Line #17 Creator/YukioMishima


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/YukioMishima_5384.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Mishima: Author, actor, stud, samurai worshiper, failed coup leader.]]
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4	Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫, ''Mishima Yukio'', real name 平岡公威, ''Hiraoka Kimitake'', January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970) was one of the greats of post-[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII war]] Japanese literature. A ManlyGay given to bodybuilding and Samurai worship, he was part of, and contributed to, the persistent undercurrent of traditionalist right-wing nationalism that persisted after the Japanese defeat in 1945, longing for the days of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan genuine Imperial rule]] and a [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun strong Japanese military]]. Mishima also spoke SugarWiki/{{Surprisingly Good\|ForeignLanguage}} English so much that he was able to do a famous Magazine/TimeMagazine interview in 1969 without an interpreter.
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6	One of his dear friends was Shintaro Ishihara, future governor of Tokyo, who would later write ''the'' book on Japanese neo-nationalism, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Japan That Can Say No]]''.
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8	Perhaps unsurprisingly, his traditional aesthetics root from his descent from both the main house of UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu and one of his retainers. Despite the vicissitudes of the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration, his side of the family never really turned ImpoverishedPatrician (having married into SelfMadeMan relatives too). However, [[KnightTemplarParent his father and grandmother were very authoritarian]] in their upbringing--with his own artistic expression unsupported (for the usual StarvingArtist-related fears). His mother, on the other hand, [[GoodParents was very much his first fan and even helped keep his efforts from his father]] until he met renown. [[HarsherInHindsight Also]], a girl he once went out with via an arranged date was Michiko Shouda... [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the future Empress Michiko of Japan]].
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10	Despite being mentioned as a potential nominee for the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature even before his fortieth birthday, he is more famous for his ill-advised attempt to incite a pro-Imperial coup against the government of Japan at a [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce JSDF]] base in 1970, at the end of which he and his NumberTwo Masakatsu Morita committed {{Seppuku}}.
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12	It should be noted that, technically speaking, Mishima's intended "coup" was nonsense. By 1970, no popular movement had any pretension of overthrowing the government to resurrect a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era order. The American equivalent of this would be if someone addressed a random group of soldiers and announced they needed to overthrow the illegitimate government in Washington so they could properly return to their rightful position as subjects of the British Crown. [[ThanatosGambit It's very likely he knew this and it was merely a spectacle to preface his long-planned suicide.]]
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14	Mishima received several {{Shout Out}}s after his death. The first might have been Music/TheStranglers' 1978 song "Do You Wanna - Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)", whose title was taken from a line in ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAMask''.
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16	In 1983, Music/RyuichiSakamoto of Music/YellowMagicOrchestra fame would collaborate with British musician Music/DavidSylvian to create the song "Forbidden Colours", named after Mishima's novel of the same name. Based on Sakamoto's theme for the film ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', in which he starred and did the soundtrack for, the song connects the film's central plotline about the gay tension between a WWII-era Japanese officer and one of his prisoners with Mishima's own homosexuality and the novel's discussion of it.
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18	In 1985, Paul Schrader (most famous for writing ''Film/TaxiDriver'') co-wrote and directed a movie based on Mishima's life, appropriately called ''Film/MishimaALifeInFourChapters''. The film earned critical accolades, despite completely tanking financially, though that's not entirely unexpected when one considers how famous [[SmallReferencePools Yukio Mishima]] is in Schrader's native [[NoExportforYou America]], and the fact that the film is IN Japanese, with subtitles.
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20	Music/DavidBowie, one of the stars of ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'', references Mishima in the first verse of "Heat", from ''Music/TheNextDay''. The song's lyrics contain several images from Mishima's fiction.
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22	As a final interesting note, Mishima himself made a short, silent film called ''Patriotism'' in 1966, in which [[AuthorAvatar he plays the main character]]: a disgraced military officer. He also played the role of historical assassin Tanaka Shinbei in Hideo Gosha's 1969 film ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitokiri_(film) Hitokiri]]''. In a possible case of HarsherInHindsight or deliberate {{Foreshadowing}} on his part, he committed seppuku in both of those films as well.
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24	And yes, [[Franchise/{{Tekken}} The Mishima Clan]] are named after this guy.
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26	!Works by Yukio Mishima
27	* ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAMask'' (1949)
28	* ''Thirst for Love'' (1950)
29	* ''Forbidden Colors'' (1951; 1953)[[note]]published in two parts[[/note]]
30	* ''Death in Midsummer'' (1953)
31	* ''Literature/TheSoundOfWaves'' (1954)
32	* ''The Temple of the Golden Pavilion'' (1956)
33	* ''Kyoko's House'' (1959)
34	* ''After the Banquet'' (1960)
35	* "Star" (1960)
36	* ''Patriotism'' (1960)
37	* ''The Frolic of Beasts'' (1961)
38	* ''Literature/TheSailorWhoFellFromGraceWithTheSea'' (1963)
39	* "Ken" (1963)
40	* ''The School of Flesh'' (1964)
41	* ''Silk and Insight'' (1964)
42	* ''Acts of Worship'' (1965)
43	* ''Sun and Steel'' (1968)
44	* ''Life for Sale'' (1968)
45	* ''The Sea of Fertility'' tetralogy
46	** ''Spring Snow'' (1969)
47	** ''Runaway Horses'' (1969)
48	** ''The Temple of Dawn'' (1970)
49	** ''The Decay of the Angel'' (1971)
50	* A series of 8 modern ''Noh'' plays written between 1950 and 1955. The first five below are collected in ''Five Modern Noh Plays'', trans. Donald Keene.
51	** ''Kantan''
52	** ''The Damask Drum'' (''Aya no tsuzumi'')
53	** ''Sotoba Komachi''
54	** ''The Lady Aoi'' (''Aoi no ue'')
55	** ''Hanjo''
56	** ''Dojoji'' (collected in ''Death in Midsummer: and other stories'', trans. Donald Keene)
57	** ''Yuya''
58	** ''Yoroboshi''

Context Creator / YukioMishima