Go Mishima

Tsuyoshi Yoshida (剛吉田, 1924-1988), known by the pen name Go Mishima (三島剛), was a Japanese homoerotic fetish artist and founder of the magazine Sabu (さぶ). He is noted for his illustrations of "macho-type" men, often with yakuza-inspired irezumi tattoos. Mishima, along with Tatsuji Okawa (大川辰次), Sanshi Funayama (船山三四), and Go Hirano (平野剛), is regarded by artist and historian Gengoroh Tagame (田亀 源五郎) as a central figure in the first wave of contemporary gay artists in Japan

Mishima was born in 1924 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. At 18, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army, where he had his first homosexual experience with his commanding officer. Upon the end of the Second World War in 1945, Mishima relocated to Tokyo, where he immersed himself in the nascent gay nightlife of the city. Many bars and nightclubs during this era were operated by the yakuza; Mishima's fascination with their crew cut hairstyles and irezumi tattoos would figure heavily into his art. During this period, Mishima supported himself by working as a male prostitute for American tourists and servicemen.

During the late 1950s, Mishima discovered the art of Tom of Finland (Touko Valio Laaksonen), who came to influence Mishima's work. In 1955, Mishima met the writer Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) at a gym, and formed a friendship on their shared interest in athletics, bodybuilding, and hypermasculine sexuality. The two men drew artistic nudes together as a pastime; Go Mishima began to pursue a career in homoerotic art in earnest with Yukio Mishima's encouragement, and adopted Mishima's last name to use as his pen name in tribute. After Yukio Mishima's death by ritual suicide, Go Mishima began to depict more violent material and themes in his art, including bondage, masochism, and torture.

In 1964, Mishima was published in Fuzoku Kitan (風俗奇譚) and Barazoku (薔薇族), two of the first magazines in Japan to publish gay and gay pornographic content. He was an early contributor to Barazoku, which in 1971 became the first commercially-circulated gay magazine in Japan. Dissatisfied with the bishōnen art style of Barazoku, Mishima founded Sabu (さぶ) in 1974, which focused on images of masculine men, and was more explicitly pornographic.

On January 5, 1988, Mishima died of complications from cirrhosis resulting from hepatitis and alcohol abuse. A commemorative issue of Barazoku was published in tribute to Mishima in 1989, in which Sadao Hasegawa (長谷川 サダオ) referred to him as "a master illustrator of the male physique." The first solo exhibition of Mishima's art was held in 1999, at Gallery Naruyama in Tokyo.

Sources:

• Adonna, Steve. "Impressions of Sadao Hasegawa". Dispatch Newsletter Summer 2000, The Tom of Finland Foundation, retrieved: 20 Nov 2018.
• Coulthart, John. "The art of Goh Mishima, 1924–1989". John Coulthart Art, 7 Aug 2009, retrieved: 18 Nov 2018.
• "Goh Mishima: Biography". Tom of Finland Foundation, retrieved 21 Nov 2018.
• Ishii, Anne; Kidd, Chip; Kolbeins, Graham, eds. Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It. Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics, 2014.
• Tagame, Gengoroh, ed. Gay Erotic Art in Japan Vol. 1: Artists From the Time of the Birth of Gay Magazines. Tokyo: Pot Publishing, 2003.
• "三島 剛". Gallery Naruyama, retrieved: 21 Nov 2018.