The Testament of Yukio Mishima 50 years after his death
(Middle volume) Rejecting the Hypocrisy of Postwar Japan
November 25, 2020
A man... must be prepared to lay down his life on the line.
On November 18, 1970, a week before Yukio Mishima holed himself up in the Ground Self-Defense Force facility in Ichigaya, Tokyo, and Seppuku, he spoke with critic Takashi Furubayashi in the book series "Postwar Writers Speak Out" published by the Library Newspaper, saying "I don't think there is a person in this world who doesn't think life is precious. However, a man must be ready to turn away from that and dare to give up his life."
Mishima is speaking of determination.
He continued, "As of now, let me make it clear to you. SOME PEOPLE MAY LAUGH AT what I am trying to do, but it is a justice movement, and my goal is to open the door to justice in the modern age.
The turning point was the "Voice of the Heroic Spirit.
Mishima, known as a "precocious genius," made his debut on the literary stage at the age of 16 with the short story "Hanazakari no Mori" (1941), followed by "Masked Confessions" at the age of 24 and "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" at 31, which were both highly acclaimed in Japan and abroad. He was also active outside the literary world, writing serialized essays for weekly magazines and acting in movies.
Around the time of the publication of "Eirei no koe (The Voice of the Heroic Spirit)" in the June issue of Bungei in 1941, Mishima began to write critiques and essays with a strong political tone.
In the book, the spirits of the officers and Kamikaze pilots of the February 26 incident are repeatedly asked by a blind boy, "How did the Emperor become a human (person)?
It repeatedly questions the Emperor's response to the February 26 incident and his declaration of humanity after the war.
Later, in a conversation with literary critic Shun Akiyama about "The Voice of the Heroic Spirit," Mishima said, "If you speak out dangerously, you must take responsibility. I felt as if I could take responsibility. That is why I wrote what I did. If I did not have that kind of discernment, I could not have written something like that.
Yutaka Shinohara, author of "Yukio Mishima: Here's a Story" and a former member of the first class of Tate no Kai, said, "When he wrote "Voice of the Heroic Spirit," he was ready to die and take responsibility. (His words and deeds as a thinker) became concrete from "Voice of the Heroic Spirit."
Another shocking encounter for Mishima came in December 1966, when he met Kiyoshi Bandai and others at the journal "Journal of Controversy," a general magazine for nationalist students. In the same magazine, in an article titled "About Youth" (October 1967), Mishima recalls.
"Less than a year ago, an incident caused a revolutionary change in me. For the first time, a strange bug began to move inside me. I was more than amazed by Mr. Bandai's story; I was surprised by myself. Perhaps I had been waiting for a genuine young man to appear. If anything could make the unprepared me more prepared and give courage to the unprepared me, it would be the power of education from the side of youth toward me."
Mishima enlisted in the Self-Defense Forces from April to May 1967 and then recruited students to train with him. These students were the first group to join the Taten-no-Kai, which was to be established on October 5, 1968. It was through his interactions with these young people that another face, one that was not that of a writer, was established.
Anger at Internal Enemies
Deep in Mishima's heart is a sense of pride in Japan and the Japanese people and a rejection of the hypocrisy deeply rooted in postwar Japan.
Mishima's conflict swells day by day.
And the presence of Hasuda Yoshiaki, a scholar of Japanese literature, led Mishima from conflict to action.
At the war's end, Hasuda shot and killed a regimental commander who blamed the Emperor for the defeat, and he committed suicide with a short gun.
Hasuda thought so highly of Mishima that he included "Hanazakari no Mori" (The Flowering Forest) in a coterie magazine he presided over.
It is said that Hasuda's practical view of life and death strongly influenced Mishima.
Mishima wrote in the preface "Hasuda Zenmei and His Death" (written by Jiro Kotakane).
"I now understand what Mr. Hasuda was so angry about. It was anger at the Japanese intellectuals. It was anger at the "enemy within. Gradually, Hasuda's anger became mine. And as I approached the age of 41, his death and what the shape of his death meant suddenly illuminated to me my long-standing confusion."
2023/7/16, in Kyoto
