‘Eiko, not Sada’

Kate Howe, 2022, site-specific installation, tattoo on skin.

“A tattoo is a ritual. You create a wound on purpose. It hurts. You hold still. The artist can not really see what they are doing, the wound bleeds as it is created. The mark will never be as beautiful as the moment it is finished and the blood is wiped away. The mark scabs over, becomes ugly. You must not touch, you go in public, everyone knows this is fresh ink, a fresh mark, a moment of significance. The scabs fall away and only then can you see what you are left with forever, a lotus from the mud.

The 1976 film In the Realm of the Senses starred Eiko Matsuda as Sada Abe in a story of erotic entanglement ending in obsession, death, and delirium. This film, still banned in Japan, was the first film in which the actors engaged in visible, actual unprotected sex on-screen during filming. It is the true story of a couple consumed by each other. Often cited as the most erotic film ever made, and written about extensively in academia, the male star of this film and the film’s director shot to international superstardom after the daring, risky, beautiful, disturbing, problematic, and challenging project came out. 

Matsuda, the face of the project and the performance which carries the entire film and makes it real, heartbreaking, and quite relatable, faded into obscurity after being offered only two “pink” films after the release of In the Realm of the Senses. 

Erika X Eisen writes in her brilliant article Desire Vessel : ‘Matsuda Eiko’s career illustrates the erasure that occurs when women’s creative work is falsely reduced to autobiography.’ In other words, her male co-star did not have that problem. No one thought that because he had sex with her on-screen, he must be “that” kind of guy, probably a prostitute, and never offered him work again. They understood that he was an actor, and this was a role. A risky role that paid off. But they couldn’t make that leap for her. Matsuda did not speak a lot about herself or the film other than to make it very clear that telling this famous story required total commitment and fearlessness. She was brave for the sake of her art. She gave herself to her art. She signed her name, let it be known she was the actress equal to the legendary role. And she was erased for her art. 

I protest. I protest! I un-erase.

I create a site-specific installation with my body as the site. It is the small scorpion Matsuda had on her ear before the film was made. It is Matsuda herself, not Abe or any fictional character she played. From here forward, we go together, Eiko and I. She is one of my ghosts. 

I invite anyone to get this tattoo on their left earlobe, to plug into the Eiko network, to call forth her divine presence, or let her ghost intercede in your grief for you.

Thanks to Wade Enstrom at Old London Tattoos for the incredible work on this delicate, fiddly, very specific piece. 

In Collaboration with:

Wade Enstrom

PDF: The Erotics of Power Story Map

This story map accompanied my London Debut Solo Show which I held at RuptureXIBIT (+Studio) in February 2022. I showed fifteen pieces, with detritus from my making and research process in small caches near the work, marked by antique keys donated to the studio by a local art lover. Through this story map and the scavenger-hunt-like event of finding materials and methods as guests interacted with the show, they could choose to engage as deeply with the work as they liked, there was always something more.”

- Kate Howe