is a novel by Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima

was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...

, translated into English in 1968. The name kinjiki is a euphemism for homosexuality. The kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

 禁 means "forbidden" and 色 in this case means "erotic love", although it can also mean "color". The word "kinjiki" also means colors which were forbidden to be worn by people of various ranks in the Japanese court. It describes a marriage of a gay man to a young woman. Like Mishima's earlier novel Confessions of a Mask

Confessions of a Mask

is Japanese author Yukio Mishima's first novel. Published in 1948, it launched him to national fame though he was only in his early twenties.The main protagonist is referred to in the story as Kochan. Being raised during Japan’s era of right-wing militarism and Imperialism, he struggles from a very...

, it is generally considered somewhat autobiographical

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

.

Major themes

There are many elements Mishima touches on. Two involving the main characters, Yuichi and Shunsuke, are:

• Homosexuality: Yuichi's pursuit of his homosexual nature is a driving force of the narrative. Shunsuke's contempt for women leads him to admire Yuichi, whom he feels is incapable of loving women.
• Misogyny: Both Yuichi and Shunsuke have contempt for women, and this drives their behavior.

The most basic thematic element is the clash of opposites:

• Beauty and Ugliness: Yuichi is considered the pinnacle of beauty, while Shunsuke considers himself to be extremely ugly.
• Youth and Aging: The young and old are played against each other. The youthful Yuichi and elderly Shunsuke are at odds, though they are conspirators. The young Kyoko and the mature Mrs. Kaburagi are played against each other for Yuichi's affection.
• Life and Death: Shunsuke is obsessed with death and feels it is more powerful than life.
• Double Lives/Alter-Egos: Yuichi's entrance into the world of Tokyo's homosexuals causes him problems, as he must hide his nature from his wife and the world at large.

Characters

• Yuichi "Yuchan" Minami: Protagonist of the story. Yuichi marries and then must come to terms with his homosexuality.
• Shunsuké Hinoki: An elderly author. He is a misogynist, and makes a deal with Yuichi to get revenge on women who have wronged him.
• Yasuko Minami (Segawa): Wife of Yuichi. She has a history with Shunsuké.
• Mrs. Kaburagi: A former lover of Shunsuké and blackmailer. She is well known for her marital infidelities.
• Nobutaka Kaburagi: A former count and partner in crime to his wife. He played the cuckold
  Cuckold
  Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
  
   to help his wife blackmail Shunsuké.
• Kyoko Hodaka: A young married woman who falls in love with Yuichi.
• Rudy: Owner of The Rudon, a public house patronized primarily by homosexual clients. Rudy is a foreigner living in Japan.

Adaptations

The first butoh

Butoh

is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...

 piece was an adaptation of Kinjiki by Tatsumi Hijikata

Tatsumi Hijikata

was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of a genre of dance performance art called Butoh. By the late 1960s, he had begun to develop this dance form, which is highly choreographed with stylized gestures drawn from his childhood memories of his northern Japan home...

, which premiered in 1959.

The title of the novel was used by David Sylvian

David Sylvian

David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...

 and Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto

After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...

 as the name of their theme song

Forbidden Colours

"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...

 for the film soundtrack of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, a film set in a Japanese POW camp in Java which includes exploration of homoerotic themes.