Oniroku Dan (1931–2011)

This collection of four translated "BDSM Tales from the Classic Master" was put out by a publisher specialising in Manga graphic novels in 2008, and seems to have sunk pretty much without trace. I only came across it by chance, while searching for information on Japanese 'pink' cinema online.

It is quite an amazing piece of writing. On the basis of the few reviews I've seen, I think it's important to point out that the book should be classified as erotica only because of its subject matter: a series of stories from a life spent in the writing and production of Japanese bondage magazines and films. Though there is plenty of kinky sex, it is not, emphatically not, a series of pleasing erotic fantasies. It is also a very long way from the consensual, almost courtly, rituals of Western BDSM culture.

These are accounts of jealous, angry, miserable people doing perverse, humiliating and sometimes quite horrible things to each other. It's emotionally raw and intense, and at times harrowing, particularly in the account of the writer's affair with, and subsequent brutal betrayal of, a male performer of female roles in traditional Japanese theatre. The stories feature some real, named individuals, notably in the biographical portrait of a female star of bondage films that ends the collection, and are supposedly based on fact. If so, the author has been utterly unsparing of himself. The results are not pretty, but are, I feel, of significant literary quality.

There are some slight issues with translation. What I assume was regional dialect in the original Japanese is given as a kind of generic American gangster movie slang that doesn't really ring true for me. This approach takes a little getting used to, but it is worth the effort for the insight it gives into the sadomasochism and fetishism of another culture in another time. Essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the subject.… (meer)

Lost in translation is the precise elucidation for this far-fetched erotica. Oniroku, a veteran in porn fails to mesmerize with domesticated anecdotes and lame sexual exploits.

"We would always end up in boring old missionary position, with me thrusting away monotonously. There was hardly ever an emotional exchange. [...] I couldn't complain too much, since the sex served the purpose of relieving a fair amount of tension. However, she would often orgasm first, and after that she found it annoying to have me pumping and sweating away on top of her. "Enough, already. Get off of me," she'd say, turning her face away in disgust."

Thus you see NEVER transform, especially a remarkable BDSM plot from its maiden language. The product is irksome, juvenile failing to justify the celebrated Japanese S&M master.
… (meer)