For roughly three decades between 1964 and1992, Kouga Hirano was in sole charge of the covers on books published by Shobunsha. Indeed, it is a rare feat a single designer to handle all a publisher's output. Shobunsha was the standard-bearer of the counterculture days, and Hirano's unique style blew a breath of fresh air through the publishing establishment.
Here, some 600 of the more than 7,000 titles Hirano Produced over nearly half a century are on display, focusing mainly on his work with Shobunsha.
There will also be around 80 works  printed on Japanese washi paper on display, including distinctive decorative hand written letters; works freshly returned from an incredibly popular exhibition in Taiwan this spring, and many of his theater and concert posters and flyers that have been retouched by Hirano himself, some even with added notes.
Visitors are able to take the book covers in hand-just as if they were in a secondhand bookstore - to see and feel the close bond between books, publishing, cover designers, and the times.