Penetrating Mishima
I often wonder what life would've been like had he failed to kill his body and his soul.
Had he been alive today he would be in his sixties.
Do you think he could have inspired the hearts of his countrymen to go down that traditional path, the one he had chosen back in 1970? Do you think he could have freed his own people from the oppression of Western obsession and decadence by admonishing them to return to a life with more balance and appreciation of the Arts, and the martial spirit? Or, maybe even have redeemed the lost souls of Japan who fell to the disease of rampant Capitalism and majority rule Democracy that never seems to bear fruit for the average lay person in Japan? On November 25th 1970, the late playwright and novelist Mr.
Mishima Yukio along with his cadre of young men were determined to resist the new social order.
Mishima stood outside over the veranda and looking down at the new military admonished his comrades to return to the old way.
He exhorted his fellow countrymen to call the Emperor of Japan by his true name, Tenno Heika, a name meaning the sun of heaven.
Under the former Occupational Authorities the status of the emperor was reduced down to a mere status symbol of the State.
This didn't bode well with Mishima Yukio, and he made his displeasure known by this exhibition of samurai like devotion.
By denouncing the American mandated constitution, along with the dozen or so leftwing leaning institutions that have thoroughly destroyed the Board of Education over the years would be the best course of action for the new Japan then and now.
This is perhaps something the late Mishima would probably say.
In addition to rejecting a pacifist clause in the constitution that forbade the Japanese from having a real military was and is still the most contentious issue in Japanese politics and one that Mishima would've clearly rejected, especially given the current state of affairs.
Struggling today are the remnants of a country trying its best to rediscover the national identity that its youth have clearly forgotten about.
The government has tried to implement more class work on the appreciation of Japan, including singing of Japan's national anthem along with the teaching of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the myths of the founding fathers of Japan.
Unfortunately, these policies have not gone over very well with the majority of school teachers, students, and parents.
Many teachers reject Mishima's teachings, yet today these same teachers complain about the moral degradation in their societies and the rebellious nature of today's teenagers who do not care about ways of their ancestors.
These same teachers were the people who were laughing at Mishima's rhetoric 40 years ago when he stood atop the Self Defense headquarters in downtown Tokyo.
These were all the things that Mishima had spoken out against on that fateful morning on November 25th 40 years ago.
The soul of Japan has been hollowed out and made empty by what's left over from Western excesses and Left Wing educators who stood up against all vestiges of the old way.
Where is this new national identity spawning from? Where did Japanese society veer off course to the point where national holidays in America are more important than the emperor's birthday.
Most school age children do not know his birthday, and neither do many of them care, but would rather worship an overweight European Santa Clause and a blue-eyed version of Jesus Christ all at the same time.
A grown Japanese father can teach his own children that these holidays define the cultural and moral imperative of the country is borderline insanity, and speaks volumes of what is ailing modern Japan today.
There is too much of a disconnect from the spiritual and mortal coil of the nation.
He took his own life before the world.
His lover stood over him and mustering up the fortitude sent his blade through the back of Mishima's nape in one failed swoop.
It penetrated, but not deep enough.
Substantial blood loss ensued but Mishima was still consciously aware of his own demise.
Their hostage, a Kendo expert, took the sword and voluntarily finished the job of completely severing Mr.
Mishima's head from his body.
This was done in order to preserve his honor and dignity.
Mr.
Mishima's sense of duty was an outdated notion according to his peers, and that his bizarre sexual world was a bit risqué for modern Japanese thinkers to accept.
His lurid sense of patriotism was all of a sudden too bizarre for his contemporaries to consider literary, but more sensational than anything else.
Instead, his other essays on homosexual love were more widely accepted and embraced by many the world over.
Where are all of the literary geniuses and poets left in Japan? Natsumi Soseki, the man on your 1000 yen banknote, was and is still regarded as one of Japan's greatest luminaries in literature.
It made sense to heap praises and to attach all sorts of vanities on a man who found his inspiration overseas, and from Anglo countries.
After World War 2 Japan had to reinvent its national identity as a people destined to serve the interest of the West.
This was achieved by completely revising its institutions of higher learning to reflect a more Anglo leaning thought.
Writers who exhibited an affinity to Western thinking were regarded as more intellectual than, say, Shumei Okawa and Mishima Yukio.
Natsumi Soseki is not a genius, but a great writer nevertheless.
He was an inspiration to those who appreciated his works.
He did not nurture the spiritual dilemma of the nation.
Where is the connection drawn from in relation to Western art and Japanese art? Mishima Yukio also had a thorough understanding of Western literature and art too, but Mishima's brand was more authentic and symbolic of the conditions that faced a quickly modernizing Japan.
He wasn't as disassociated from the spiritual dynamic of his own birthplace.
The Anglo world cannot teach the Japanese their identity, not even in artistic expressionism.
From a literary perspective then maybe Japanese and Europeans can resonate on similar themes, like in the case of Mishima Yukio and Thomas Mann, yet both men have very different styles in writing.
The key here is that Mishima did not have to find his voice nor his expression from outside of his own country.
Leonard Fujita and Soseki had to find their expression first from Anglo nations, and then returned to Japan to reclaim their identity by trying to infuse their own concepts with Western concepts and succeeded, but only marginally.
I still contend that it is impossible to do such a thing.
East and West cannot be successfully merged.
Some claim Mishima Yukio's suicide was masturbatory in its intent, and that Mishima was merely an opportunist who sought to shock the masses rather than push for change.
Others, like myself, would say that he did it as a sacrifice for the nation and as a duty and a great honor unto himself.
He was able to choose the place and style he wanted to die in.
For the older generation of Japanese this used to be the greatest honor bestowed upon a man, not lying stink in some sickbed while eating away at the health care system, and rotting away waiting to die.
In Japan, more adult diapers are sold than diapers for babies, a well document fact by the way, and yet the elderly feel they have a sense of duty to live on way past a reasonably sane age.
There used to be a more honorable way to manage decrepitude, something Mishima hated.
Why did he choose November 25th to end his life? I think he may have chosen this date because of its association with the spread of Communism.
November 25th 1936, Japan signed a treaty with Germany called the Anti-Comintern pact, which was put in place in order to resist the influence and the spread of the Comintern, or in other words, the spread of Soviet influence through-out that part of the world.
Even according to Mishima's own philosophy, Communism was considered incompatible with Japanese traditions, culture and history and even ran counter to the emperor system.
But I'm not too inclined to believe it was for this reason, neither am I inclined to believe it was the great earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on November 25th 1953 either.
Maybe the millions of kamikaze that lay strewn across the Marianas Seas knew of why.
Why he chose this date is left up to speculation, but one could assume that since this act of sacrifice was before the world, and for the sake of suicidal glory, the association of which is similar to that date in history November 25th 1944, when the Kamikaze core was enacted by the emperor on "Kamikaze Day," one could perhaps logically deduce that maybe it was this date in history coinciding with Mishima's death by ritual disembowelment was chosen.
It is also safe to assume that on this same date in history November 25th 1922, the Emperor Tenno was appointed Prince-Regent, which anointed him with enormous power and authority which set the stage for one of Japan's darkest and most glorious hours.
I don't think this was the reason either.
Why he may have chosen this date, I guess we'll never really know.
And as quickly as Mishima Yukio was able to split his own belly completely open from side to side while looking up into his lovers desperate eyes, pupils fully dilated, awaiting the final blow to his head, a moment in time froze; body hunched over in pain.
The first of many attempts was unsuccessful, Mishima kneeling with intestines beginning to protrude from his lower abdomen area, that part of his body that his boyfriend was all too familiar with back when he used to have spasms there upon gentle touch after gentle touch, now ravished in blood and bile and writhing in pain now instead of spasms of joy way back when.
That day when Mishima was reborn through a violent death his soul was carried off by Fujin, Shinto god of wind, which gathered the remnants of Autumns splendor from a direction unknown, not even the dead and forgotten gods of ancient Greece who are hollowed in the sacred halls of the pantheon knew of such a cardinal direction.
Had this wind ever existed before their time, time itself would've never known.
A swirl of brilliantly colored gold and red dancing Autumnal leaves converge into one immense orb of energy hoisting Mishima's soul off as the ancient bird of crane eerily called out to the heavens preparing a way for the ascension of another noble soul.
Had he been alive today he would be in his sixties.
Do you think he could have inspired the hearts of his countrymen to go down that traditional path, the one he had chosen back in 1970? Do you think he could have freed his own people from the oppression of Western obsession and decadence by admonishing them to return to a life with more balance and appreciation of the Arts, and the martial spirit? Or, maybe even have redeemed the lost souls of Japan who fell to the disease of rampant Capitalism and majority rule Democracy that never seems to bear fruit for the average lay person in Japan? On November 25th 1970, the late playwright and novelist Mr.
Mishima Yukio along with his cadre of young men were determined to resist the new social order.
Mishima stood outside over the veranda and looking down at the new military admonished his comrades to return to the old way.
He exhorted his fellow countrymen to call the Emperor of Japan by his true name, Tenno Heika, a name meaning the sun of heaven.
Under the former Occupational Authorities the status of the emperor was reduced down to a mere status symbol of the State.
This didn't bode well with Mishima Yukio, and he made his displeasure known by this exhibition of samurai like devotion.
By denouncing the American mandated constitution, along with the dozen or so leftwing leaning institutions that have thoroughly destroyed the Board of Education over the years would be the best course of action for the new Japan then and now.
This is perhaps something the late Mishima would probably say.
In addition to rejecting a pacifist clause in the constitution that forbade the Japanese from having a real military was and is still the most contentious issue in Japanese politics and one that Mishima would've clearly rejected, especially given the current state of affairs.
Struggling today are the remnants of a country trying its best to rediscover the national identity that its youth have clearly forgotten about.
The government has tried to implement more class work on the appreciation of Japan, including singing of Japan's national anthem along with the teaching of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the myths of the founding fathers of Japan.
Unfortunately, these policies have not gone over very well with the majority of school teachers, students, and parents.
Many teachers reject Mishima's teachings, yet today these same teachers complain about the moral degradation in their societies and the rebellious nature of today's teenagers who do not care about ways of their ancestors.
These same teachers were the people who were laughing at Mishima's rhetoric 40 years ago when he stood atop the Self Defense headquarters in downtown Tokyo.
These were all the things that Mishima had spoken out against on that fateful morning on November 25th 40 years ago.
The soul of Japan has been hollowed out and made empty by what's left over from Western excesses and Left Wing educators who stood up against all vestiges of the old way.
Where is this new national identity spawning from? Where did Japanese society veer off course to the point where national holidays in America are more important than the emperor's birthday.
Most school age children do not know his birthday, and neither do many of them care, but would rather worship an overweight European Santa Clause and a blue-eyed version of Jesus Christ all at the same time.
A grown Japanese father can teach his own children that these holidays define the cultural and moral imperative of the country is borderline insanity, and speaks volumes of what is ailing modern Japan today.
There is too much of a disconnect from the spiritual and mortal coil of the nation.
He took his own life before the world.
His lover stood over him and mustering up the fortitude sent his blade through the back of Mishima's nape in one failed swoop.
It penetrated, but not deep enough.
Substantial blood loss ensued but Mishima was still consciously aware of his own demise.
Their hostage, a Kendo expert, took the sword and voluntarily finished the job of completely severing Mr.
Mishima's head from his body.
This was done in order to preserve his honor and dignity.
Mr.
Mishima's sense of duty was an outdated notion according to his peers, and that his bizarre sexual world was a bit risqué for modern Japanese thinkers to accept.
His lurid sense of patriotism was all of a sudden too bizarre for his contemporaries to consider literary, but more sensational than anything else.
Instead, his other essays on homosexual love were more widely accepted and embraced by many the world over.
Where are all of the literary geniuses and poets left in Japan? Natsumi Soseki, the man on your 1000 yen banknote, was and is still regarded as one of Japan's greatest luminaries in literature.
It made sense to heap praises and to attach all sorts of vanities on a man who found his inspiration overseas, and from Anglo countries.
After World War 2 Japan had to reinvent its national identity as a people destined to serve the interest of the West.
This was achieved by completely revising its institutions of higher learning to reflect a more Anglo leaning thought.
Writers who exhibited an affinity to Western thinking were regarded as more intellectual than, say, Shumei Okawa and Mishima Yukio.
Natsumi Soseki is not a genius, but a great writer nevertheless.
He was an inspiration to those who appreciated his works.
He did not nurture the spiritual dilemma of the nation.
Where is the connection drawn from in relation to Western art and Japanese art? Mishima Yukio also had a thorough understanding of Western literature and art too, but Mishima's brand was more authentic and symbolic of the conditions that faced a quickly modernizing Japan.
He wasn't as disassociated from the spiritual dynamic of his own birthplace.
The Anglo world cannot teach the Japanese their identity, not even in artistic expressionism.
From a literary perspective then maybe Japanese and Europeans can resonate on similar themes, like in the case of Mishima Yukio and Thomas Mann, yet both men have very different styles in writing.
The key here is that Mishima did not have to find his voice nor his expression from outside of his own country.
Leonard Fujita and Soseki had to find their expression first from Anglo nations, and then returned to Japan to reclaim their identity by trying to infuse their own concepts with Western concepts and succeeded, but only marginally.
I still contend that it is impossible to do such a thing.
East and West cannot be successfully merged.
Some claim Mishima Yukio's suicide was masturbatory in its intent, and that Mishima was merely an opportunist who sought to shock the masses rather than push for change.
Others, like myself, would say that he did it as a sacrifice for the nation and as a duty and a great honor unto himself.
He was able to choose the place and style he wanted to die in.
For the older generation of Japanese this used to be the greatest honor bestowed upon a man, not lying stink in some sickbed while eating away at the health care system, and rotting away waiting to die.
In Japan, more adult diapers are sold than diapers for babies, a well document fact by the way, and yet the elderly feel they have a sense of duty to live on way past a reasonably sane age.
There used to be a more honorable way to manage decrepitude, something Mishima hated.
Why did he choose November 25th to end his life? I think he may have chosen this date because of its association with the spread of Communism.
November 25th 1936, Japan signed a treaty with Germany called the Anti-Comintern pact, which was put in place in order to resist the influence and the spread of the Comintern, or in other words, the spread of Soviet influence through-out that part of the world.
Even according to Mishima's own philosophy, Communism was considered incompatible with Japanese traditions, culture and history and even ran counter to the emperor system.
But I'm not too inclined to believe it was for this reason, neither am I inclined to believe it was the great earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on November 25th 1953 either.
Maybe the millions of kamikaze that lay strewn across the Marianas Seas knew of why.
Why he chose this date is left up to speculation, but one could assume that since this act of sacrifice was before the world, and for the sake of suicidal glory, the association of which is similar to that date in history November 25th 1944, when the Kamikaze core was enacted by the emperor on "Kamikaze Day," one could perhaps logically deduce that maybe it was this date in history coinciding with Mishima's death by ritual disembowelment was chosen.
It is also safe to assume that on this same date in history November 25th 1922, the Emperor Tenno was appointed Prince-Regent, which anointed him with enormous power and authority which set the stage for one of Japan's darkest and most glorious hours.
I don't think this was the reason either.
Why he may have chosen this date, I guess we'll never really know.
And as quickly as Mishima Yukio was able to split his own belly completely open from side to side while looking up into his lovers desperate eyes, pupils fully dilated, awaiting the final blow to his head, a moment in time froze; body hunched over in pain.
The first of many attempts was unsuccessful, Mishima kneeling with intestines beginning to protrude from his lower abdomen area, that part of his body that his boyfriend was all too familiar with back when he used to have spasms there upon gentle touch after gentle touch, now ravished in blood and bile and writhing in pain now instead of spasms of joy way back when.
That day when Mishima was reborn through a violent death his soul was carried off by Fujin, Shinto god of wind, which gathered the remnants of Autumns splendor from a direction unknown, not even the dead and forgotten gods of ancient Greece who are hollowed in the sacred halls of the pantheon knew of such a cardinal direction.
Had this wind ever existed before their time, time itself would've never known.
A swirl of brilliantly colored gold and red dancing Autumnal leaves converge into one immense orb of energy hoisting Mishima's soul off as the ancient bird of crane eerily called out to the heavens preparing a way for the ascension of another noble soul.
