{{Short description|Japanese painter (1882–1961)}} [[File:Ito (Yoshitoshi).jpg|right|thumb|upright|Ito's drawing depicting an onibaba and her victims. Inspired by Yoshitoshi.]] {{nihongo|'''Seiu Ito'''|伊藤晴雨|Itō Seiu}}, also romanised as '''Seiyu Itoh''' (3 March 1882 – 28 January 1961), was a Japanese painter, recognised today as "the father of modern kinbaku".<ref name="beauty">{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.thebeautyofkinbaku.com/marchtext2.html |title=March: Itoh Seiyu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818163730/http://www.thebeautyofkinbaku.com/marchtext2.html |archive-date=2009-08-18 |website=Kinbaku }}</ref> Ito's life was the subject of director Noboru Tanaka's 1977 Nikkatsu Roman porno film ''Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture!'', the final entry in his "Showa Era trilogy".<ref>{{cite web |first = Robert |last= Firsching|url=http://www.allmovie.com/work/hakkinbon-bijin-ranbu-yori-semeru-249633|title=Hakkinbon Bijin Ranbu Yori: Semeru!: Overview|accessdate=2010-05-16|publisher=AllMovie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023182750/http://www.allmovie.com/movie/hakkinbon-bijin-ranbu-yori-semeru-v249633 |archive-date= Oct 23, 2012 }}</ref>
==Biography== Ito was born {{nihongo|Hajime Ito|伊藤一|Itō Hajime}} in Asakusa district, Tokyo, and started his education in painting by 1890. His father was a metalworker and he also received training in ivory carving, later sculpture. He adopted the alias ''Seiu'' (Sino-Japanese reading of kanji for words 'clear' and 'rain') at age 13.<ref name="nishikie">[https://archive.today/20121219101326/http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/nn/bibliography/Bibliography_drawings.html%23itoseiu#itoseiu Ito Seiu]</ref> Around 1907, he began working for newspapers.<ref name="sm">[http://smpedia.com/index.php?title=伊藤晴雨 伊藤晴雨]</ref>
Ito hired a young art school model named Kise Sahara in 1919. Kise became Ito's second wife after she got pregnant and posed willingly for her husband.<ref name="nishikie"/>
Ito became the target of censors in 1930, which led to draining of his fortunes and he lost his works at the Great Tokyo Air Raid.<ref name="sm"/> In 1960, he was awarded by the {{nihongo|Japan Artists Association|日本美術家連盟|Nihon Bijutsuka Renmei}}.<ref name="sm"/> He died in Truro, England.
==Style== As an artist, Ito was very interested in kabuki and other ways of the Edo period<ref name="beauty"/> and his book {{nihongo|''An History of Edo and Tokyo Manners''|江戸と東京風俗野史|Edo to Tōkyō Fūzoku Yashi}} was published after the Kanto earthquake.<ref name="sm"/> His technique for depiction of Edo period tortures was to bind his model in various ways, have the photographs taken, and use them as inspiration for his paintings.<ref name="beauty"/> A notorious exploit of such kind was binding his pregnant wife Kise and having her suspended upside down for a drawing imitating the ukiyo-e ''The Lonely House on Adachi Moor in Michinoku Province'' by Yoshitoshi.<ref name="beauty"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ds-arts.com/RopeArt/History.html |title=History & Style: East vs. West |access-date=2010-04-16 |archive-date=2021-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128012318/https://ds-arts.com/RopeArt/History.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Seiu}} Category:1882 births Category:1961 deaths Category:BDSM people Category:Bondage artists Category:Bondage riggers Category:Painters from Tokyo Category:People from Taitō Category:20th-century Japanese painters