When people hear the name Taro Okamoto, they tend to think of his large-scale works, such as the Tower of the Sun or Myth of Tomorrow, but in actual fact, he also produced numerous cover designs and illustrations for novels. This was particularly true of the years immediately following the Second World War when his work was used in a wide range of media, including books, newspapers and magazines. Returning penniless from prisoner-of-war camp in China he was forced to make a new start and these jobs provided him sufficient income to make a living.

Demobilized in June 1946, it was around November before Taro finally succeeded in finding a studio, situated in the Kaminoge district of Tokyo, where he could begin his creative activities in Japan. From February 1947 he began to produce illustrations for a serial novel that was published in a daily newspaper. This was Ango Sakaguchi’s novel, Kayo that was published in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper. The series was discontinued unfinished after the 58th installment in May 1947, but all 58 of Taro’s illustrations expressed a tense creativity that was ideally suited Sakaguchi’s work.

This exhibition will be the first time that all the 54 extant illustrations for Kayo will be shown. Their location had long remained unknown, but the Foundation finally managed to obtain them last year. This is the first opportunity to view Taro Okamoto’s world of illustration through such a large number of works and although it presents a slightly different image of Taro, it is undeniably his work. We hope you will enjoy it.