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'' |
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