This is a gelatin silver print photograph by Eikoh Hosoe. The lower right corner bears the artist’s handwritten signature, and the reverse is inscribed with the artist’s signature, year of production, and the title.

This work belongs to the iconic series Ordeal by Roses (Barakei), created with the writer Yukio Mishima. Produced in the early 1960s, the series is widely regarded as one of Hosoe’s most important bodies of work, presenting powerful imagery that explores themes of the body, death, eroticism, and beauty.

Within carefully constructed theatrical settings, Mishima’s body appears almost sculptural, creating a dramatic and symbolic visual world. In Ordeal by Roses #5, the subject’s intense gaze and bodily tension are concentrated within a striking composition. The rich tonal depth of the monochrome print exemplifies Hosoe’s distinctive photographic language and his exploration of the human body as both a physical and psychological symbol.