三島由紀夫

I read it in French (a collection of 4 plays and 135 theoretical texts on Mishima's theater was published last year), and wondered what you thought of it. At the end of the play, two characters in the police station are the only ones to hear the sound of the "koto du bonheur" ("harp of happiness"), and I'm not sure I understand what it symbolizes... For those of you who have had a chance to read the play, what do you think?

title says it all wondering his max weight on squat, presses curlz etc.

Does anyone have info on a short story called "The Perfect Companions?"

I see a copy of an old literary journal called "Antaeus" (1974) on eBay that contains this story but I can't find any more info about it. Curious if anyone has this, has read it, or knows anything more?

SPOILERS FOR SPRING SNOW:

I just finished Spring Snow and it was beautiful. At the very end Honda sits with the Abbess and hears a sound that at first appears to be subdued laughter. But then Honda seems to trick himself into believing it to be a sob as that would be more fitting considering the circumstances.

Was it really though? Kiyoaki knew Satoko to be scheming and mischievous. What if to her this entire affair was an entertaining joke and she finds it funny that Kiyoaki drove himself to death because of his infatuation?

So I have been thinking about getting Confessions of a Mask, but now im reluctant, since I read somewhere it's just basic commonly known stuff about Mishima (closeted homosexuality, ideation of youthful death, yearning for pre war Japan and samurai values etc...), so im thinking about just picking up his Temple of the Golden Pavilion. What do more experienced readers reccomend?

So I am writing a paper about Mishima and Tatenokai. While of course I found a lot of information about Mishima, I can’t find a lot of scholarly work on Tatenokai. Does anyone know any good books or articles that discuss Tatenokai a bit more than just few sentences?

Rilke writes that modern man can no longer die a dramatic death. Instead, he dies in a hospital room, like a bee inside a honeycomb cell. Death in the modern age, whether due to illness or accident, is devoid of drama. We live in an age without heroic deaths.

This reminds me of the 18th-century samurai classic, Hagakure, which famously states, "The way of the samurai is found in death." That era resembled our own, where the dreams of the Warring States period had faded. Although samurai continued to train in martial arts, achieving a glorious death in battle became increasingly difficult. There was corruption and a fallen aristocracy, with delinquents akin to today’s “Ivy set” appearing among the samurai.

In the midst of this turmoil, the author of Hagakure wrote: "When it comes to either/or, there is only the quick choice of death." He preached this idea repeatedly, yet he himself died in bed at a ripe old age. Even a samurai like him could not find the opportunity to die with honor and instead had to go on living while dreaming of such a death.

We entered our 20s filled with these thoughts. In contrast, today's youth may seek thrills; they are not exactly unafraid of death, but their existence is not tense, with death as the precondition of life.

We soon tire of living solely for ourselves. It necessarily follows that we need to die for something. That something used to be called a "noble cause." To die for a noble cause was once regarded as the most glorious, heroic, or honorable way to die.

However, there are no noble causes today. Democratic governments clearly have no need for noble causes. If one cannot find a value that transcends oneself, life itself, in a spiritual sense, becomes meaningless.

That is why I pray for an honorable death—a death for the sake of something. Yet, like the author of Hagakure, I feel I was born in the wrong era. I will probably die in bed after a life spent dreaming of a very different end.

https://preview.redd.it/wnsuxkadr6wd1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=568f82033b48a80df343aae2fc99d5c3fe4fa6f7

Regarding the previously announced upcoming short story collection, Voices of the Fallen Heroes, here is the final listing of content (via an advance proof I came across on eBay):

1. Strawberry (Ichigo/苺), 1961 – tr. Paul McCarthy
2. The Flower Hat (Bōshi no Hana /帽子の花), 1962 – tr. Stephen Dodd
3. Moon (Tsuki/月), 1962 – tr. Stephen Dodd
4. Cars (Jidōsha/自動車), 1963 – tr. Jeffrey Angles
5. Poor Papa (Kawaisō na Papa/可哀さうなパパ), 1963 – tr. Oliver White
6. Tickets (Kippu/切符), 1963 – tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter
7. The Peacocks (Kujaku/孔雀), 1965– tr. Juliet Winters Carpenter
8. True Love at Dawn (Asa no Jun'ai/朝の純愛), 1965 – tr. John Nathan
9. The Strange Tale of Shimmering Moon Villa (Gettan-sō Kitan/月澹荘奇譚), 1965 – tr. Aoyama Tomoko
10. From the Wilderness (Kōya yori/荒野より), 1966 – tr. John Nathan
11. Voices of the Fallen Heroes (Eirei no Koe/英霊の聲), 1966 – tr. Paul McCarthy
12. Companions (Nakama/仲間), 1966 – tr. Paul McCarthy
13. Clock (Tokei/時計), 1967 – tr. Hannah Osborne
14. The Dragon Flute (Ranryō-ō/蘭陵王), 1969 – tr. Sam Bett

Will there ever be a translation for the book? After watching the life in four chapters movie by Paul Schrader the Kyoko’s house section was just on its face the most compelling to me. Destroying his life of bodybuilding and for an abusive partner who causes him to self harm in the pursuit of beauty just on its face is so poetic to me (also I’m sucker for boxing stories). If all of that can be conveyed in 20 minutes of film making I feel like I need to read the story whether that be by learning japanese or paying someone to translate it. Is there any progress being made toward a translation that anyone knows about?

Quite a few times i've seen people call this book a hard read.
thats where my question comes from

Quick study that I did today.

I've come across multiple queer people who are enticed by what they read in Mishima's work. There's nothing wrong with sensing an overlap of experiences, especially when you're marginalised and live your life restricted, however a great error occurs when that overlap turns into speculation. This error is not mererly about mere intellectual speculation, but what this speculation does to ourselves. I think this is important to underline because it's the existential lapse caused by the dysmorphia Mishima seeks to answer. This dysmorphia is not solely about gender or body dysmorphia, nor 'reactionary' appeasement.

Everyone who convinces themselves of this, not only fail to see the self-awareness prevalent in Mishima's works, but convinces themselves of an ultimately incomplete picture of dysmorphia. Mishima's dysmorphia, which most times is reduced to muscle worship, is actually about the question of death, which underlies the question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?'. Mishima's answer is sacrifice, that everyone is a martyr for a cause, because everyone has to face death one day. It's not about homophobia or straight colonialism of queerness (whatever that means), but the rejection and isolation that comes with failure of aging -- physically and mentally together; any young queer man knows the sad desperation older men express on Grindr, this is the concern at hand.

This concern fails to be captured by feminist or queer deconstruction of patriarchy, and ironically enough is captured by the reactionary right, however not in resistance but in embrace. Straussians like Allan Bloom and his sexual relations with his students is a manifest case, but nowadays it has formed into an identity. Take Costin Vlad Alamariu known as BAP, literarily standing for Bronze Age Pervert, and the obsession with holding on to youth, and when that fails, to the sexualisation of young men. Mishima, who surely had his perversions, ultimately tried to stand his ground against them, this is a major component in the four-volume book which he finished on the morning of his death.

Anyway, going back to the dysmorphia. Rather than focusing on the difference and coming in dialogue with the books you're reading, you're looking for overlaps to mirror your identity. There's no worthwhile recognition in dead authors and books, only the projection of the will. Recognition comes only about embracing the difference of each other and attaining respect, there's nothing stoping you from doing that. An actual dialogue about gender dysmorphia and what Mishima speaks of, is worthwhile. Attempts to frame Mishima within a diagnostic frame are however far from doing that.

Even in the case that Mishima was gender dysmorphic, don't you realise that what makes queer experiences queer, is that there are none alike? Don't allow false movements or walls of profiles, such as on Grindr, to turn your life into a simulation.

This is the same delusions that Mishima warns against via the characterisation of Honda in the 'The Sea of Fertility'. Mishima's message is much more clear and self-aware, the answer is neither detachment nor intellectual production of reality, it is the embrace of the body, innocent youth and the polity. This is not unique to transpeople, but everyone, it is this fact that Mishima points too again and again in his works. Mishima saw that only those who've already embraced this mindset, could read his message; for his last work he dedicated four volumes making a character out of those who repeatedly miss the point entirely -- the point, not of his message -- but of life itself.

Even if he experienced gender dysphoria it doesn't entail anything more than just that. The transgender identity, just like the homosexual identity, is a modern construct that came about as resistance to the institutionalisation of sex. Yukio Mishima knew this intuitively which is why he never called himself gay even though he committed gay acts. Mishima is an anti-colonialist par excellence, he lived and flourishes in a western dominated life, yet he dedicated it entirely to the idea of an emperor as god, and as the basis of polity -- but not as in French Absolutism. This idea which the Europeans lost, is the antinomy of capitalist modernity, and forgetfulness which began when the Europeans turned away from the innocent youthful spirit found in Rome. This message is as clear in the 'The Sea of Fertility' as it is in his short novels like 'Sea and Sunset' or 'Martyrdom'

Stop falling into the same trap as some 'Byzantium' scholars who want to identity certain saints as queer; without realising they perpetuate modern colonial identities, constructions which were not only foreign to pre-colonial peoples, but would have been anathema to their essence of life. Ironically enough Mishima would end up admiring those saints, the youthful Christianity of Rome, while also despising what it had turned into in the West.

My relation to Mishima, in recognising the significance of death as sacrifice, brings me as close as possible, yet this unity is still one of two worlds apart. I wrote this text a bit emphatically because it's not about Mishima per say, his works point beyond himself. The Death of The Author doesn't constitute mere freedom of interpretation, but making universal the problem they sought to answer. The following shouldn't have to be said, but since its continual failure persists, it has to be repeated: our interpretation is our answer to the problems posed by the authors, and reflect more on us, than anything else.

Don't seek overlaps with Mishima's works, as any overlap is as meaningful as the medium which allows intelligibility to begin with -- what matters is the difference, what it entails for us, and what our answer is.

People say that Yukio Mishima was super gay. His first novel, "Confessions of a Mask", which propelled him into fame, was a semi-autobiography he wrote at the age of 24. It was all about his childhood and more specifically his struggle with homosexuality and sadism and his doomed but ongoing insistence on repressing those parts of himself. Yukio eventually married at age 33 and had kids, although it was somewhat of an open secret that he would frequently have affairs with men.

The trouble is, according to the popular understanding of sex and gender at the time, he was gay. But looking back at his life now, it seems undeniable that he was actually trans, or at least suffering from gender dysphoria. In fact, his gender dysphoria is rather explicitly stated as the reason for his eventual suicide.

Here are some relevant quotes from "Confessions of a Mask":

This quote covers a story in chapter one spanning a couple pages:

"I stole into my mother's room and opened the drawers of her clothing chest. From among my mother's kimonos I dragged out the most gorgeous one, the one with the strongest colors. For a sash I chose an obi on which(…) My cheeks flushed with wild delight when I stood before the mirror(…) I stuck a hand mirror in my sash and powdered my face lightly(…) Unable to suppress my frantic laughter and delight, I ran about the room crying: 'I'm Tenkatsu, I'm Tankatsu!' (Shokyokusai Tenkatsu, a famous Japanese actress he had seen perform) (…) My frenzy was focused upon the consciousness that, through my impersonation, Tenkatsu was being revealed to many eyes. In short, I could see nothing but myself. And then I chanced to catch sight of my mother's face. She had turned slightly pale and was simply sitting there as though absentminded. Our glances met; she lowered her eyes. I understood. Tears blurred my eyes."

That first moment of 'otherness' really strikes a chord with me. And its interesting that it doesn’t happened during a moment of attraction towards men- it’s during a moment of gender euphoria and honest gender expression.

This quote comes shortly after Yukio described how his childhood friends were all girls:

"But things were different when i went visiting at the homes of my cousins. Then even I was called upon to be a boy, a male. (...) And in this house it was tacitly required that I act like a boy. The reluctant masquerade had begun. At about this time I was beginning to understand vaguely the mechanism of the fact that what people regarded as a pose on my part was actually an expression of my need to assert my true nature, and that it was precisely what people regarded as my true self which was a masquerade."

Not much more needs to be said here. Next quote:

"It was not until much later that I discovered hopes the same as mine in Heliogabalus, emperor of Rome in its period of decay, that destroyer of Rome's ancient gods, that decadent, bestial monarch."

Heliogabalus, or Elagabalus, a Roman Emperor who is now considered a trans woman.

This quote comes after Yukio describes how he had his first orgasm looking at Guido Reni's painting of Saint Sebastian:

"It is an interesting coincidence that Hirschfeld should place 'pictures of St. Sebastian' in the first rank of those kinds of art works in which the invert takes special delight. This observation of Hirschfeld's leads easily to the conjecture that in the overwhelming majority of cases of inversion, especially of congenital inversion, the inverted and the sadistic impulses are inextricably entangled with eachother."

Hirschfeld is the guy who founded and ran the Berlin Sex Institute, famous for being the first place to perform a Sexual Reassignment Surgery for a trans woman, and for being raided and having all of its research burned by Nazis.  And the 'inversion' Yukio mentions is short for 'sexual inversion', which was the term used at the time for trans people (basically it misclassified being transgender as a type of homosexuality).

Lets fast forward 20 years, to 1970. Yukio Mishima organized a retrospective exhibition devoted to his literary life to be displayed at the Tobu department store in Tokyo. Yukio wrote a catalogue to be handed out as a guide to the exhibition. In the catalogue, he wrote that he saw his life as being divided into four rivers—Writing, Theater, Body, and Action, all finally flowing into the Sea of Fertility. The exhibit was opened two weeks before his suicide. The literal sword that was used by his friend to behead him as part of his ritual seppuku was on display at the exhibit. Here is an exert from the accompanying catalogue:

"The River of the Body naturally flowed into the River of Action. It was inevitable. With a woman's body this would not have happened. A man's body, with its inherent nature and function, forces him toward the River of Action, the most dangerous river in the jungle. Alligators and piranhas abound in its waters. Poisoned arrows dart from enemy camps. The river confronts the River of Writing. I've often heard the glib motto, 'The Pen and the Sword Join in a Single Path.' But in truth they can join only at the moment of death.

"This River of Action giver me the tears, the blood, the sweat that I never begin to find in the River of Writing. In this new river I have encounters of soul with soul without having to bother about words. This is also the most destruction of all rivers, and I can well understand why so few people approach it. This River has no generosity for the farmer; it brings no wealth nor peace, it gives no rest. Only let me say this: I, born a man and alive as a man, cannot overcome the temptation to follow the course of this River."

'I born a man and alive as a man, cannot overcome the temptation to follow the course of this river.' and 'With a woman's body this would not have happened.' It hurts to read, knowing what happened.

Seriously, how is he only known as having been gay? How come nobody talks about this?

I am interested in Mishima's writting and would want to know how to begin reading, is there a book that is best for the start?

I follow a traditionalist blogger on Substack and today they posted about Yukio Mishima and his midlife crisis. Nothing too deep but an interesting take on the matter: https://newtraditionalism.substack.com/p/yukio-mishima-and-the-crisis-of-the

I just finished reading ‘Thermos Bottles’. I understand its implied that Kawase cheated on his wife with Asaka and Kawase’s wife cheated on him with his colleague, but what do the thermos bottles symbolise in this story?

Why does Kawase’s wife cry when she says she broke the thermos bottle? Why does the story end with saying Kawase was afraid of thermos bottles? Why are both Kawase and Asaka’s children scared of thermos bottles?

I’m thinking the symbolism is similar to that of the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, but I can’t quite grasp it.

Modern warriors,

This past month, I've been making a documentary about Mishima Sensei which is now in its last phase of editing. After the main edit was done, I took the soundtrack I composed for the movie and uploaded it as a full OST. I hope it will please those who love Mishima Sensei, who will easily recognize the themes and sample in this ambitious yet straightforward project. I'm very proud of it. Enjoy.

Creative tools : Pro tools, Native Instrument suites, Samples, Analog synth (Minimoog)

TENNO HEIKA BANZAI !!!

https://youtu.be/BjgKMcIAu5U?si=q2DrThnU3nG1OFwO

Does anyone know where I can find an audio reading of Star by Yukio Mishima? It seems like every other book has audiobook but this one.

I have been making my way through Mishima novels and I am going to start Spring Snow soon. I want to watch the film, will it ruin my experience for reading the tetralogy for the first time?

Thanks

I follow a Substack author known as Chōkōdō Shujin who posts Mishima translations. He had posted a sizable chunk of Kyoko’s House and several of Mishima’s untranslated essays in English on his account (which I am eternally grateful for). Recently he took down Kyoko’s House and a few other Mishima works. I speculated that perhaps this takedown was initiated by an American publishing company like Penguin (who we already know has rights to publish some of Mishimas work like “Beautiful Star”) or Vintage in an effort to reduce profit loss at the time of English release. I messaged Shujin and he ended up making a post to his Substack explaining the situation and it’s the next best thing. Mishima’s estate reached out to him personally and asked him to remove the work. This has rarely occurred with any other translated Mishima online to my knowledge and that level of vigilance doesn’t make much sense unless a release is planned. It’s kind of unprecedented in terms of Mishima’s translated work online (which I’ve seen sit undisturbed for years in the past). I think it’s a pretty good indication that we might see an official translation of Kyoko’s House in the near future. I believe Shujin still has a handful of Mishima’s essays up (not to mention plenty from other Japanese writers) in English if you want to check him out and show him some love. Mishima is rightfully becoming much more popular in the West these past few years so translating Kyoko’s House, one of the man’s principal works, seems like a no-brainer at this point. Anyways I thought I’d share the (possibly) good news and wish everyone a great day! Might post my Mishima collection in the future as I finally got my hands on Forbidden Colors (completing my translated collection)

Yukio Mishima uses the name of a Greek goddesses, Pandarus, when talking about the relationship between a man and a woman. I was not able to find much of an explanation via search engines on what he means by this, and if anyone could explain I would deeply appreciate it.

It was my first fully read book by Mishima and my first contact with japanese literature. It was very interesting and I will definitely check some of his other works in the future. The copy I read is a 2022 translation to brazilian portuguese. I was apprehensive to read this version at first because I feared it was not directly translated from japanese, but just a translation of the english version of the novel. I tought that was the case because I noted that the portuguese title was a translation from the english title (the original japanese title is "Gogo no Eiko", wich should translate to something like "Afternoon tow", and, as far as I know, "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" became the usual english title since the translation by John Nathan). However, the back cover says that the book was translated from japanese by Jefferson José Teixeira, who is, according to a friend of mine, a respected japanese-portuguese translator in Brazil. I plan to look in my university's library for more Mishima's books after my recess is over. I know they have portuguese copies of Sun and Steel, Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of The Golden Pavilion, but they problably also have other books by him (including english translations). Recomendations are welcome.

I am looking for an original version of Sun and Steel in Japanese by Yukio Mashima in pdf form. Does anyone have one? Thanks

Just finished After the Banquet, one of the Mishima novels I see least discussed. I can see why, it is a lot more “quiet” compared to his other novels. It also lacks the kind of weird energy I feel in other works.

What are your thoughts on it?

Does anyone know where Mishima's essay on James Dean originates from? The only translation I can find online is one by Sam Bett, seemingly done as promo for his translation of Star. I did some rudimentary translations and searched in Japanese and the most I was able to find was that the original title of the essay was 『夭折の資格に生きた男 ジェームス・ディーン現象』 which roughly translates to "A Man Who Lived for an Early Death: The James Dean Phenomenon".

I can't find any Japanese version of the text of the essay, or the original publishing date, or wherever it was published for that matter. The only things that come up are Japanese collections of essays and writings about James Dean, of which this essay is included - or occasionally someone mentioning the essay in a review or article. I even had a brief look through one of the Shinchosha copies of Mishima's 'complete works' (it was an older version, so it was missing a lot of his more obscure work) and it seemingly wasn't in any of the volumes - however, it is listed in on Shinchosha's website in the table of contents of Volume 29 of Mishima's complete works (a newer copy), but I don't have a copy of that at all.

Can anyone confirm the original date and source, or provide a Japanese copy of the text if it is available anywhere?