Goh Mishima (1924-1988) is the Japanese equivalent to Tom of Finland. They were almost exact contemporaries, and Mishima’s work was obviously influenced by the art of the European artist.
From the catalogue of a Goh Mishima exhibition at the Akio Nagasawa Gallery in Tokyo in 2021: “His main theme is the masculinity of young Japanese men (Nippon Danji), which includes short haircuts, fundoshi — i.e., traditional Japanese male undergarments — traditional tattoos called irezumi, and Japanese swords.”
The swords imply seppuku, a.k.a. harakiri, ritualistic suicide. Fortunately, Mandate was spared the gore. It is said that Yukio Mishima, the Japanese novelist who committed seppuku in 1970, gave the artist, who was born Tsuyoshi Yoshida, his stage name of Goh Mishima.