In February 1961, the first official poster was published - the first of a series of four. These four official posters which were to be seen widely throughout the world were:
No. 1   "The Rising Sund and the Olympic Emblem"
No. 2   "The Start of Sprinters Dash"
No. 3   "A Butterfly-Swimmer" and
No. 4   "An Olympic Torch Runner."
All four were designed by Mr. Yusaku Kamekura, and for No.`2 onwards, he had the cooperation of Messrs. Osamu Hayasaki and Jo Murakoshi as staff photographers.

All these posters were in multi-colored photogravure, a distinct technical accomplishment for Japan`s printing industry, the quality of printing was the subject of favourable comments both at home and abroad, and the posters themselves received a number of prizes for their excellence, including the Milan Poster Design Award.

The first poster with its striking design from Japan`s National flag, to some extent served to renew the appreciation of the Rising Sun`s dynamic simplicity. Some 100,000 copies of this poster were printed and sistributed before the Games.

The second official poster was modeled with the cooperation both of athletes of the American Forces stationed at the Tachikawa Air Base in Japan and of Japanese amateur athletes. The photo was taken on one wintry night in February, 1962, at the National Stadium. Ninety thousand copies of this poster were distributed.

The first photos for the third official poster were taken at the Tokyo Metropolitan Indoor Swimming Pool in February, 1962, with swimmer Furukawa and other Japanese free-style, backstroke and butterfly swimmers, and also Mr. W. Yorzyk (USA) who was 1956 Butterfly Gold Medalist at Melbourne, acting as models. None of these photos, however, were accepted, and later a butterfly trio of Waseda University, Izutsu, Yoshimuta and Iwamoto were called in to cooperate, and a picture modeled by Koji Iwamoto was selected for the poster. Some 70,000 of these posters had been distributed by the opening of the Games.

The final official poster was made at the beginning of 1964 and 50,000 copies were distributed. The Olympic Torch Runner selected to adorn this last of the poster series was athlete Tanaka of the  Juntendo University track and field team.

In Japan, these posters were distributed to all local government offices, Amateur Sports Associations, public buildings, news media, airlines, prominent trading companies, tourist agencies, business firms and banks, etc, The overseas distribution included the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations, and Japan`s Embassies and Legations in the various countries. These posters were responsible for accentuating the Olympic mood which prevailed both at home and abroad.

(Source document:   Official Report 1964, Vol. 1, page 353)