poster and records its dimensions as 103 × 73 cm, corresponding to Japanese B1. This institutional documentation makes the poster particularly significant for serious Olympic and graphic-design collections.
Rarity
Original official Japanese Olympic posters have become an increasingly important field of twentieth-century graphic-design collecting, particularly examples associated with the landmark Tokyo 1964, Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998 Games.
This example combines several especially desirable qualities: official NAOC provenance, monumental B1 format, original artwork by Koji Kinutani, metallic gold Olympic rings and a design represented within the Olympic Museum's permanent collection.
The lower-right production inscription reads:
© PIEROTA CO., LTD. NAOC L-394
Pierota Co., Ltd. is also documented in the Olympic Museum's catalogue in connection with official Nagano 1998 posters reproducing Kinutani's paintings, further supporting the poster's institutional production history.
Unlike mass-market Olympic souvenirs, a B1 sheet of this scale was conceived as a substantial display object. Its metallic printing, expansive white margins and heavily saturated central artwork also make preservation particularly demanding.
At approximately 73 × 103 cm, the design has extraordinary physical presence. The face approaches portrait scale, the miniature athletes become individually legible, and the reflective gold rings change character according to the surrounding light.
The combination of major Japanese artist, official Olympic status, B1 scale, metallic gold detailing and exceptional preservation makes this one of the strongest fine-art designs within the Nagano 1998 poster programme.
Condition
Excellent+ condition overall, with outstanding colour, exceptionally strong printing and superb display presence.
The central artwork retains remarkable saturation: the fiery reds, oranges and yellows of the goddess remain intense, the cobalt-blue background is rich and consistent, and the snow-covered mountain range retains excellent fine detail.
Most importantly, the metallic gold Olympic rings remain beautifully preserved, retaining their reflective surface and strong visual effect when viewed under changing light.
The surrounding white field remains remarkably clean and bright. There are only light handling impressions, gentle natural paper undulation and a small number of shallow surface creases visible under close inspection, principally around the margins. Minor edge and corner wear is present, including a few small edge impressions consistent with the substantial B1 format.
The poster remains unbacked and without prominent structural fold lines.
The reverse is exceptionally clean and bright, showing only light handling, minor natural paper movement and a few shallow impressions. There is no significant foxing, widespread staining or major discolouration.
A small original Nagano Olympic / JOC-NAOC Olympic Products identification label remains attached at the lower-left of the verso, providing an additional surviving piece of the poster's period Olympic provenance.
Once professionally mounted and framed, this poster will display superbly. The combination of Kinutani's intensely coloured artwork and the reflective metallic gold Olympic rings gives it a physical richness that photographs only partially capture.
Please review all photographs carefully; they show the exact poster for sale, front and back, including detailed close-ups of the artwork, gold metallic Olympic rings, production inscription and surviving Olympic label.
This is an original official Japanese B1 Nagano 1998 Winter Olympic poster featuring artwork by Koji Kinutani.
It is not a reproduction or a later reprint.
It dates from the original Nagano 1998 Olympic promotional period and is now approximately three decades old.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
