Sanshi Funayama (船山三四, Funayama Sanshi, c. 1920s – c. 1999) was a Japanese homoerotic fetish artist. Funayama, along with Go Mishima, Tatsuji Okawa, and Go Hirano, is regarded by artist and historian Gengoroh Tagame as a central figure in the first wave of contemporary gay artists in Japan.[1]

Sanshi Funayama
Born1920s (estimated)
Died1999 (estimated)
NationalityJapanese
Known forErotic illustration

Biography

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Funayama's artwork first appeared in the early 1960s in Fuzokukitan [ja], a fetish magazine that published gay content alongside straight and lesbian content. He later contributed to Bara, a private circulation gay magazine, and Barazoku, the first commercially published gay magazine in Japan.[1]

From the 1970s until the late 1990s, Funayama disappeared from public life, and did not publish or circulate art for over three decades.[2] In 1999, he resurfaced to submit two illustrations to the magazine G-men, with a promise to submit additional works. No further works were submitted by Funayama which, combined with his presumed advanced age, led his contemporaries to assume he had died.[3]

Little is known about Funayama's private life. Married with a daughter,[3] Funayama worked as a police officer; he drew while on night shift, and kept his illustrations in his work locker.[2] He was an acquaintance of the writer Yukio Mishima, who would visit Funayama while in Kansai.[2]

Style and Impact

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Funayama is noted for his depictions of "macho-type" men, often in extreme scenarios involving BDSM, torture, and graphic violence. Police officers appear frequently in his work.[2]

Funayama is a favorite artist of Gengoroh Tagame, who has praised Funayama's works as "one of the peaks in gay erotic art."[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Tagame, Gengoroh, ed. (December 19, 2003). Gay Erotic Art in Japan Vol. 1: Artists From the Time of the Birth of Gay Magazines. Pot Publishing.
  2. ^ a b c d Kolbeins, Graham (June 29, 2013). "Illustrations by Sanshi Funayama". Gay Manga!. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Koymasky, Matt. "Death at his Post". Homoerotic Art Museum. Retrieved November 23, 2018.