Go Mishima's Book of Pictures of Young Men [Mishima Gō gashū Wakamono 三島剛画集 若者], 1972.
Portfolio of Twenty-One of Twenty-Four (21 of 24) Offset Lithographs, accompanied by a cover page, colophon, and the original portfolio case.
Published by Daini Shobō (distributor of Barazoku Magazine).

Each: 16 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (41.9 x 29.5 cm)

Notes:
Tsuyoshi Yoshida assumed his pseudonym “Go Mishima” after his friend, the infamous Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), who committed ritual suicide publicly after a failed attempted coup. Yukio Mishima, being a renowned poet as well as a nationalist political leader, had encouraged Yoshida to pursue his erotic illustrations depicting traditionally masculine Japanese men, in line with Mishima's unique traditionalist-nationalistic views. A key figure in the earliest gay centered publications in Japan in the 1970s, Go Mishima's artwork filled the early issues of Barazoku and eventually Sabu, both publications becoming pioneers in gay male aesthetics in Japan.

Yoshida, and his contemporaries Go Hirano and Sadao Hasegawa, came to define the aesthetic of Japanese homoerotic art and future gay manga, by depicting masculine figures with thick body hair, toned musculature and cropped haircuts. Yoshida in particular focused on yakuza-styled figures with heavy tattooing (a culturally taboo practice in modern Japan due to the association with organized crime).

Tears and surface damage across cardboard case; Each print has pin marks on all four corners of the sheet; Corner crease present on the lower right of each sheet; Some prints have tears or surface damage outside of the image; inquire for the full condition report.

For further condition details or additional images, please contact info@vallots.com

Property of a Private California Collection.