Nobou Takemoto, who was crowned the 16th Mr. Japan in 1970. Silver print, the image measuring mm; 8x7 7/8 inches, the sheet mm; 9 1/2x7 7/8 inches. 1971.
Yato was a self-taught photographer and a pioneer in Japanese homoerotic photography. In his early years he worked mostly as a dancer and actor, only picking up photography in the 1960s. Through his short career celebrating the male form he published three books of his photography: Young Samurai: Body Builders of Japan (1967); Naked Festival: A Photo-Essay (1968) and Otoko (1972). Throughout his artistic career he collaborated with the writer Yukio Mishima and was a long-term partner of the writer's translator, Meridith Weatherby. Yato was an important influence on the contemporary field of male eroticism in Japan.
