Context: Homosexuality in Japanese visual art '' print by
Utagawa Kuniyoshi ( 1834) Representations of
homosexuality in Japanese visual art have a history and context dating to the
Muromachi period, as seen in and
shunga (erotic
woodblock prints originating in the
Edo period). While these works ostensibly depict male-male sexual relations, artist and historian
Gengoroh Tagame questions whether the historic practices of
sodomy and
pederasty represented in these works can be considered analogous to modern conceptions of gay identity, and thus part of the artistic tradition to which contemporary gay erotic Japanese art belongs. Tagame instead considers
musha-e (warrior's pictures) to be a more direct forerunner to art styles common in gay manga: in contrast to pederastic
shunga, both gay manga and
musha-e portray masculine men with developed muscles and thick body hair, often in cruel or violent scenarios.
1960s: Early erotic magazines While erotic artwork was a major component of the earliest gay Japanese periodicals, notably the 1952 private circulation magazine , contemporary gay erotic art as a medium in Japan traces its origins to the
fetish magazine . Published from 1960 to 1974,
Fuzokukitan included gay content alongside straight and
lesbian content, as well as articles on homosexuality. Early gay erotic artists
Tatsuji Okawa,
Sanshi Funayama,
Go Mishima and
Go Hirano made their debuts in the magazine, alongside unauthorized reproductions of illustrations by gay Western artists such as
George Quaintance and
Tom of Finland.
Bara, the first Japanese magazine aimed specifically at a gay male audience, was published in 1964 as a members only, small circulation magazine. Gay erotic art of this period typically depicts what Tagame describes as "darkly spiritual male beauty", emphasizing a sense of sorrow and
sentimentalism. Men from "the traditional
homosocial world of Japan", such as
samurai and
yakuza, appear frequently as subjects. The homoerotic photography of
Tamotsu Yatō and
Kuro Haga served as a significant influence on the initial wave of gay artists that emerged in the 1960s, with very little Western influence seen in these early works.
1970s and 1980s: Genre commercialization Erotic magazines aimed specifically at a gay male audience proliferated in the 1970s – first
Barazoku in 1971, followed by and in 1974 – leading to the decline of general fetish magazines like
Fuzokukitan. These new magazines featured gay manga as part of their editorial material; notable early serializations include by Yamaguchi Masaji () in
Barazoku, and
Tough Guy () and
Make Up (メイクアップ) by Kaidō Jin () in
Adon. The commercial success of these magazines resulted in the creation of
spin off publications that focused on photography and illustrations:
Barazoku launched , while
Sabu launched and
Sabu Special. Most notable among these spin-offs was
Barakomi (), a 1986 supplemental issue of
Barazoku that was the first magazine to publish gay manga exclusively. As magazines declined, new types of gay art emerged from contexts entirely separate from gay magazines. Pamphlets and flyers for gay events and education campaigns in Japan began to feature
vector artwork that, while not overtly pornographic, drew on gay manga in style and form.
Art exhibitions also became an area of expression, as new venues and spaces emerged that welcomed the display of gay erotic artwork. With a lack of viable major print alternatives, many gay manga artists began to self-publish their works as
dōjinshi (self-published comics). Gay manga artists like
Gai Mizuki emerged as prolific creators of
dōjinshi, creating
slash-inspired
derivative works based on media properties such as
Attack on Titan and
Fate/Zero. Beginning in the 2000s, gay manga began to attract an international audience through the circulation of
pirated and
scanlated artwork on the internet. A scanlation of
Kuso Miso Technique, a 1987 one-shot by
Junichi Yamakawa originally published in
Bara-Komi, became infamous during this period as an
internet meme.
Bara emerged among this international audience as a term to distinguish gay erotic art created by gay men for a gay male audience from
yaoi, or gay erotic art created by and for women (see
Comparison to yaoi below). The circulation of these works online led to the formation of an international
bara fandom, and the emergence of non-Japanese gay erotic artists who began to draw in a "
bara style" that was influenced by Japanese erotic art. This period also saw the rise in popularity of
kemono (, "beastmen", or
anthropomorphic characters analogous to the Western
furry subculture) as subjects in gay manga, a trend Tagame attributes to appearances by this type of character in video games and anime. ==Concepts and themes==