This photograph, like much of Hosoe’s work, draws meaning from mythology and symbolism, as well as theater and dance. The subject is Simon Yotsuya, an actor portraying a transvestite clown in a series of images in which he is placed in various settings around Tokyo’s shitamachi (“old town”). In silly or pensive poses, embraced or ostracized by others, the figure embodies the artist’s view of the emotional landscape of post-war Japan. Here, a solitary Yotsuya seductively confronts the viewer in a low-lying marsh near the Arakawa River. The hint of sexual ambiguity and transgression is supported by the river’s association with supernatural fox maidens, who could assume the shape of beautiful women in order to take human lovers.