Mishima, who took his name from his friend, the author Yukio Mishima, was one of the earliest and most influential, post-war, Japanese homoerotic artists. He began his career painting doll faces and contributing illustrations to magazines. His work went on to appear in magazines such as the S & M focused Fuzokukitan (in the 1960s), Barazoku and Sabu, both in the 1970s. His work can be characterized by the absence of background imagery, the stillness of his subject's faces and the overall Kabuki-like, tranquil nature of his compositions. "Mishima was the first artist to present the image of gay Japanese macho" (Gay Erotic Art in Japan p. 170)
