
after a failed coup d'état. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature
, Mishima was internationally famous and is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century, whose avant-garde
work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change.
Mishima was born in the Yotsuya district of Tokyo (now part of Shinjuku
).
According to Genshin|Eshin's "Essentials of Salvation," the Ten Pleasures are but a drop in the ocean when compared to the joys of the Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land.
By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive the Truth. And first we must know that each of the petals has eighty-four thousand veins and that each vein gives eighty-four thousand lights.
Just let matters slide. How much better to accept each sweet drop of the honey that was Time, than to stoop to the vulgarity latent in every decision. However grave the matter at hand might be, if one neglected it for long enough, the act of neglect itself would begin to affect the situation, and someone else would emerge as an ally. Such was Count Ayakura's version of political theory.
All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence. For forty-five years I struggled to resolve this dilemma by writing plays and novels. The more I wrote, the more I realized mere words were not enough. So I found another form of expression.
I want to make a poem of my life.
Actually the action called a kiss represented nothing more for me than some place where my spirit could seek shelter.
after a failed coup d'état. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature
, Mishima was internationally famous and is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century, whose avant-garde
work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change.
Early life
Mishima was born in the Yotsuya district of Tokyo (now part of Shinjuku). His father was Azusa Hiraoka, a government official, and his mother, Shizue, was the daughter of a school principal in Tokyo. His paternal grandparents were Jotarō and Natsuko Hiraoka. He had a younger sister named Mitsuko, who died of typhus
, and a younger brother named Chiyuki.
Mishima's early childhood was dominated by the shadow of his grandmother, Natsu, who took the boy and separated him from his immediate family for several years. Natsu was the illegitimate granddaughter of Matsudaira Yoritaka
, the daimyo
of Shishido in Hitachi Province
, and had been raised in the household of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito
; she maintained considerable aristocratic
pretensions even after marrying Mishima's grandfather, a bureaucrat who had made his fortune in the newly opened colonial frontier and who rose to become Governor-General of Karafuto. She was also prone to violence and morbid outbursts, which are occasionally alluded to in Mishima's works. It is to Natsu that some biographers have traced Mishima's fascination with death. Natsu did not allow Mishima to venture into the sunlight, to engage in any kind of sport or to play with other boys; he spent much of his time alone or with female cousins and their dolls.
Mishima returned to his immediate family at 12. His father, a man with a taste for military discipline, employed such tactics as holding the young boy up to the side of a speeding train; he also raided Mishima's room for evidence of an "effeminate" interest in literature and often ripped up the boy's manuscripts.
Schooling and early works
At age six, Mishima enrolled in the elite Peers School(Gakushuin 学習院).
At 12, Mishima began to write his first stories. He read voraciously the works of Oscar Wilde
, Rainer Maria Rilke
and numerous classic Japanese authors. After six years at school, he became the youngest member of the editorial board in its literary society. Mishima was attracted to the works of Michizō Tachihara, which in turn created an appreciation for the classical
form of the waka
. Mishima's first published works included waka poetry, before he turned his attention to prose.
He was invited to write a prose
short story for the Peers' School literary magazine
and submitted Hanazakari no Mori (花ざかりの森 The Forest in Full Bloom), a story in which the narrator describes the feeling that his ancestors somehow still live within him. Mishima’s teachers were so impressed with the work that they recommended it for the prestigious literary magazine, Bungei-Bunka (文芸文化 Literary Culture). The story, which makes use of the metaphor
s and aphorism
s which later became his trademarks, was published in book form in 1944, albeit in a limited fashion (4,000 copies) because of the wartime shortage of paper. In order to protect him from a possible backlash from his schoolmates, his teachers coined the pen-name "Yukio Mishima".
Mishima's story Tabako (煙草 The Cigarette), published in 1946, describes some of the scorn and bullying he faced at school when he later confessed to members of the school's rugby union
club that he belonged to the literary society. This trauma
also provided material for the later story Shi o Kaku Shōnen (詩を書く少年 The Boy Who Wrote Poetry) in 1954.
Mishima received a draft
notice for the Imperial Japanese Army
during World War II
. At the time of his medical check up, he had a cold and spontaneously lied to the army doctor about having symptoms of tuberculosis
; he was thus declared unfit for service.
Although his father had forbidden him to write any further stories, Mishima continued to write secretly every night, supported and protected by his mother, who was always the first to read a new story. Attending lectures during the day and writing at night, Mishima graduated from the University of Tokyo
in 1947. He obtained a position as an official in the government's Finance Ministry and was set up for a promising career.
However, Mishima had exhausted himself so much that his father agreed to his resigning from his position during his first year in order to devote his time to writing.
Post-war literature
Mishima wrote novels, popular serial novellas, short stories and literary essays, as well as highly acclaimed plays for the Kabukitheater and modern versions of traditional Noh
drama.
Mishima began the short story Misaki nite no Monogatari (岬にての物語 A Story at the Cape) in 1945, and continued to work on it through the end of World War II
. In January 1946, he visited famed writer Yasunari Kawabata
in Kamakura
, taking with him the manuscripts for Chūsei (中世 The Middle Ages) and Tabako, and asking for Kawabata’s advice and assistance. In June 1946, per Kawabata's recommendations, Tabako was published in the new literary magazine Ningen (人間 Humanity).
Also in 1946, Mishima began his first novel, Tōzoku (盗賊 Thieves), a story about two young members of the aristocracy drawn towards suicide. It was published in 1948, placing Mishima in the ranks of the Second Generation of Postwar Writers. He followed with Confessions of a Mask
, a semi-autobiographical
account of a young latent homosexual who must hide behind a mask in order to fit into society. The novel was extremely successful and made Mishima a celebrity at the age of 24. Around 1949, Mishima published a series of essays in Kindai Bungaku on Yasunari Kawabata
, for whom he had always had a deep appreciation.
His writing gained him international celebrity and a sizable following in Europe and the United States, as many of his most famous works were translated into English. Mishima traveled extensively; in 1952 he visited Greece
, which had fascinated him since childhood. Elements from his visit appear in Shiosai (潮騒 Sound of the Waves), which was published in 1954, and which drew inspiration from the Greek legend
of Daphnis and Chloe
.
Mishima made use of contemporary events in many of his works. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
in 1956 is a fictionalization of the burning of the famous temple in Kyoto
. Utage no Ato (After the Banquet), published in 1960, so closely followed the events surrounding politician Hachirō Arita
's campaign to become governor of Tokyo that Mishima was sued for invasion of privacy
. In 1962, Mishima's most avant-garde
work, Utsukushii Hoshi (Beautiful Star), which at times comes close to science fiction, was published to mixed critical response.
Mishima was among those considered for the Nobel Prize for Literature three times and was the darling of many foreign publications. However, in 1968 his early mentor Kawabata won the Nobel Prize and Mishima realized that the chances of it being given to another Japanese author in the near future were slim.
Acting and modelling
Mishima was also an actor, and had a starring role in Yasuzo Masumura's 1960 film, Afraid to Die. He also has had roles in films including Yukoku (1966), Black Lizard (1968) and Hitokiri (1969). He also sang the theme song for Hitokiri.
Mishima was featured as a photo model in Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses by Eikoh Hosoe
, as well as in Young Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan and OTOKO: Photo Studies of the Young Japanese Male by Tamotsu Yatō
. Donald Richie
gives a short lively account of Mishima, dressed in a loincloth and armed with a sword, posing in the snow for one of Tamotsu Yato's
photoshoots.
Private life

and his workout regimen of three sessions per week was not disrupted for the final 15 years of his life. In his 1968 essay Sun and Steel
, Mishima deplored the emphasis given by intellectuals to the mind over the body. Mishima later also became very skillful at kendō
.
Although it is known that he visited gay bar
s in Japan, Mishima's sexual orientation
annoyed his widow: she wanted that part of his life downplayed after his death. However, the writer Jiro Fukushima published a revealing homosexual correspondence between himself and the famed novelist. Soon after publication, Mishima's children successfully sued Fukushima for violating Mishima's privacy. After briefly considering a marital alliance with Michiko Shōda — who later married Crown Prince Akihito
and is now Empress Michiko — he married Yoko Sugiyama on June 11, 1958. The couple had two children, a daughter named Noriko (born June 2, 1959) and a son named Ichiro (born May 2, 1962).
In 1967, Mishima enlisted in the Ground Self Defense Force
(GSDF) and underwent basic training. A year later, he formed the Tatenokai
(Shield Society), a private army composed primarily of young students who studied martial principles and physical discipline, and swore to protect the Emperor
. Mishima trained them himself. However, under Mishima's ideology, the emperor was not necessarily the reigning Emperor, but rather the abstract essence of Japan. In Eirei no Koe (Voices of the Heroic Dead), Mishima actually denounces Emperor Hirohito
for renouncing his claim of divinity at the end of World War II.
In the last 10 years of his life, Mishima wrote several full length plays, acted in several movies and co-directed an adaptation of one of his stories, Patriotism, the Rite of Love and Death
. He also continued work on his final tetralogy
, Hōjō no Umi (Sea of Fertility), which appeared in monthly serialized format starting in September 1965.
Mishima espoused a very individual brand of nationalism towards the end of his life. He was hated by leftists, in particular for his outspoken and anachronistic commitment to bushidō
(the code of the samurai
) and by mainstream nationalists for his contention, in Bunka Bōeiron (文化防衛論 A Defense of Culture), that Hirohito should have abdicated and taken responsibility for the war dead.
Coup attempt and ritual suicide
On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of the Tatenokai, under pretext, visited the commandant of the IchigayaCamp — the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan's Self-Defense Forces
. Inside, they barricaded the office and tied the commandant to his chair. With a prepared manifesto and banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped onto the balcony to address the soldiers gathered below. His speech was intended to inspire a coup d'état restoring the powers of the emperor. He succeeded only in irritating them, and was mocked and jeered. He finished his planned speech after a few minutes, returned to the commandant's office and committed seppuku
. The customary kaishakunin
duty at the end of this ritual
had been assigned to Tatenokai member Masakatsu Morita
, but Morita was unable to properly perform the task. After several failed attempts, he allowed another Tatenokai member, Hiroyasu Koga
, to behead Mishima. Morita himself attempted to commit seppuku that day as well. When he failed, Koga once again performed the kaishakunin duty.
Another traditional element of the suicide ritual was the composition of jisei no ku (death poem
s) before their entry into the headquarters. Mishima planned his suicide meticulously for at least a year and no one outside the group of hand-picked Tatenokai members had any indication of what he was planning. His biographer, translator and former friend John Nathan
suggests that the coup attempt was only a pretext for the ritual suicide of which Mishima had long dreamed. Mishima made sure his affairs were in order and left money for the legal defense of the three surviving Tatenokai members.
Much speculation has surrounded Mishima's suicide. At the time of his death he had just completed the final book in his Sea of Fertility
tetralogy
. He was recognized as one of the most important post-war stylists of the Japanese language. Mishima wrote 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays, one libretto
, as well as one film. A large portion of this oeuvre comprises books written quickly for profit, but even if these are disregarded, a substantial body of work remains.
Awards
- Shincho Prize from Shinchosha Publishing, 1954, for The Sound of WavesThe Sound of Wavesis a novel written by celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima and published in 1954. It is a coming of age novel detailing the maturity of protagonist Shinji and his romance with Hatsue, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy ship owner Terukichi. For this book Mishima was awarded the Shincho Prize...
. - Kishida Prize for Drama from Shinchosha Publishing, 1955.
- Yomiuri PrizeYomiuri PrizeThe is a prestigious literary award in Japan. The prize was founded in 1948 by the Yomiuri Shinbun Company to help form a "cultural nation". The winner is awarded one million Japanese yen and an inkstone.-Award categories:...
from Yomiuri Newspaper Co., for best novel, 1957, The Temple of the Golden PavilionThe Temple of the Golden PavilionThe Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. It was published in 1956 and translated into English by Ivan Morris in 1959.-Plot introduction:...
. - Yomiuri Prize from Yomiuri Newspaper Co., for best drama, 1961, Toka no Kiku.
Literature
Japanese Title | English Title | Year | English translation, year | ISBN |
假面の告白 Kamen no Kokuhaku |
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... |
1948 | Meredith Weatherby Meredith Weatherby Meredith Weatherby was a Texas-born American publisher who spent a large part of his life in Japan and who is known in particular for his English translations of the literary works by Yukio Mishima... , 1958 |
|
愛の渇き Ai no Kawaki |
Thirst for Love Thirst for Love Thirst for Love is a 1950 novel by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. The word "kawaki" literally means thirst, but has a sense of parched dryness associated with it... |
1950 | Alfred H. Marks, 1969 | |
禁色 Kinjiki |
Forbidden Colors Forbidden Colors is a novel by Yukio Mishima, translated into English in 1968. The name kinjiki is a euphemism for homosexuality. The kanji 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... |
1953 | Alfred H. Marks, 1968–1974 | |
潮騷 Shiosai |
The Sound of Waves The Sound of Waves is a novel written by celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima and published in 1954. It is a coming of age novel detailing the maturity of protagonist Shinji and his romance with Hatsue, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy ship owner Terukichi. For this book Mishima was awarded the Shincho Prize... |
1954 | Meredith Weatherby Meredith Weatherby Meredith Weatherby was a Texas-born American publisher who spent a large part of his life in Japan and who is known in particular for his English translations of the literary works by Yukio Mishima... , 1956 |
|
金閣寺 Kinkaku-ji* |
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion The Temple of the Golden Pavilion The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. It was published in 1956 and translated into English by Ivan Morris in 1959.-Plot introduction:... |
1956 | Ivan Morris Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris was a British author and teacher in the field of Japanese Studies.Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage, to Ira Victor Morris and Edita Morris. He studied at Gordonstoun, before graduating from Phillips Academy... , 1959 |
|
鏡子の家 Kyōko no Ie |
Kyoko's House Kyoko's House is a 1959 novel by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.The book tells the interconnected stories of four young men who represent different facets of the author's personality... |
1959 | ||
宴のあと Utage no Ato |
After the Banquet After the Banquet After the Banquet is a novel by Yukio Mishima. It follows Kazu, a middle-age proprietress of an upscale Japanese restaurant that caters to politicians. She meets a semi-retired ambassador, Noguchi, grows to like him, and eventually marries him... |
1960 | Donald Keene Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years... , 1963 |
|
Kuro Tokage (play) |
The Black Lizard and Other Plays | 1961 | Mark Oshima, 2007 | |
午後の曳航 Gogo no Eikō |
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea , is a novel written by Yukio Mishima, published in Japanese in 1963 and translated into English by John Nathan in 1965.- Plot summary :... |
1963 | John Nathan John Nathan John Nathan is the translator of Japanese works written by celebrated authors such as Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburō Ōe. Nathan is also an Emmy-award winning producer, writer and director of many films about Japanese culture and society and American business.He studied at University of Tokyo... , 1965 |
|
絹と明察 Kinu to Meisatsu |
Silk and Insight Silk and Insight Silk and Insight was written in 1964 by Yukio Mishima. It was translated in 1998 by Hiroaki Sato as the seventh volume in The Library of Japan series, produced by the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College... |
1964 | Hiroaki Sato, 1998 | |
三熊野詣 Mikumano Mōde (short story) |
Acts of Worship | 1965 | John Bester John Bester John Bester , born and educated in England, is one of the foremost translators of modern Japanese fiction. He is a graduate of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.-Works:... , 1995 |
|
サド侯爵夫人 Sado Kōshaku Fujin (play) |
Madame de Sade Madame de Sade Madame de Sade is a 1965 play written by Yukio Mishima. It was first published in English, translated by Donald Keene by Grove Press and is currently out of print.... |
1965 | Donald Keene Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years... , 1967 |
|
憂國 Yūkoku (short story) |
Patriotism Patriotism (short story) "Patriotism" is a short story by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. It was written in 1960, first published in 1966, and translated into English the same year.... |
1966 | Geoffrey W. Sargent, 1966 | |
真夏の死 Manatsu no Shi |
Death in Midsummer and other stories Death in Midsummer and other stories Death in Midsummer and other stories is a 1966 collection of stories by Yukio Mishima that had been previously translated into English. It contains one play, Dōjōji, based on a Nō drama of that name.-Stories:... |
1966 | Edward G. Seidensticker, Ivan Morris Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris was a British author and teacher in the field of Japanese Studies.Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage, to Ira Victor Morris and Edita Morris. He studied at Gordonstoun, before graduating from Phillips Academy... , Donald Keene Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years... , Geoffrey W. Sargent, 1966 |
|
葉隠入門 Hagakure Nyūmon |
Way of the Samurai | 1967 | Kathryn Sparling, 1977 | |
わが友ヒットラー Waga Tomo Hittorā (play) |
My Friend Hitler My Friend Hitler My Friend Hitler is a 1968 play written by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. The four characters include Adolf Hitler, Gustav Krupp, Gregor Strasser and Ernst Roehm , the action is happening in 1934. The evaluations of the play include considering it to be anti-fascist as well as preaching fascism.... and Other Plays |
1968 | Hiroaki Sato, 2002 | |
太陽と鐡 Taiyō to Tetsu |
Sun and Steel Sun and Steel (essay) Sun and Steel: Art, Action and Ritual Death is a book by Yukio Mishima. It is an autobiographical essay, a memoir of the author's relationship to his body... |
1970 | John Bester John Bester John Bester , born and educated in England, is one of the foremost translators of modern Japanese fiction. He is a graduate of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.-Works:... |
|
豐饒の海 Hōjō no Umi |
The Sea of Fertility The Sea of Fertility is a tetralogy written by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. The four novels include Spring Snow , Runaway Horses , The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel . The series, which Mishima began writing in 1964 and which was his final work, is usually thought of as his masterpiece... tetralogy Tetralogy A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works.... : |
1964- 1970 |
||
I. 春の雪 Haru no Yuki |
1. Spring Snow Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Mishima did extensive research, including visits to Enshō-ji in Nara, to prepare for the novel.-Plot:... |
1968 | Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher (translator) Michael Gallagher is an author and translator of Japanese literature. His translation of Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1973, while his nonfiction work Laws of Heaven was the winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Book Award in Theology. As a Jesuit... , 1972 |
|
II. 奔馬 Honba |
2. Runaway Horses Runaway Horses is a 1969 novel by Yukio Mishima, the second in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Mishima did much research to prepare for this novel, including visiting locations recorded in the book and searching for information on the Shimpūren Rebellion .-Plot:Set between June 1932 and December 1933, it tells... |
1969 | Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher (translator) Michael Gallagher is an author and translator of Japanese literature. His translation of Yukio Mishima's Spring Snow was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1973, while his nonfiction work Laws of Heaven was the winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Book Award in Theology. As a Jesuit... , 1973 |
|
III. 曉の寺 Akatsuki no Tera |
3. The Temple of Dawn The Temple of Dawn is the third novel in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Like for the other novels in the series, Mishima traveled to various places to conduct research, including Wat Arun in Bangkok, Thailand.-Plot:... |
1970 | E. Dale Saunders E. Dale Saunders E. Dale Saunders was an American scholar of Romance languages and literature, Japanese Buddhism, classical Japanese literature, and East Asian civilization.... and Cecilia S. Seigle, 1973 |
|
IV. 天人五衰 Tennin Gosui |
4. The Decay of the Angel The Decay of the Angel is a novel by Yukio Mishima and is the fourth and last in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy.-Explanation of the title:In Buddhist scriptures, Devas are mortal angels... |
1970 | Edward Seidensticker Edward Seidensticker Edward George Seidensticker was a noted scholar and translator of Japanese literature. He was particularly known for his English version of The Tale of Genji , which is counted among the preferred modern translations... , 1974 |
|
.
Plays for classical Japanese theatre
In addition to contemporary-style plays such as Madame de Sade, Mishima wrote for two of the three genres of classical Japanese theatre: Nohand Kabuki
(as a proud Tokyoite, he would not even attend the Bunraku
puppet theatre, always associated with Osaka
and the provinces).
Though Mishima took themes, titles and characters from the Noh canon, his twists and modern settings, such as hospitals and ballrooms, startled audiences accustomed to the long-settled originals.
Donald Keene
translated Five Modern Noh Plays (Tuttle, 1981; ISBN 0-8048-1380-9). Most others remain untranslated and so lack an "official" English title; in such cases it is therefore preferable to use the rōmaji title.
Year | Japanese Title | English Title | Genre |
1950 | 邯鄲 Kantan |
Noh | |
1952 | 卒塔婆小町 Sotoba Komachi |
Komachi at the Stupa Stupa A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship.... (gravepost) |
Noh |
1954 | 鰯賣戀曳網 Iwashi Uri Koi Hikiami Iwashi Uri Koi Hikiami Iwashi Uri Koi Hikiami is a 1954 comedic Kabuki play by Yukio Mishima . It was first performed in November 1954 at the Kabukiza theatre in Tokyo, and was praised for its "refreshing originality"-Plot:... |
The Sardine Seller's Net of Love | Kabuki |
1955 | 綾の鼓 Aya no Tsuzumi Aya no Tsuzumi Aya no Tsuzumi is a Japanese Noh play by an unknown author which depicts the evil consequences of unrequited desire.-Title:... |
The Damask Drum | Noh |
1955 | 芙蓉露大内実記 Fuyō no Tsuyu Ōuchi Jikki |
The Ōuchi Clan (oversimplified/not standardised) | Kabuki |
1956 | 班女 Hanjo |
Noh | |
1956 | 葵の上 Aoi no Ue Aoi no Ue is a fictional character in The Tale of Genji . Daughter of the Minister of the Left and Genji’s first principal wife, she marries Genji when she is sixteen and he only twelve. Proud and distant to her husband, Aoi is constantly aware of the age difference between them and very much hurt by... |
The Lady Aoi | Noh |
1965 | 弱法師 Yoroboshi |
The Blind Young Man | Noh |
1969 | 椿説弓張月 Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki |
The Crescent, or Crescent Moon: The Adventures of Tametomo, literally "The Strange Theory of a Paper Lantern's Appearance" | Kabuki |
Films
Year | Title | USA release title(s) | Character | Director |
---|---|---|---|---|
1951 | 純白の夜 Jumpaku no Yoru |
Unreleased in the U.S. | Hideo Ōba | |
1959 | 不道徳教育講座 Fudōtoku Kyōikukōza |
Unreleased in the U.S. | himself | Katsumi Nishikawa Katsumi Nishikawa was a Japanese film director most famous for his youth films . Graduating from Nihon University, he started out at the Shochiku studio in 1939 and directed his first film in 1952... |
1960 | からっ風野郎 Karakkaze Yarō Afraid to Die is a 1960 yakuza film directed by Yasuzo Masumura and starring Yukio Mishima.-Cast:* Yukio Mishima - Takeo Asahina* Ayako Wakao - Yoshie Koizumi* Keizo Kawasaki - Shoichi Koizumi* Eiji Funakoshi - Susumu Aikawa* Takashi Shimura - Gohei Hirayama... |
Afraid to Die | Takeo Asahina | Yasuzo Masumura Yasuzo Masumura was a Japanese film director.Masumura was born in Kōfu on Honshū. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949... |
1966 | 憂国 Yūkoku Patriotism (film) is a 1966 Japanese short drama film directed by Yukio Mishima and Domoto Masaki. The English-language release was originally entitled The Rite of Love and Death.Mishima wrote Yûkoku four years before his death... |
The Rite of Love and Death Patriotism |
Shinji Takeyama | Domoto Masaki, Yukio Mishima |
1968 | 黒蜥蝪 Kurotokage Black Lizard (film) Black Lizard is a 1968 Japanese detective film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The film is based on a 1934 novel by Edogawa Rampo and its theatrical adaptation by Yukio Mishima, who, at the time, was the lover of Akihiro Maruyama, the actor who plays the notorious female criminal "Black Lizard" in... |
Black Lizard | Human Statue | Kinji Fukasaku Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer... |
1969 | 人斬り Hitokiri Hitokiri (film) is a 1969 Japanese samurai film directed by Hideo Gosha set during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is notable for starring the famous author Yukio Mishima.-Plot:... |
Tenchu! | Shimbei Tanaka | Hideo Gosha Hideo Gosha was a Japanese film director.Among his most famous films are Goyokin and Hitokiri, released in 1969, and The Wolves, released in 1971. His most famous film in the West is Sword of the Beast, released by Criterion.... |
Works about Mishima
- Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses by Eikō Hosoe and Mishima (photoerotic collection of images of Mishima, with his own commentary) (Aperture 2002 ISBN 0-89381-169-6)
- Deadly Dialectics: Sex, Violence, and Nihilism in the World of Yukio Mishima by Roy StarrsRoy StarrsRoy Starrs is a scholar of Japanese literature and culture who teaches at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He has written critical studies of the major Japanese writers Yasunari Kawabata, Naoya Shiga, Osamu Dazai, and Yukio Mishima, and edited books on Asian nationalism , globalization, and...
(University of HawaiiUniversity of HawaiiThe University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
PressUniversity of Hawaii PressThe University of Hawaii Press is a university press that is part of the University of Hawaii.The University of Hawaii Press was founded in 1947, with the mission of advancing and disseminating scholarship by publishing current research in all disciplines of the humanities and natural and social...
, 1994, ISBN 0-8248-1630-7 and ISBN 0-8248-1630-7) - Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, No 33) by Susan J. NapierSusan J. NapierDr. Susan Jolliffe Napier is Professor of the Japanese Program at Tufts University. She was formerly Professor of the Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin, and a visiting professor at the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University...
(Harvard University Press, 1995 ISBN 0-674-26181-X) - Mishima: A Biography by John NathanJohn NathanJohn Nathan is the translator of Japanese works written by celebrated authors such as Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburō Ōe. Nathan is also an Emmy-award winning producer, writer and director of many films about Japanese culture and society and American business.He studied at University of Tokyo...
(BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Little, Brown and CompanyLittle, Brown and CompanyLittle, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
1974, ISBN 0-316-59844-5) - Mishima ou la vision du vide (Mishima : A Vision of the Void), essay by Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
trans. by Alberto Manguel 2001 ISBN 0-226-96532-5) - Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors by Colin WilsonColin WilsonColin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
(Mishima profiled in context of phenomenon of various "outsider" Messiah types), (Hampton Roads Publishing Company 2000 ISBN 1-57174-175-5) - The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima, by Henry Scott StokesHenry Scott StokesHenry Scott Stokes is a British journalist who has been the Tokyo bureau chief for The Financial Times , The Times and The New York Times ....
London : Owen, 1975 ISBN 0-7206-0123-1) - The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima by Jerry S. Piven. (WestportWestport, Connecticut-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers, 2004 ISBN 0-275-97985-7) - Teito MonogatariTeito Monogatariis a massive Japanese historical fantasy epic written by Hiroshi Aramata.-Overview:The story is a retelling of the history of Edo from an occultist perspective. The premise is based on the idea that the curse of Taira no Masakado greatly influenced the city's history from its inception to the...
(vol. 5–10) by Hiroshi AramataHiroshi Aramatais a Japanese author, translator, and screenplay writer, as well as a specialist in natural history and cartography.His most popular novel was Teito Monogatari , which has sold over 3.5 million copies in Japan alone. He also wrote Alexander Senki, a novel which eventually evolved into the anime...
(a fantasy/historical novel featuring Mishima as a central character contending with malignant spiritual forces which feed off his nationalist pride), (Kadokawa ShotenKadokawa Shotenis a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
ISBN/ASIN 4041690056) - Yukio Mishima by Peter WolfePeter WolfePeter William Randall changed his name to Peter Wolfe because of his admiration of Desmond Wolfe the alter ego of Withnail from the cult film, Withnail and I. He is also known as Wolfman. He is an English poet, and a musician of the band, Wolfman and the Side-Effects. He is also a friend of Pete...
("reviews Mishima's life and times, discusses, his major works, and looks at important themes in his novels," 1989, ISBN 0-8264-0443-X) - Yukio Mishima, Terror and Postmodern Japan by Richard Appignanesi (2002, ISBN 1-84046-371-6)
- Mishima's Sword – Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend by Christopher Ross (2006, ISBN 0-00-713508-4)
- Yukio Mishima's Report to the Emperor by Richard Appignanesi (2003, ISBN 978-0954047665)
- Mishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four Chapters is an American/Japanese film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1985. It was co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas....
(1985), a film directed by Paul SchraderPaul SchraderPaul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.... - The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima (1985) BBC documentary) directed by Michael Macintyre
- Yukio Mishima: Samurai Writer, a BBC documentary on Yukio Mishima, directed by Michael Macintyre, (1985, VHS ISBN 978-1-4213-6981-5, DVD ISBN 978-1-4213-6982-2)
- Yukio Mishima, a play by Adam DariusAdam DariusAdam Darius is an American dancer, mime artist, writer and choreographer. As a performer, he has appeared in over 85 countries across six continents...
and Kazimir Kolesnik, first performed at Holloway Prison, London, in 1991, and later in Finland, Slovenia and Portugal. - String Quartet No.3, "Mishima", by Philip Glass. A compilation of his soundtrack for the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters it has a duration of 18 minutes.
External links
- The Mishima Yukio Cyber Museum In Japanese only
- Yukio Mishima: A 20th Century Samurai
- Books and Writers bio
- Mishima chronology, with links
- YUKIO MISHIMA: The Harmony of Pen and Sword Ceremony commemorating his 70th Birthday Anniversary
- Film review of Yukoku (Patriotism), From a 1980s BBC documentary (9:02), From Canadian Television (3:59)
- Headless God: A Tribute to Yukio Mishima Mishima-related news, quotes, links