From Yukio Mishima's preface to Eikoh Hosoe's "Ordeal By Roses":
"Hosoe's art is, supremely, that of the 'testimony', the definition of which just given can be fitted to actual examples in his work. In the way he treats a single rose, for example...
This particular flower embodies the general concept of the thing called 'rose' which most men harbor in their brains, along with various special meanings implicit in the place of origin, the species, the form, and the color...
This particular flower embodies the general concept of the thing called 'rose' which most men harbour in their brains, along with various special meanings implicit in the place of origin, the species, the form, and the color...
The trial of reconciling our will and longing when facing the fact that some of the things we're fond of would be different (or nonexistent) in the reality we strive for.
"Se almeno mezza Italia somigliasse ai Fiumani, avremmo il dominio del mondo. Ma Fiume non è se non una cima solitaria dell'eroismo, dove sarà dolce morire ricevendo un ultimo sorso della sua acqua".
—Lettera di Gabriele d'Annunzio a Benito Mussolini