![]() ![]() For more than twenty years, Hasegawa was a principal illustrator for BARAZOKU, Japan's preeminent publication for gay men. Bunkagu Ito, editor in chief of BARAZOKU Magazine. The following anecdote is based on impressions of the Artist, by Mr. ![]() The mysteries surrounding the death of both men remain deeply rooted in centuries of cultural traditions, philosophies often confusing to the Western mind. It is possible that Sadao Hasegawa having also felt that his art had reached the point of perfection, chose to end his own life in a manner paralleling that of Yukio Mishima. The famed author, Yukio Mishima, having felt he had reached the point of physical perfection and not wishing to grow old, ended his life by committing harikiri (self-disembowelment) in November 1970. A series of orderly clues, including a hand written note from Hasegawa, asking forgiveness for his life, and a portrait of author Yukio Mishima, drawn on a rock, by Hasegawa, were displayed on a table. Sadly, on November 20, 1999, the body of the gifted artist was discovered in a Bangkok hotel room - Sadao Hasegawa had hung himself to death.Īccording to Hasegawa's brother, the police who entered the hotel room of the 54 year old artist, reported that the suicide was premeditated and resembled that of a Samurai warrior. His art, deeply induced by traditional religious and ceremonial rituals borrowed from neighboring Asian cultures, is an art also incited by ideals and beliefs indoctrinated during his life as a Buddhist. His compelling works often depict the perfect male at the height of sexual pleasure. According to Toshie Urabe, who spoke with Hasegawa's brother, the only clues left at the scene of his death were a small piece of rope (he had asphixiated himself using rope tied around a door knob) and a small stone on which he had painted a portrait of Yukio Mishima (Hasegawa's death preceded the anniversary of Mishima's own suicide).He is touted among collectors as Japan's greatest homoerotic artist. Hasegawa's brother had cleaned out the artist's apartment and thrown out all of his works, unaware of their value, but rescued them after receiving a letter posted from Bangkok by Hasegawa asking that his works be sold at the Naruyama Gallery following his death. These works would come to be exhibited at a memorial exhibition, along with a final series of starkly disembodied and erect phalluses unlike anything else Hasegawa ever created. ![]() ![]() Jovial and witty as usual, he showed Goss photos of his latest paintings - a series depicting nude, Hindu-inspired male deities. A few days before his death, Hasegawa had lunch with friend and American artist, John C. ![]()
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January 2023
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