Toshiyuki Suma
Suma (須磨) family name, Toshiyuki (利之) first name, (1920-1992)
Toshiyuki Suma played an important role in the formation of post-war SM culture. Suma did editorial work for early SM magazines such as Kitan Club, Uramado, SM Collector, Abu Hunter and SM Kitan. He is also famous for his SM illustrations and left behind a large body of work as a writer and kinbakushi.
Activities
Illustrator, Editor, Writer, Kinbakushi.
Alternate Names
須磨利之(Japanese), Reiko Kita, Ko Minomura, Kyoji Minota, Eijiro Takenaka[1], Kikuzo Ima[2], etc..
Biography
Since it is believed that Suma's autobiographies include some invented anecdotes, the biographical data below could contain inaccuracies.
1920: Born in Kyoto to a family that ran a printing business out of their home[3][※ 1].
1932(c): As a child, he encounters Seiu Ito's torment art in the book Documentation on Abnormal Customs, which he found in his grandfather's book collection[※ 1][※ 2].
1930s: Leaves the Kyoto School of Fine Arts at mid term and became the live-in apprentice to the Japanese painter Baisen Kobayashi[4][※ 1][※ 2].
1939: May. Volunteers for the Navy in Maizuru, Kyoto[※ 3].
1944: Mar 18. Suma's ship, the Hokuriku Maru, sinks in the Bashi Channel[5].
1945(c): Suma is discharged from the Navy and wanders across Japan and was employed at various jobs before becoming an editorial reporter for the evening newspaper Central Kyoto News.[※ 2].
1947: Summer. Kiyoshi Sugiyama, who worked at the Central Kyoto News, takes Suma to the editorial office of Kitan Club (Akebono Shobo), which gave Suma a chance to begin drawing illustrations for Kitan Club[6]. There were other irregularly published pulp magazines besides Kitan Club, and Suma drew illustrations for Jouen Shin-syu and others as well.[7][※ 2].
1950: The name "Reiko Kita" and "Toshiyuki Suma" begins to appear on Kitan Club[8].
1951: Dec. Begins full participation at Kitan Club[8].
1952: Kitan Club changes from a size of A5 to B5 and promoted its "abnormal" content.
1953: Resigns from Kitan Club and published the private fanzine called "Tanoshimi Soushi"[※ 2][9]. Reiko Kita's art appears in the December issue of Fuzoku Soushi.
1954: Travels to Tokyo in the autumn of 1954[※ 4][10]. He meets Seiu Ito in person for the first time.[11][※ 1][※ 2]
1955: With the cancellation of Fuzoku Soushi, Suma begins working for Amatoria magazine (published by Kubo Shoten), and he launched Kappa the predecessor of Uramado.[※ 2][12].
1956: Founds Uramado magazine, published through Kubo Shoten[※ 5].
1959: Intesifies his association with Oniroku Dan around this time[Citation needed].
1960: Uramado changes from edge binding to inner binding and championed the "abnormal magazine."
1961: Hiroshi Urado participates in Uramado's editing room.
1962: Passes the editorial baton to Chimuo Nureki, who becomes Uramado's new editor-in-chief. Works on editing Light and the girls' magazine Lyric Literature[※ 2].
1970: Suma and Chimuo Nureki leave Kubo Shoten and founded Abu Production, where Suma was an executive head. They published Abment which terminated in Sep. 1970.
1970: Involved in the foundation of SM Select.
1971: Involved in the foundation of SM Collector.
1970s: Suffers a cerebral aneurysm; received treatment at Spring Sanatorium in Shichi-zawa, Atsuki city, Kanawaga[※ 5].
1989: Syoichi Yoshimura makes the documentary video "Jouen - The world of Ko Minomura". Director Haruki Yukimura. Appearances by Chimuo Nureki, Oniroku Dan, Tetsuro Sakuragi, Go Arisue, Yoji Muku and Syoichi Yoshimura.
1992: Passes away at the age of 72.
Interesting points
Suma's nomme de plume of "Minomura Ko" was taken from the Malaysian expression, "A little rest."[※ 5].
It seems that Suma was commissioned by Edogawa Ranpo to paint a boy's picture.[※ 4]
There is a tape recording of war anecdotes[13] exchanged between Terayama Shuuji and Suma Toshiyuki.[※ 4]
Toshiyuki Suma was a boxing fan. One day, Suma took Chimuo Nureki to a bar called Tako Beya (Tako Room, which means cramped quarter) and told him, "This is a bar run by Kappa Seisaku (Hachiro Tako), a former domestic boxing champion."[※ 6]
Suma first came into contact with Seiu Ito when Ito wrote to him at Kitan Club and offered his guidance for SM illustrations.
In the February 1951 issue of Kitan Club, Suma publishes illustrations under the names Reiko Kita, Toshiyuki Suma, Ko Minomura, Kyoji Minota, and Kikuzo all in the same issue.
Selected Works
- A Great Star Has Fallen (SM Collector, Nov. 1980. Memorial dedication to Seiu Ito)
- Spring Rope Series[14] (Monthly serial in SM Collector, Oct. 1978 - July 1979)
- My Rope's Personal History (Monthly serial in SM Collector, June - Dec. 1981)
- Ko Minomura's Obscene Record
- Pacific War SM Ballad
- Biographies of a Bound Prostitute (Reprint[※ 7]) (Monthly serial in S&M Sniper, May 1993 - Jan. 1995)
- Rope Companion Record (Serialized in Kinbiken News, April-May 1990. March - June 1991)
- Utsukushiki Imashime (1953) Bondage: Ko Minomura. Photography: Tetsuzo Tsukamoto.
Notes
- ↑ Painted in the style of Eitaro Takenaka. Years later, Suma was visited by Eitaro Takenaka's son, the critic Tsutomu Takenaka.
- ↑ Spelled 今幾久藏 and 幾久造. Pronunciation not confirmed.
- ↑ After his father's death, Suma's uncle, Kanbee Suma, became the head of the family.
- ↑ in a place called the Saganosho Babachou Tenryuji in the Ukyo ward of Kyoto.
- ↑ Suma's account could be nothing but a fictional story, but a merchant transport ship called the Hokuriku Maru actually existed. The Hokuriku Maru was commissioned by the Navy in 1941 and served in the sea battles of Guadalcanal, Midway and the attack on Menado in 1942. In 1944, the Hokuriku Maru left Singapore loaded with 6700 tons bauxite, 600 tons of oil, 256 soldiers and headed toward Moji. On March 18th at 1:14 a.m., while in the China Sea roughly 300km southeast of Hong Kong, an ammunition explosion in the second hold caused the first hold to explode, which ignited and detonated the oil tanks in the third hold, reaching the engine room. Everything was lost in five minutes. Eight soldiers, 25 guards and 55 sailors perished.
- ↑ There's a conflict in stories between whether Kitan Club was founded in 1946 or in October of 1947. A visit will be made this summer to try to confirm the latter.
- ↑ Shizuo Yagi, who used the alias Mineko Tsuzuki, took over as editor of Glamorous New Collection.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Kyoji Minota" in SMpedia
- ↑ "Tanoshimi Soushi" which earned about twenty fans and printed some 20-50 copies. The magazine continued for eight issues.
- ↑ Seiu Ito and Torirou Miki are considered to have encouraged Suma to go to Tokyo.
- ↑ Seiu Ito and Reiko Kita had exchanged written correspondence for a number of years before this. At first, Itou believed that Reiko Kita was actually a female artist. Moreover, it's said that until the end of his life, Itou pretended that Suma was Reiko Kita's husband.
- ↑ The magazine changed its name due to a complaint from Koubunsha, which published Kappa Books.
- ↑ "At the time he was a prisoner of war, a bunch of enemy army nurses came along and performed "ejaculation derby" with the japanese military prisoners, and at the end strong-chinned 'Utamaro'." However, Suma's account needs verification.
- ↑ The title varied with each issue, such as "Erotic Rope Abnormal Play," "Erotic Rope's Preferred Setting," etc..
References (※)
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ko Minomura. "A Great Star Has Fallen." SM Collector Nov. 1980: 96-111. Print.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Akio, Fuji, Masami Akita, and Chimuo Nureki. History of Japanese Kinbaku Photography 1. Tokyo: Jiyukokuminsha, 1996. Print.
- ↑ Shimokawa, Koushi. The Paradise Trade - A History of the Essential Nature of Post War Accounts. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1998. Print.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dohmu Kitahara. Tokyo Fetish Club. Tokyo: San'ichi Shobo, 1996. Print
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Nureki, Chimuo. The Artists of Kitan Club. Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2004. Print.
- ↑ Nureki, Chimuo. Nureki Chimuo's Chat Theater #97. 2009. Web. 19 Oct 2009.
- ↑ The original is in Byakuya Shobo's Spark.
