FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Vice Blog

Manga Artist Jiraiya Is a Virtuoso of Gay Japanese Art

Manga artist Jiraiya is a virtuoso of gay Japanese art, known for his photorealistic illustrations of gachimuchi men. Now, Jiraiya is collaborating with Opening Ceremony and Japenese sex toy brand Tenga, which means soon you’ll be able to both wear and...

Manga artist Jiraiya is a virtuoso of gay Japanese art, known for his photorealistic illustrations of gachimuchi men (read: hot, beefcake, male pin-ups). Now, Jiraiya is collaborating with Opening Ceremony and Japenese sex toy brand Tenga, which means soon you’ll be able to both wear and fuck Jiraiya’s beefcake babes.

Jiraiya (a pseudonym, based on a ninja from traditional Japanese culture who uses shapeshifting magic to morph into a gigantic toad), starting working as a commercial illustrator in his 20s. However, after finding few opportunities is the commercial world to make the art he was truly passionate about--aka images of big, muscley dudes being hella gay with each other--in 2008, Jiraiya showed his work to the seminal Japanese gay mag, G-Men. This was to be the start of a long-lasting love affair. Between 2001-2006, Jiraiya’s illustrations graced every cover of G-Men, each celebrating the stocky, muscular male form.

Advertisement

Jiraiya’s comic books are perennial favorites in the Japanese gay community and tell tales of a happy gay life. Most of Jiraiya’s hyperreal drawings feature strong men, who tend to be Asian (but not always), either wrestling, being sporty, lifting weights, playing with their dogs, or just generally being buff and macho. But despire their robust manliess, Jiraiya’s dudes  tend to look very sweet and harmless, often smiling at the viewer in various states of undress--like big, cuddly, smooth bears, basically.

But Jiraiya can get hardcore, too, and has created many well-known “bara manga” illustrations. Bara is a specific type of manga that focuses on male same-sex love and romantisism, and can get pretty violent and exploitative (as anyone who’s seen any manga porn can probably imagine), and tends to feature untold waterfalls of jizz shooting and dripping from everywhere and everything.

Pictured here, Tenga’s double-hole cup sex toy for men features Jiraiya’s archetypal erotic images. Tenga (whose mission statement is "bringing sexuality to the mainstream”) has a history of collaborating with gay artists on their pleasure toys--you may remember their line of boys’ toys from 2012 that came cased in Keith Haring prints.

Find out more about Tenga here and their collaboration with Opening Ceremony here (it has a hole on both sides, ideal for for lovebirds who want to have fun at the same time!)