Sumo still

This sumo shot was taken in the days before they became elephant sized.

 

Sumo Movie

                                           

 This movie clip of sumo wrestlers has a watermark, but some of you may find it interesting.

Makanura

This photo, produced by a Russian studio, shows a rare Asian strong man, a Mr. Makanura.

 

Tamotsu Yato Day

Tamotsu Yato was a brilliant Japanese photographer who managed to produce some very homoerotic work in a culture where showing penises is generally not allowed.  (We will see two exceptions later in the set, so stay with me.)  We start with an image where we get just a hint of package.

 

Nobou Takemoto I

Tamotsu Yato took promotional photos of Japanese bodybuilders early in his career, both in the studio and in competition settings.  I'll post some of the latter in a future series, but today I will focus that part of the series on four photos he made of Nobou Takemoto, who was Mr. Japan 1970.  We start with a great derriere shot that shows Mr. Takemoto's stocky build.

 

Mystery

The hairy legs immediately grab our attention

and leave us wishing for a better view of his crotch.

 

Festival

Mr. Yato didn't just do studio work and bodybuilder promos.  He also photographed 

 Japanese cultural and religious festivals were nude and semi-nude men were numerous.

 

Nobou Takemoto II

Full frontal nudes are rare (and illegal) in modern Japanese photography, but Tamotsu Yato 

took two of Nobou Takemoto.  As far as I know, they were not published in Japan.

 

Unconventional

This unconventional pose is one of my favorites in today's series.

 

Yukio Mishima

Tamotsu Yato took several photos of the hypermasculine Yukio Mishima, a Japanes nationalist 

who committed suicide when his attempt to revive Japanes militarism failed.

 

1972

This striking 1972 photo was shot just a year before Tamotsu Yato's death.

 

Nobou Takemoto III

Our third photo of Nobou Takemoto is cropped in a way

that really accentuates the upper body.

 

Light

Tamotsu Yato pushed the light to the limit here, but he did it well.

 

Sturdy

I love the sturdy build of the model here.

 

Nobou Takemoto IV - A Repeat

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Sanshi Funayama

Sanshi Funayama produced this image of a likely Japanese farm boy.  I say that because on several 

trips to Japan in the 90s and 00s, Bear and I attended some Japanese bear events and noticed 

that these types of men were getting a lot of favorable attention from the home crowd.  

Our host told us that the square head and shoulders look was highly prized

 as it was associated with wholesome men from farming villages.

 

Asian Quartet

I'd give anything to know the story behind these front and back photos of four Asian men from 1905.

 

Japanese I

This is the first of two tattooed Japanese men in today's series.

This one looks like mid-20th Century.

 

Japanese II

This is supposed to be an original hand colored print from about 1890.

 

Asian Men

Asian men is our theme for the day,

and we start with a nicely build young man.