Fukase Masahisa and Yohko were married for twelve years and divorced in 1976. That summer, Fukase made a trip home from Tokyo to his family's photography studio in Hokkaido. On this trip, he found himself amidst a flock of ravens which he photographed. This encounter with the ravens, an omen of misfortune in Japan, deepened his sense of loneliness but also propelled his work in another direction. In the autumn of that year, he held an exhibition of these 'Raven' photographs at the Ginza Nikon Salon in Tokyo. This book comprises photographs of Yohko from throughout their relationship divided into seven sections, each beginning with one of the raven photographs on a black page.

Fukase Masahisa's Yohko is one of the most sought-after titles in the Sonorama shashin sensho [Sonorama Photography Anthology] series, an ambitious collection of 27 monographs by leading Japanese photographers published by Asahi Sonorama between 1977 and 1980.

First edition; 8vo (199 x 209 mm, 7¾ x 8¼ in); black-and-white photographs printed in sheet-fed gravure, texts by Yamagishi Shoji in Japanese and English and Setouchi Harumi in Japanese only, minor spotting to first page; black printed paper-covered boards; photo-illustrated dust-jacket, fading to spine, light spotting to verso, minor cockling to rear panel, minor rubbing and wear to edges, near-fine in a very good dust-jacket; [120]pp.

The Japanese Photobook 1912-1990 p525.