Comic strip by Youji Muku.
Youji Muku was the editor of the Japanese erotic magazine Uramado. At age 40, he started 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 worked 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 or Kita Reiko), who in 1961 passed his editorship to Nureki Chumeo. The title focused exclusively on the S&M and bondage and ran until 1965. Like most Japanese erotic magazines of the 1950s and 1960s, Uramado presented itself as a "scientific magazine about sex" to avoid prosecutions for obscenity. In reality, though, most people who bought it weren't academics.
The thing that set Uramado apart from other magazines was the huge amount of artwork it had, created by both Western artists (Gene Bilbrew, Ruiz, Eric Stanton, John Willie, Jim of Switzerland) and Japanese ones. Along with Harukawa Namio and Ishizuka Yoshiyuki, Youji Muku was one of the 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 collaborated regularly with the 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.