Yukio Mishima, (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the Tatenokai, an unarmed civilian militia.
Mishima
is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century.
He was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, but the award went
to his countryman and benefactor Yasunari Kawabata.
His works include the novels Confessions of a
Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and the autobiographical essay "Sun and
Steel" Mishima's work is
characterized by "its luxurious vocabulary and decadent metaphors, its
fusion of traditional Japanese and modern Western literary styles, and its
obsessive assertions of the unity of beauty, eroticism and death".
Mishima's
political activities were controversial, and he remains a controversial figure
in modern Japan Ideologically, Mishima was a right-winger who extolled the
traditional culture and spirit of Japan. He opposed what he saw as western-style
materialism, along with Japan's postwar democracy, globalism, and communism,
worrying that by embracing these ideas the Japanese people would lose their
"national essence" and their distinctive cultural heritage (Shinto
and Yamato-damashii) to become a "rootless" people.
Mishima
formed the Tatenokai for the avowed purpose of restoring sacredness and dignity
to the Emperor of Japan. On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of his
militia entered a military base in central Tokyo, took its commandant hostage,
and tried to inspire the Japan Self-Defense Forces to rise up and overthrow
Japan's 1947 Constitution, which he called "a constitution of
defeat". When his attempt failed, he committed seppuku.
Mishima’s jisei, (A jisei or death poem)
The sheaths of swords rattle
As after years of endurance
Brave men set out
To tread upon the first frost of the year.
………………….
A small night storm blows
Saying ‘falling is the essence of a flower’