A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tatsuya Naoki

1

There was a flurry of interest in Tatsuya Naoki a couple of years ago when these pencil images showing smooth, chunky men bound in red ropes first appeared. I think this is the best of that group, portraying some serious bondage – you may have seen the single leg position in Bound Gods work, but in those videos the weight of the body is supported by a secondary harness, this guy has to rely on balancing on one leg, which over time becomes increasingly difficult, particularly if you are also forced into energetic sexual activity as appears to have happened here. The dripping fluids are a salacious detail, but also add a time dimension to the captive's predicament, the expression on his face suggests he has now had enough.

There's a slightly self conscious artiness about the juxtaposition of sex bondage with imagery from Nature, but to the Japanese eye these are not mere decoration. This bondage position itself imitates the one legged stance of the crane standing in water, in Japanese culture cranes supposedly reward sacrifices with luck and also represent longevity. The water lily (or lotus) is sometimes associated with cranes and denotes purity (!) and rebirth, so you can see a sort of message, but I imagine it's rather more subtle than that and I won't pretend to know.

2

This picture couldn't be more different with a sleeping(?) young man under tickling attack from a collection of Disney-esq playing cards, all armed with paint brushes. I think it's the first time I've featured tickling fetish in this series and I confess the hand-gagging and suggestion of wrist bondage appeal to me more. There's something slightly sinister about the faceless playing cards (even in Disney's film) and here the pointed brushes, look like - and are wielded like – spears, angled towards erotically sensitive zones. The dreamer's legs are held wide open and the playing card between them, clinging to his thigh, obscuring his organs but doing who knows what to them seems the height of erotic suggestiveness to me. The Japanese, wave-like styling of the sploshing white paint is a delightful detail.

In the previous picture I was tempted to point out parallels with the art of Hasegawa (e.g. the skin toning and symbolism), but the depiction of the youth in this image seems even more reminiscent of that much missed artist.

 

 3

'Beard Attack' is much more down to earth, featuring more rugby-style chunkies indulging in a teasing torture/fetish that many of us will have experienced in some form but is rarely the subject of any artist – the stubble scratch. This young man seems to be appreciating it, judging by his splendid, moist erection, but his grimace suggests a more plausible emotion. Being Japanese, his nudity in a public place adds a significant modesty/embarrassment ingredient to the ordeal, underlined by the fact that everyone else is clothed and clearly not intending join him in with his nakedness. In fact they are well wrapped up and the trees are almost bare suggesting it's a cold, autumn day. Not ideal for exposing yourself.

This attack seems to be mischievous rather than nasty, perhaps a group of boisterous rugby players, lubricated in the club bar have stumbled across this young man up to no good in the bushes and are tutoring him in their version of what constitutes manhood. The ultimate straight boy tease, but there's always the hope that it's going to turn into a Baked Alaska moment (cold cock -> hot mouth) Whatever the case, it seems that the limits in this scene are not going to be set by the naked victim.

The facial expression of the man doing the scratching (with a touch of determined wickedness in his eyes) and the thoughtful on-looker, twiddling his own beard inscrutably are both nice little studies, well observed from life. The background itself is styled in a neat and tidy way that is very attractive and it is also nice to see that Tatsuya's men are uncompromisingly Japanese and modern.

4

This image connects back to the ball-busting images of Tam, but it's much less violent, more squash than smash, a manly test of endurance rather than an attempt to injure. This is 'rough play' like 'Beard Attack' but there seems to be no malice at all here. However there's a lot of eroticism bubbling under those highly revealing leotards. The pose of the central figure, arching back with his feet bent back underneath him is very sexy, this viewpoint doesn't really do it full justice but the crossed arms detail looks so right. Even better is the background figure administering the foot pressure. The dangling arm and the slightly leaning body posture completely capture this tricky balancing act and for me there's also something unmistakeably masculine about it, I look at it and think, yes, that's exactly how a man looks. It's a delight and an artist that can capture this 'essential manliness' is to be admired.

5

You want fetish? This image is less convincing than the others but the artist captures the discomfort of the gag as the captive averts his face from the improbable shower of spunk raining down on his body. The hedgehog haircut seems slightly incongruous, more clubland than dungeon, which perhaps explains his slightly pained expression, as though he's dismayed by the coarseness of it all. There's another, similar picture by this artist featuring a mask and unconventional use of a screwdriver (see links below).

6

My final example is a quirky one, from a larger group about a rugby player being ritually humiliated. In this scene he is forced to piss in his own shorts and I've included it because it's a scenario that interested me at one time and I don't think I have featured it here before. However it's fiendishly difficult to make into an erotically exciting image since all the main action is hidden, leaving the artist to depict wet fabric/skin and dribbling liquid – not very easy. I suppose this attempt proves the point.

Tatsuya's work does not explore the dark realms of fetish, but there's often a touch of the sinister - even in good humoured pieces, the non-fetish work is a little bland for me. His best art is sensual and stimulating and he has a knack for pleasing detail. There's a selection of his work at the Japanese Gay Art site and (censored) at his blog Absinthe (there are more pictures in the older posts)

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below

or seach by name.

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tam (part 2)

Part one is here

09 Tam – The Bull (Trooper Delgado Punished)

There's a sinister, militaristic flavour in this image of a Latin American soldier demoted to the ranks and disciplined after failing to capture a rebel leader. An audience of troopers has gathered to witness their former Sergeant's fall from grace and gloat over his previously unsuspected masochism, revealed by the whipping. Tam shows a balding patch on the disgraced NCO's head indicating his maturity - which makes his humiliation in front of the younger soldiers all the worse.

There's a sense of depth in this picture and a convincing interaction between the main protagonists although I think Tam's missed a trick by not curling the tip of the whip back into the picture somewhere. This punishment is most severe, judging by the weals on the victim's back but Tam's depictions are rather less graphic than Tagame's.

10 Tam – Policeman's Woodland Whipping

There's something quite poignant about the tattered remnants of clothing and wincing expression of the Policeman in this simple image which is focussed entirely on the recipient of the punishment. I have always found the British Police Uniform pretty un-erotic (unlike their US counterparts) so I have to admire the way Tam extracts erotic value here. The woodland setting looks a bit like one of Tom's logger's camps.

11 Tam – Sex Slaver (MP Wrenched)

Whilst standard whippings (above) and fist beatings are a mainstay in Tam's pictures he invents a particularly nasty torture for the kidnapped MP in 'Sex Slavers' where two heavy, adjustable wrenches are clamped to his nipples

 - to promote their enlargement(!)

In a rare moment of humour the kidnapper's discover to their delight that this process can also be used to force the production of 'bull milk' for their breakfast cereal. I would imagine early morning must be a particularly favourable time for extraction! The open space in this picture suggests another illustration has been removed by the artist.

12 Tam Sex Slavers (Gold)

As the 'Sex Slavers' story develops, the focus of the kidnapper's brutality switches back and forth between the MP and his fellow captive, the civilian policeman. This device has the effect of constantly rekindling the reader's anticipation and interest in what will happen next. It's much harder to sustain interest in a procession of tortures against the same victim.

This picture shows both captives as the Cop is secured for ringing (see 08, Part 1) the MP being left to deal with his wrenches alone. The two men in this story, complete strangers before their abductions, develop a rather manly, comradeship in their shared cell and are eventually forced into sex together. However, the romance comes to an abrupt end when they are unceremoniously sedated and packed into separate crates for onward shipment to their purchasers. Nice.

This picture is not really integrated as a single scene in the conventional sense but made with separate images placed together – it's a bit like cut-aways in a film brought together on the page. Switching between these two parallel elements of the picture creates an unexpected sense of space and time around the scene. The 'tit-ringing' picture (08 in the previous post) can be read in the same way, showing the tension between the struggling pair and the disapproving on-looker. It's the absence of a unifying background that makes this effect possible. Is it intentional on the artist's part or an interesting accident? See next picture.

13 Tam – Cop Lesson (Endurance)

'Cop Lesson' features a policeman who hires a body builder offering lessons in Advanced S&M. The tit-weight test is the highlight of his session, at the cop's own request and it's clearly a favourite with Tam too. He paints the policeman in this story as a meek man completely lacking in the ultra masculine bravado of other Tam authority figures (that's despite his intimidating physique, but it's by no means an implausible characterisation). He humbly submits to the instructions and the brutality of the 'Dom' who for his own part is pretty disinterested, as is evident in the picture I have chosen, where he's watching TV. There's a companion picture in which the Policeman's pecs are even more stretched by the weight but his anguish is ignored by the Dom who is now casually working his way through the racing results and several cans of beer.

This is a more recent work and the drawing of the two characters is nicely done. Tam uses the same technique we discussed before:- two images (barely connected) plus a blank background (which you can see he has taken pains to create, if you look closely). The effect is even more marked in the other picture but it's not as pretty as this one. However, it's obvious in this example that Tam is deliberately trying to create a sense of time passing and of the characters existing separately within their shared story. It brings out the idea of the torture being a personal trial for the Policeman, proceeding independently of the torturer, but still under his control. 

 It's difficult to express this in words but you can see something similar in the imagery by 'Roped Studs' of the model Cam (below).

 

Cam – photo courtesy of Roped Guys

  Cam is tied to a table with a row of pegs across his chest which produce a particularly spectacular effect when he aches his head backwards. In the clip he simply strains against the ropes or changes position to ease the discomfort, occasionally grunting or expelling his breath in frustration and pain. It's quite different to the usual manic struggling and creates a powerful sense of bondage restraint being a slow-burning torture with the prisoner left to face it alone. 

That, I think, is what Tam is trying to do.

14 Stokes Punishment (Slapped in the Face)

'Stoke's Punishment' is one of Tam's longest stories and in the course of 200 odd pictures the Navy Officer is pretty much continuously beaten by a disaffected member of his crew and his henchmen. Having first been softened up with fists and kicking, he is stripped down to his underwear (augmented with sexy uniform bits in Tam's usual fashion) before being confronted with this viciously wielded strap. Targeting the face when the rest of the body is so invitingly available is very unexpected. This is a highly original image, a sort of masculine equivalent of the bitch slap and invokes much the same reaction of surprised shock - in both the character on the page

 - and the viewer too, if you are anything like me. 

15 Stokes Punishment (Topped and Tailed)

Stoke's torment continues on a Tagame-esque course with a concrete block strung between his nipples and a large dildo simultaneously inserted into his ass. The dildo is held in place by straps embellished with evil spikes that pierce the buttocks when drawn tight. Stoke's manly fortitude in the face of this barrage of pain is conveyed by a stiffly erect posture and Tam's succinct and earthy dialogue. His tell-tale, dripping cock, however, goes unremarked. Tam doesn't usually indulge in multiple simultaneous tortures and I must say I normally prefer the simple approach, but it makes for a spectacular image.

Stoke's character – and his tenderised buttocks - are about to be tested further by the appearance on the scene of his fuck-buddy from the ship, a junior rating who will cane his spiked ass in an attempt to convince the kidnapper that he too has a grudge against Stoke. The Lieutenant's angry dismay at this apparent betrayal is a nice twist to the story.

16 Stokes Punishment (The Climax)

Sadly (or happily for us perhaps!), the would-be rescuer's deception is spotted by the kidnappers, Stoke's cane pain is all in vain and the boyfriend himself ends up gagged with Stoke's dildo, presumably spikes and all – uumm. He looks on in amazement as Stokes's flogging continues to a spectacular, spouting climax. Much to my chagrin, Tam shows the crucial vinegar lash (above) in a separate picture to the resulting fountain, but nevertheless this marriage of sex and pain is memorable and I'm sure you can imagine it!

Tam is a great reviser of his own work. I have several versions of this story collected over the years and not all of them include this picture or it's spurting companion. Collecting Tam's work is not without it's challenges! Variants are proliferated by his practice of cleaning up pictures and splitting up multi-sketch pages (which also affects numbering of course). He also revises pictures with patches of electronic shading sometimes and the dialogue, which is handwritten in originals, appears typed in other versions, sometimes with altered wording to clarify or enhance the story. 

For nerds like me it's a fascinating world to explore.

17 Got Yah! (Kneed in the Groin)

It's back to basics for my last two examples. I don't know which story this comes from, it seems to show a routine Driving Licence check going slightly awry. It seems to sum up much of Tam's work, a violent revolt against authority and power, which I'm sure many if not all of my readers will totally 'get'. (Interestingly my word processor suggested completing this sentence as “get-em-off” – but I leave that up to you!) In his uniform, the moustached policeman does seem to have acquired an air of pomposity and arrogance while the assailant manages to be both tough looking and cute, although he's not so cute that he doesn't know the basics of street fighting.

While clothing usually plays a key part in Tam's story-telling, he sometimes seems undecided about whether his characters are dressed or not and this is quite a nice example. Fabric becomes ethereal, clinging to the body and necklines fade away (and trouser waistbands in other pictures, like 09 above). 

Is this a representation of multiple points in time? I jest!

18 Stoke's Punishment (On your feet lieutenant!)

My final image is another expression of contempt for authority. It's from Stoke's Punishment but could equally have come from almost any one of Tam's stories. Unlike modern day porn stars, Lt Stoke doesn't eagerly gobble up the urine but turns his head away in distaste. The beauty of Tam's work is that victims show realistic reactions to their abuse, they wince when struck (14), they concentrate and tense when enduring pain (13), they become tearful when it all gets too much and too unfair (10). It often is unfair, but as we all know only too well, life is unfair. And it's nice to dump it back on someone else sometimes. And as the characters themselves come to realise, there's always an orgasm to compensate.

I would happily have produced several more articles on Tam, I haven't even mentioned his Fantasy/Sci-Fi themes which notably feature a transparent 'milking globe' enclosing the male organs and impaling the tip with a delivery tube. I should also have praised his championing of the erotic attractions of the older man, his ability to make age-lined faces and receding hairlines look good. Perhaps another time.

I suppose Tam's work primarily appeals to men of a certain age and with British backgrounds, but his underlying messages, often speaking the unspeakable, are universal and bravely delivered (somewhat un-Britishly) in uncompromising and direct terms – much like his men fight – but without resorting to shockingly repulsive extremes. His technique is not seductive but quirky and interesting and if it doesn't totally scale the artistic heights it certainly reaches erotic regions that other artists can only dream of. In any case, like Tagame, it's designed to tell a story, not hang on a wall to be admired, but nevertheless I find plenty to admire in his work.

Several Tam sites have come and gone over the years, both on Yahoo and Google Groups and his latest base seems to be at Tams Art blog

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tam (part 1)

01 Tam - Sex Slavers (MP abducted)

Tam is a British artist who usually depicts uniformed, authority figures being abducted, beaten up, humiliated and worse. A typical victim is the MP (Military Police) Sergeant with a moustache and wearing British army battledress from the 1950-60s. My first sample from the story 'Sex Slavers' shows one such NCO* being carried off after being stunned and tied up by professional kidnappers.

(*NCO = non-commissioned officer i.e. Sergeants and Corporals promoted from the ranks.)

02 Tam - Breaking Corporal North (The Set Up)

This uniform had some attractive, erotic styling which Tam captures nicely in this sketch which sets the scene for the Corporal North story. The top is a short jacket with patch pockets on the chest, shoulder epaulettes and the usual badges and signifiers of rank all of which enhance the upper body shape. The jacket is paired with high waisted trousers worn with a chunky, distinctive belt which pulls in the waist and accentuates both the upper body and most notably, the shape of the backside – soldiers used to alter them to get a snugger fit. The trouser bottoms are tucked into gaiters which makes the legs look chunky. 

03 Tam – Cock Inn Encounter (MP is Stripped)

A casual pick-up in a bar leads to an unexpected confrontation in this picture. Tam's targeted NCO's are always forced to strip to their under-shorts (which can scarcely contain their excited man-bits) and made to wear with them key elements of the uniform - the cap, the belt and in this case the MP armbands, which in the normal world transform them from ordinary soldiers into policemen. The under-shorts are a genuine design which looked just as sexy on the right man as Tam's pictures suggest (I speak from experience)!

These images have a strong link with the post-war (WW2) era of National Service* in Britain when the abundance of off-duty, military personnel on the streets gave rise to a golden age of casual sexual encounters - probably not like this though! It also spawned the photographic imagery of Royale studio which like Tam featured models wearing 'erotically reconstructed' uniforms (click on GIU/Royale label at foot of this post for more examples). Royale photos usually showed regular soldiers being bullied and punished by their NCO superiors but Tam's stories and pictures show the squaddies taking their revenge for all the harsh discipline, unfair punishments, missed promotions and other petty jealousies.

When I first saw images like these it pressed all the buttons for me, a memorable crystallisation of my own fantasies, so Tam's work has always had a special place in my affections. The combination of normally unseen underwear with the outward symbols of macho job roles plus the idea of grown men forced to dress up like dolls, to become tempting sex objects still seems so sexy to me. I suppose Luger's cowboys and Etienne's 'Cadets' plough a similar furrow, but Tam's more mature physiques, their immobilisation by bondage, and the element of compulsion raises the erotic temperature considerably. Much as I enjoy the sexual appeal of American sailors, Cops and Cowboys, being able to fantasise over a British Soldier is something special. I have explored such imagery myself with Squaddie Steve

(*National Service = 2 years of compulsory military service for all men on reaching 18 years of age. Many men found the discipline hard to handle and learned to hate their NCO's, bullying did occur but wasn't commonplace)

 04 Tam - Breaking Corp North (Beaten Up)

Corporal North here is the object of one such vendetta (see image 2 for the lead-in). The physical beating up of restrained captives with fists and feet is a significant part of Tam's work and it marks him apart from most other fetish artists who gravitate to more ritualised, less intimate forms of punishment. Jotto and Kalabro spring to mind as exceptions.

The NCO's in these tales are characterised as arrogant, nasty, physically powerful, very manly and mentally strong in a way that's a little hard to understand these days. In short, eminently worthy of being beaten up and broken. They nearly always wear neat, full moustaches which were symbolic of adult manliness in the 1950's. In the British Army they were the preserve of officers and senior NCO's, ordinary soldiers were expected to be clean-shaven. Tam obviously likes them as an expression of masculinity, but here they also signify rank, power and privilege. (Tagame's preference for moustaches, by comparison, probably derives from the 1980's 'clone' era, he is too young b.1964 to remember the post war years, when Japan was demilitarised in any case).

05 Tam - Cops Colour Book (Captured Cop Tortured)

Tam tells stories in pictures and this example is from Cops Colour Book, an early work with a deceptive title that matches the naïve style. This example shows some more of the brutal street-style punishments that flow from Tam's pencil and this time the victim is a British Policeman who has tried to detain two ruffians up to no good. The apparently simple drawing style is actually quite successful at depicting some fairly complex body action and despite the absence of spectacular angled viewpoints, the venomous nature of this attack jumps out at you. This cartoony story is understandably popular with Tam enthusiasts, there's some interesting psychology going on here and the subversive ideas expressed speak louder than the artistry.

Tam doesn't use the sophisticated, comic design style of Tagame, Fillion and other modern day artists (who use multiple interlocking frames per page), but something more like the 'Kake' format of Tom of Finland with a single picture per page. You will find examples of Tam's work with several sketches on a page (like the one above in fact) but they are not formally framed and integrated into one design and he often breaks them up into separate images for the final book, presumably to make them easier to read. Tam's stories are usually longer than the Kake series running to hundreds of pictures in some epic cases.

06 Tam - Cops Colour Book (The Villains Fall Out)

There are also links to Tom of a stylistic nature in Tam's early work and some elements of Cops Colour Book are actually redrawn versions of Tom images, including the fight scene above which you may recognise (above right). With a couple of minor alterations, Tam's rather less polished version manages to create a sense of immediacy and serious combat which isn't there in Tom's original. 

07 Tam – Whipping of a Captured Paratrooper 

 

This picture of a captured British Paratrooper stripped and whipped down South America way is a marvellous example of Tam's very personal take on erotic styling, his kitbag of sexy ingredients. The texture of those flimsy under-shorts comes out particularly well in this image. The power plays are typically Tam too. The Paratrooper badge incorporated into the belt buckle tells us that this is a crack soldier from an elite Regiment and therefore especially prized as a captive – by the same token, he is doubly humiliated - by capture itself and with the degrading mockery of his uniform forming part of his punishment. The background tree detail is a rare luxury with Tam, who in his eagerness to tell the story and focus on the erotic appeal of the suffering captive, usually leaves out backgrounds (or else they are lost during the cleaning up process).

In this later picture Tam has developed his own more angular style, his faces sometimes look a bit like Matt's – see also for example the second image in this article. His shading technique here with fuzzy, parallel lines is very confident and rather classy, but you can still see Tom's heritage in the sensuality of the skin toning and those mammoth pecs with their gleaming nipple discs - which must outshine the para's boots!

08 Tam – Sex Slavers (Ringing the Cop's Tits)

The sensual style of the paratrooper whipping above is a conventional way of expressing the erotic element in S&M pictures, but Tam goes further here as a kidnapper in 'Sex Slavers' inserts rings through the captive cop's nipples. Despite his muffled grunts of pain it hardly seems like a punishment since the two men's groins are pushing together and the cop is leaking profusely over his tormentor's trousers. In Tam's stories the captives usual end up wanting the abuse, which is just as well, but this piercing and ringing of the restrained policeman's nipples is not just about inflicting pain, but the symbolic exercise of control over his body, going beyond mere humiliation. The cop's erotic response registers his susceptibility to this sort of control and his suitability for enslavement. His captor is enjoying this discovery and the sexual moment – perhaps a little too much for his colleague's liking.

I particularly like the drawing of the two henchmen here, their treatment is quite different to the idealised, cop 'hero' figure, being slightly scuffy, more earthy and real. Something similar happens in Tom's later work where the highly stylised Kake character is juxtaposed with more normal-looking men and I will return to this in my article on Tom.

This image has no background detail at all and the high level of contrast creates an austere, flat look. Much of Tam's work looks like this. It looks like the subtleties of the original drawing have been lost which means that multi-figure compositions have to work harder to retain their coherence and avoid the appearance of being assembled poses (the third man's eyes are working miracles here pulling things together). This unusual technique has it's advantages though, once you get used to the look, and I will expand on this in Part 2 of this article.

More on Tam in Part 2 here

Meanwhile check out his work at Tams Art blog

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Takeuchi

Another Japanese artist who I only know from a group of images which depict a selection of mildly kinky encounters of which the bound for sex image above is probably the most significant for this series. These pictures originally included substantial Japanese texts which some misguided soul has edited out. If you search for the artist and add the words gay art you should find the full version of this one.

 I prefer this image with it's sexy, shiny leotard and elements of embarrassment and control from the minder behind. Oh that we had the explanatory text! Presumably it's not a wife swapping party but if the 'wives' were all like this, well I don't mind if I do! I believe the cropping of the actual pictures is down to the artist not any third party. There was a vogue for this sort of thing in the 1980's magazines but the explicit subject matter suggests a later date.

For my money the chunky athlete in speedos watching some leather guys at it steals this scene too. I love the way that Japanese artists revel erotica with sporting references, like the rugby story in the last article.

These are marvellous, stylish images and I wish I could find more work by this artist 

(can anyone help out?)

For previous articles in this series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Takeshi Matsu

As a Japanese comic book artist Takeshi Matsu poses similar access problems (language, culture etc) as those I discussed in my first Tagame article, but to a lesser degree because his stories are far simpler and less nuanced and English translations are plentiful. They are considerably less challenging in content than Tagame, but still have some interesting fetish elements.

In 'Prowler' a would-be burglar is surprised and overpowered by the man who lives in the property. This scene setting picture (below, left) is similar to, but rather less sexily imagined than Tom of Finland's treatment of the same subject (below, right).

     Left: Takeshi's Burglar in 'Prowler '                                                Right: Tom of Finland's Burglar

 If you compare the characterisations of the two pairs of men, the balance of power and likely outcome is deliciously ambiguous in Tom's picture, but seems more cut and dried in Takeshi's. His occupant of the house even has a handy piece of binding cord to hand (or to mouth I should say!)

Takeshi Matsu - Scene from 'Prowler'

The burglar gets tied up and in this frame, his trousers are removed on the pretext of searching for ID (yeah, right!). Thereafter one thing leads to another in a pretty conventional manner (with the odd twist). This image depicting the burglar's unexpected (only by him!) de-bagging is nicely composed, note the suggestive positioning of the hand. Clever details like the muscle vest, the burglar's everyday underwear and the trainers tell us a lot about the two men and give just enough erotic flavour to launch the reader's libido.

His characters are depicted using the distinctive style of the genre with spiky hair, small snub noses, highlighted cheeks and crudely drawn (if expressive) mouths. It's all drawn with lines that seem rather thin (and occasionally indistinct). I have tended to think of it as a specifically Japanese style but it's actually not dissimilar to the way Ajay drew 'Harry Chess' back in the 80's. It's not particularly sensuous or masculine in feel and the expressionistic, lean drawing technique means details and faces, like the burglar's here, can be quite hard to 'read' sometimes.

 Takeshi Matsu - Kane from  'Rugby Dormitory 204'

This image shows what Takeshi can do with faces when he wants to (compare with Tagame's portrait of 'Ohashi' from my recent article Tagame Part 4). His treatment of light and shadow is marvellously simple, there's no gradation of the shading, just 4 separate 'colours' in blocks - and look how cleverly the hair is done with essentially just 2 colours. This slightly daft story relates to 'size' rivalry between rugby players in a room share. 'Kane' a handsome and resolutely straight beast discovers to his surprise that he has an admirer keen to help him realise his full potential. (The two main bubbles in the picture are reflective 'thinks' rather than speech).

 Takeshi Matsu - Secret Tape, bondage scene

There are more rugby players fooling around in 'Secret Tape' and the fall guy for their practical joke (shown here beginning to have doubts) is a splendid, erotically-idealised rendering of the fuller figure we often associate with that sport. The economy of line here is impressive but it's quality makes me yearn for a more realistic representation of the face. At least the blindfold (unusually) helps normalise to the image.

  Takeshi Matsu - Secret Tape, self sucking scene

You can pretty much get the gist of the whole plot from this image and understand the 'Secret Tape' of the title. The ability of this chunky man to perform self-fellatio (and with his arms tied behind too) is a less than believable proposition (as the onlooker's expression confirms) and yet it's still convincing visually. Quite an achievement, one that compares favourably with some of Tagame's efforts to show contorted chunky bodies. I like the drawing of the feet in this picture which captures that baby-like cuteness which big men sometimes exhibit. It's a terrific submissive pose and fetish fans would find it easy to visualise this and the previous image forming part of a much darker storyline.

Takeshi Matsu - Courier Spirit, gag loosening

In 'Courier Spirit', an old man on his final delivery job before retirement and his young protégé, are both taken captive by brigands who want to present their leader with a plaything. Their blood-curling threat to cut the captives' arm and leg tendons so they can never, ever, escape, is worthy of Tagame, but in Takeshi's world it remains just a threat. The efforts of the friends to free each other's bonds using only their mouths provides a nice, erotic interlude of awkward, bodily closeness that embarrasses the younger man - and arouses him.

Takeshi Matsu - Courier Spirit, wrist rope loosening

The old man is not as supple as he once was and in order to reach and chew through the ropes tying his comrade's wrists, he needs to assume a rather indelicate position (above). This intimacy and the grave peril they are in eventually provokes a declaration of admiration and love from the younger man. Afterwards they discover the brigands have been poisoned by eating salted roe stolen from their load which is not yet ready for consumption. I had a dig at Tagame for unconvincing representation (agewise) of Ohashi the student in Pride and I must say that in this piece Takeshi's 'old man' looks pretty good for his supposed age. Even allowing for shorter life expectancy in olden times. Must be something to do with the outdoor life – or the salt roe!

Despite their dramatic plot lines, Takeshi's stories have a gentle, romantic flavour and a wry humour which is quite pleasing. Like Tagame, his plots are generously flavoured and spiced by the character's conservative attitudes to sex, and their strong sense of propriety, privacy and embarrassment, but it's all a lot milder. Men trying their best to be 'M-E-N' but not always succeeding. I'm not much enamoured of the generic drawing style he uses, but his technical ability is undoubtedly of a high order even if the requirements of comic book production allow us only glimpses of it.

It's easy to find this artists work via search engines but I've not been able to locate a site I can positively identify as belonging to Takeshi Matsu, if any of you can help me with a link please use the comments facility.

For previous articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 4)

Part 4 – The Artistry of Tagame

In this final part of my review of Tagame's work I want to pick out some pictures by him that I particularly like.

 

Tagame - Student Ohashi from 'Pride', Vol 1

'Pride' contains some of Tagame's best drawing and story-telling and this image depicts Ohashi, the handsome but selfish college student who is destined to fall under the control of one of his Professors. In this drawing, Tagame beautifully captures the young man's youthful arrogance and charisma – and his vulnerability too.

 

Tagame - Ohashi Performs in a Telephone Box (from Pride, Vol 1)

This is one of the highlights of Ohashi's early 'apprenticeship'. His dick has been locked in a chastity cage for weeks and is going crazy with sexual frustration. In order to obtain the combination that will release his dick, he has to go to public telephone box and do what the Professor tells him over the phone – which is to strip naked and use a dildo on himself. I've never quite understood Japanese artists' obsession with dildos and vibrators, it seems to be one of those cultural things, but I do love the phone handset cradled under the student's chin in this picture, it's an authentic little detail that completely explains what is going on – even to someone who has never known the old-style phone boxes.

Tagame produces a gloriously muscular and hairy physique for the young man although it isn't quite what you'd expect of a student. In this picture he has finally been given the information to remove the cage and you get real sense of his pent-up passion. In a significant act of submission, he continues to obey the Professor's commands after release. Unfortunately his mentor has alerted a policeman to 'discover' his indecent performance and arrest him.

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Tagame - Ohashi Spanked in Pride Vol 3

Spanking is not common in Tagame's stories and where it does occur, the scenes are often fleeting and depicted as close-up details of buttocks with impact symbols*. This is the only 'full view' example I have found. Tagame seems to use spanking a man as a short, sharp, painful punishment, rather than a way of humiliating him like a child. It's surprising considering how much he uses humiliation techniques, I don't know whether the reason is cultural or personal taste. Whatever the case, this good, old fashioned OTK spanking, is a good picture and once again it's from 'Pride'. It fits neatly into this story of a Student drawn into an increasingly dependant relationship with the Professor who becomes his S&M mentor.

Essentially the 'Pride' story is a variation on the universal theme of 'self-loathing becomes self-discovery' which is an indispensable, justifying ingredient in S&M porn of course. To coin a phrase, “You like that don't you?” (no response required, so don't worry about the gag). However, that's not to mock Tagame's working of the theme which is masterly. What makes 'Pride' so fascinating is the extended 'grooming' of the student through an inventive series of increasingly humiliating and painful tests and trials. The Professor exploits the student's attraction to him and uses manipulative, psychological techniques to keep him coming back for more. I'm not sure it's very scientific – or very nice, but it's an arresting read.

*Incidentally, gags seem to be totally absent!

 

Tagame  - The Lovers Kiss in 'Sensei '

This invocation of love from 'Sensei' is challenging taboos in a quite different area. There's a pleasing Yin-Yang flavour about the coupling and the contrasting characterisation of the two lovers. Despite their nudity, it's pretty non-explicit which allows the romantic attraction to surface and it is no less erotic for that. The swirling background patterning conveys the dreamy intensity of it all, an effect which is amplified by the lack of body boundary lines on the left as though emotions and body are one. This could easily be an unintended by-product of editing in the background, but it's a fortuitous one. Very nice.

 Tagame - Funayama Handcuffed (from 'The Trophy')

Back to business with a scene from 'The Trophy' where Officer Funayama (fresh from a whipping) is being readied for the electro-torture which I showed in Part 2. I have spoken of my preference for uncomplicated bondage before and this certainly meets that specification. It's actually quite hard to depict handcuffs realistically in drawings because they are not bulky objects and the real thing is quite unobtrusive when it's being worn, but this rendering works well. The sound-effects don't get in the way too much and are quite helpful in interpreting the captive's otherwise ambiguous expression. The discontinuous background pattern suggests his intense emotion and agitation. As in the previous picture, Tagame's use of this technique adds powerful layers of meaning to his imagery and shines through when the images are detached from their natural comic book habitat.

Tagame - Ginjiro's Itching (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

I have devoted a substantial part of this review to 'Pride' but I also should mention 'Shirogane no Hana' (The Silver Flower) which is considered by many to be Tagame's masterpiece. It's another 3-Volume work and I have never seen a full translation, but it concerns Ginjiro, a professional man sold into prostitution to pay his debts. In this scene his ass has been lubricated with a potion containing irritants and the only way he can scratch it is to use the dildo attached to his heel. This fiendish torment greatly intrigued me when I first came across it, not least for the way it manipulates a proud, virile man and the embarrassing contortions the trick forces him to perform. I believe there is a classic female illustration involving the same device, by using it Tagame is accentuating the man's humiliation.

Tagame - Ginjiro Recaptured (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The enslaved man manages to escape and is sheltered by his fiancée, but he is betrayed, recaptured and returned to his master, who in this scene ponders how to punish him. No prizes for guessing what the cigarette is for, but that's just the start! The wealthy, cultured, degenerate villain is something of a cliché but his casual power over the virile Ginjiro is still delicious. 

There is something about suspension of a captive, like meat on a rack, that adds an extra dimension of threat and vulnerability and his futile struggling betrays his fear after a brief taste of freedom and normality. Tagame has taken the trouble to get the captive's marvellous, chunky physique looking right and you can almost feel his body straining against the tight, creaking ropes. The uncomplicated composition mitigates the confusion introduced by upside-down imagery.

Tagame - Ginjiro Hard at Work (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The brothel master's clothing in the previous picture reflects the historical setting used for the story. Tagame also references traditional Japanese customs and social graces in it and at one point dresses the reluctant prostitute as a Geisha.

 This is a double-edged humiliation that not only questions his masculinity (it's not so long ago that dressing as a woman was equally despised in the West) – it also mocks his inadequate, male coarseness compared to famously cultured and refined Geisha women. It spells out the lowly position he now occupies, inferior to both men and women and this image shows him hard at work in that role.

(another dildo, somewhat ambiguous in character)

Also in evidence here is the lesser known custom of tattooing genitals. It has been carried out on Ginjiro as another (permanent this time) feminising humiliation. Indeed the tattoo, chosen at random by him - a flower attracting butterflies - is both feminine and subtly erotic . The flower (symbolically a source of pollen) is tattooed on the head of his penis and it is from this that the name of the story derives.

Tagame - Sterilising the Tattoo (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The selection of the tattoo and it's application forms an extended passage in the 'Shirogana' story and is very erotic. Ginjiro does not realise fully what is happening until he is tied down completely helpless and had his penis and balls tightly bound up, so that they stay plump and firm for the painting on of the design and the actual needle work. Being Tagame, it's not enough to simply dress the tattoo wound afterwards, instead it is sterilised in a steaming bath via a spectacular - and very painful – crab style suspension (above).

Tagame -  Ginjiro Fitted with Bells (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 3)

This image takes the feminising embellishment a step further as Ginjiro discovers he has now been fitted with little bells which tinkle as he moves. I'm unsure of the cultural background to this but the humiliation of being subjected to such attachments is self-evident. In the West bells like this relate to childhood, merriment and clowning. Tagame uses penis bells in other stories to betray the involuntary arousal of the victims as they are being abused and to draw attention to them in public places. This scene is low key by comparison, but a sweet example of the casual exercise of control, calculated to degrade and dismay the victim.

Tagame - Medical Restraint and Operation

I have a weakness for Medical scenarios. The Doctor-Patient power relationship and the S&M-like procedures involved in surgery give great scope for bondage fantasy (and I explored this in my own 'S&M Clinic' story). I have no idea what story if any this image comes from and the procedure it depicts looks decidedly fanciful, but the terror of the strapped-down patient in the face of multiple invasion by faceless attendants is compelling. Compare with Rex's slightly more authentic treatment of the subject.

(Also click on the 'medical' label below for more medical bondage)

Tagame - Undergoing Treatment (from Kranke)

It seems fitting to conclude this ramble through Tagame's work with a blockbuster moment, also on a medical theme, from 'Kranke'. This story has none of the subtlety of Pride or the humanity of 'SIPOW'. Simply, a young jogger is abducted following a faked road accident and deliberately incapacitated by surgery while he is unconscious. He is then subjected to a series of drugs and pseudo-medical procedures designed to reduce him to a mindless puppet, capable only of sex.

Tagame crams in every imaginable pseudo-medical, body-invasive torture along the way (perhaps a little too many to really take in properly). The spectacular climax for the 'patient' (above) is a 10 hour ordeal alone with the painful body attachments and machines which continuously medicate, arouse and drain him. His torment does not end there, three months later even his teeth have been removed and he is facing the amputation of all his limbs. The villain's motivation in all this is a mystery, but he does not simply carry out his fiendish plan, he takes the trouble to explain it to the victim, who it seems has been chosen entirely at random, in fact he looks the picture of bemused innocence.

This bleak storyline is not unique in Tagame's output, none of them make for easy reading and yet they have a elemental fascination that is both puzzling and disturbing. The wreaking of terrible revenge for great injustice suffered is not unknown in Japanese art, (the film 'Confessions' is a recent example) and the custom of Hara-Kiri has similar roots in cultural norms relating to offence, shame and honour. So while it's tempting to equate these stories to Hollywood Horror films involving the random, mass slaughter of teenagers (films, by the way, whose obvious, sexual sub-text is apparently invisible to the porn censorship lobby), it's probably reasonable to assume that a Japanese reader of Tagame's story will infer the existence of a significant (if unexplained) motivation.

I see in this piece a revenge which springs from a deep anger at a terrible injustice. Many of us will empathise with that to some degree. If the revenge here mirrors the original offence, we see a young, undeserving victim, the paralysis of his free will, an unidentified but heartless oppressor, randomly inflicted pain, control of sexuality, gradual destruction of identity. I leave it to you to imagine the injustice I have in mind, perhaps each of us would choose a different one, maybe that is the beauty and point of the piece.

The size of this article is testament to my regard for this artist but I have hardly scratched the surface of Tagame's work. I'm not totally familiar with his recent stuff so there may be some significant omissions. Even so there are many more amazing images that are just too subversive to share in this blog. His inventive and thoughtful approach to S&M is probably unparalleled today so it is a real shame that there are so many obstacles to enjoying his work.

His choice of character types is wide, from very young to very mature, but he really seems to come into his own when drawing chunky, muscular, hairy, 30-ish men with luxuriant moustaches and eyebrows – not everyone's cup of tea perhaps and a tad out of fashion right now.

Tagame's uncompromising challenging of taboos will probably test most of us too at some point. I can only say that any fetish art enthusiast owes it to himself to explore Tagame's work and dig into the stories beyond the isolated images like those in this article. Don't be put off by the stuff you don't like, just pass it by, you won't be disappointed.

See more of his work at Tagame's website

Some his stories are available, in English, in book form at sites like Amazon.

This is the natural way to enjoy his work and it's not terribly expensive. 

Earlier parts of this article;- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

 

For previous articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below