Comic strip by Youji Muku.
Youji Muku was the editor of the Japanese erotic magazine Uramado. Late in his career, at age 40, he stated drawing various comics about S&M for this publication, which have gained prominence among fans of Japanese erotica or bondage in general.
Early life and career
Youji Muku was born in 1928 in Osaka. As an adult he was active as a railroad worker and salesman. As an artist he was completely self-taught.
Erotic drawings
In 1956 a new erotic magazine hit the press in Japan - Uramado (roughly translated as "Rear Window"). It was launched by publisher and author Suma Toshiyuki (also known as Minomaru Kou and Kita Reiko), who passed his editorship to Nureki Chumeo in 1961. It focused exclusively on the erotic kink S&M and bondage and would run until 1965. Like most Japanese erotic magazines in the 1950s and 1960s, it presented itself as a "scientific" magazine "about sex" to avoid prosecutions for obscenity. In reality, though, most people who bought it weren't academics and weren't as concerned with "observation" as much as "masturbation".
The thing that set Uramado apart from other magazines was the huge amount of artwork, both by Western artists (Gene Bilbrew, Ruiz, Eric Stanton, John Willie, Jim of Switzerland) as well as Japanese ones. Along with Harukawa Namio and Ishizuka Yoshiyuki, Muku was one of their house cartoonists. He drew many titillating black-and-white drawings and comics under pseudonyms like "Toyonaka Yumeo", "Hunt", "JBD", "Youji", "Jito", "Di Napoli" and "Giovanni". Many of his pictures and imagery were directly based on photographs. Back in the day most pulp magazines couldn't afford quality photography or were unable to reproduce its fine imagery. Having artists redraw and color these photos was the best compensation. They often looked much better than the actual photographs. Muku often collaborated with photographer Sugiura Norio.
In the 1970s Muku drew comics for magazines like Satan Comics and Joy Comics. He also wrote erotic stories for Uramado and SM Select.
Death
Youji Muku died on 30 or 31 July 2001 at age 73, leaving behind an impressive oeuvre. A selection of his artwork has been collected in the book 'Jyo' ('Rope').
Erotic art by Youji Muku.