Yukio Mishima

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Yukio Mishima
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Yukio Mishima was born in Tokyo in 1925. His
birth name is Kimitaka Hiraoka. He changed it so
his anti-literary father would not know that he
wrote. Mishima was raised mostly by his
paternalgrandmother. He was a sickly youthand
dedicated most of his time to writing.
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Mishimas writing was first published in high
school and he continued to publish regularly,
mostly poetry. During World War II, he was
excused from military service and worked in a
factory.
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Mishima was plagued his whole life for not having
fought in the war and shamefully survived when so
many others had been killed.
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Mishima published Sound of Waves in 1954. In
Japanese, the novel is titled Shiosai. The
novels setting,Uta-Jima or SongIsland, is
based on the real island of Kami-shima.
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Kami-shima is a small island in the gulf of Ise.
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(No Transcript)
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Pictures of Kami-shima
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At the shrine there is a torii guarded by a
pair of stone temple dogs (4). They look
something like this
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Mishima was nominated for the Nobel Prize for
literature three times. He has published over
50 novels, collections of poetry, and
essays. He is considered one of the greatest
modern Japanese writers.
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Besides Sound of Waves, he is well known for two
additional works

• The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956)

• The tetralogy (four book set) The Sea of
  Fertility (1965-1970)

• Esquire magazine hailed him as the
  Hemingway of Japan.

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Around the age of forty, Mishima became very
interested in the revival of Japanese culture. He
studied marshal arts, samurai culture, and became
a supporter of the Emperor. By the end of 1966,
Mishima was among like minded people who were
also attracted to the patriotism of Imperial
Japan.
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In 1968, Mishima founded the Shield Society, or
Tate no Kai. It was a group dedicated to the
revival of Bushido, or the samurai knightly
code of honor.
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By 1970, Mishima protested for a stronger role
for the Japanese government. His Shield Society
became highly visible and controversial. Along
with a student leader of the Shield Society,
Masakatsu Morita, Mishima planned on a course of
extreme action
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Early in the morning of November 25th, 1970,
Mishima put the final chapter of his tetralogy,
The Sea of Fertility, in an addressed envelop and
went to the headquarters of the Eastern Army with
the student Morita. Mishima read a speech from
the balconyin an effort to rouse thetroops to
rise up and saveJapan. He was jeered atand
ignored.
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Mishima entered the office of General
Kanetoshi Mashita, cried Long live His Majesty
the Emperor! three times, and then committed
seppuku, or ritual suicide. Mishima did this
out of funshi, or expressing indignation at a
situation
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• The student, Morita, tried three times to
  ritually behead Mishima but couldnt.
• The head was finally severed by another person
  in the room, but not wellhis jaw was hit instead
  of a clean cut.
• Remember that seppuku is a highly ritualized
  act, considered an honor and art, not to be
  confused with hari-kari.

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Morita, only 25 years old, then committed
seppuku. Although the cut was too shallow to be
fatal, he too was beheaded on his signal. Refer
to the seppuku reading for more information,
but first
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1. Where was Mishima born?
2. What was the reason Kimitaka Hiraoka wrote
as Yukio Mishima?
3. What did Mishima do during World War II?
4. What is the Japanese title of Sound of Waves?
5. True or False Uta-Jima, the setting of Sound
of Waves, is based on a real Japanese island?
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6. What letter represents the location of Kami-
shima, the real island that Uta-jima is based
on?
D
C
A
B
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7. Name a novel or the title of a series of books
other than Sound of Waves that Mishima is
known for.
8. True or False Mishima supported a stronger
role for the Emperor in Japanese government.
9. What was the name of the society that
Mishima formed in order to promote honor?
10. What is the term for the samurai knightly
code of honor?
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11. Who is this
12. In regard to Mishima, explain what
happened on November 25th, 1970.
The End