was a Japanese

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

fetish artist A fetish artist is a sculptor, illustrator, or painter who makes fetish art: art related to sexual fetishism and fetishistic acts. Fetish artists, 1930s–1990s * Charles Guyette * John Willie * Eric Stanton (a.k.a. John Bee, Savage, Stanten) * ...

. Tatsuji, along with

Go Mishima Tsuyoshi Yoshida (1924 – January 5, 1988), known by the pen name , was a Japanese homoerotic fetish artist and founder of the magazine . He is noted for his illustrations of " macho-type" men, often with yakuza-inspired ''irezumi'' tattoos. Mis ...

, Sanshi Funayama, and Go Hirano, is regarded by artist and historian

Gengoroh Tagame is a pseudonymous Japanese manga artist. Regarded as the most influential creator in the gay manga genre, he has produced over 20 books in four languages over the course of his nearly four decade-long career. Tagame began contributing manga ...

as a central figure in the first wave of contemporary gay artists in Japan.

Biography

Okawa lived in the

Kanto region Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...

, where in his private life he had a wife, children, and white-collar job, and would rent hotel rooms in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

to draw. Okawa was nearly 60 years old when his career as an erotic artist began in earnest, when he was published in a 1964 issue of , a fetish magazine that published gay content alongside straight and lesbian content. He would later be published in the magazine '' Barazoku''. Okawa quit illustration in the 1970s, and gave his artist materials to Mamiya Hiroshi, an editor at ''Fuzokukitan''. Upon his death in 1994, his works were acquired by Hiroshi and Bungaku Itō, the founding editor of ''Barazoku''. The writer Yukio Mishima was a fan of Okawa's, and reportedly commissioned Okawa to draw a portrait of Mishima being tortured.

References

1904 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Japanese painters Fetish artists Gay painters Gay male BDSM Japanese erotic artists Japanese gay artists Japanese LGBT painters 20th-century Japanese LGBT people {{Japan-artist-stub

Biography

See also

References