The Banquet / Shokuji

First Edition, 1993. 130 pages.

Book measures 7.25 x 9.75 inches. Paperback with dust jacket. 32 b&w and 32 color photographs. Text by Nobuyoshi Araki.

Shokuji (The Banquet) is a tribute to Nobuyoshi Araki’s late wife Yoko, a ‘photo diary’ of the food they ate together in the last months of her life. The book is divided into three sections: two parts are double-page photographic spreads of food, enclosing a middle section that is written ‘food diary,’ beginning on January 27, 1985, exactly five years before her death from cancer in 1990. The color images are shots Araki took while doing commercial work beginning in 1985. The b&w images were taken at home, and commenced when doctors told Araki his wife had only around a month left to live.

- Parr / Badger The Photobook A History vol. 1.

A Fine copy in Near Fine dust jacket. Obi shows light wear, and is in Very Good condition.