Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威,Hiraoka Kimitake; 14 January 1925 – 25 November 1970), known by hispen nameYukio Mishima[a] (三島由紀夫,Mishima Yukio), was a Japanese writer, playwright, actor, martial artist,[7] model, and the leader of an attemptedcoup d'état that culminated in hisseppuku.
Mishima's political activities made him a controversial figure; he remains so in Japan to the present day.[10][11][12][13] From his mid-30s onwards, Mishima'sfar-right ideology andreactionary beliefs became increasingly evident.[13][14][15] He extolled the traditional culture and spirit of Japan, and opposed what he saw asWestern-stylematerialism, along withJapan's postwar democracy,globalism, andcommunism, worrying that by embracing these ideas the Japanese people would lose their "national essence" (kokutai) and distinctive cultural heritage to become a "rootless" people.[16][17][18]
In 1968, Mishima formed theTatenokai ("Shield Society"), a private militia, for the purpose of protecting the dignity ofthe emperor as a symbol of national identity.[19][20][21][22] On 25 November 1970, Mishima and four members of his militia entered a military base incentral Tokyo, took its commandant hostage, and unsuccessfully tried to inspire theJapan Self-Defense Forces to rise up and overthrowArticle 9 of the1947 Constitution to restore autonomous national defense[23][24][25][17] and the divinity of the emperor.[25][17] The incident ended with Mishima's death byseppuku, which had been planned.[24][25]
Mishima in his childhood (April 1931, at the age of 6)
On 14 January 1925, Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫,Mishima Yukio) was born Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威,Hiraoka Kimitake) in Nagazumi-cho, Yotsuya-ku ofTokyo City (now part ofYotsuya,Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo). His father was Azusa Hiraoka (平岡梓), a government official in theMinistry of Agriculture and Commerce.[26] His mother, Shizue (平岡倭文重), was the daughter of the 5th principal of theKaisei Academy. Shizue's father, Kenzō Hashi (橋健三), was a scholar of theChinese classics, and the Hashi family had served theMaeda clan for generations inKaga Domain. Mishima's paternal grandparents wereSadatarō Hiraoka, the third Governor-General ofKarafuto Prefecture, and Natsuko (family register name: Natsu) (平岡なつ). Mishima received his birth name Kimitake (公威, also readKōi inon-yomi) in honor ofFuruichi Kōi who was a benefactor of Sadatarō.[27] He had a younger sister, Mitsuko (平岡美津子), who died oftyphoid fever in 1945 at the age of 17, and a younger brother, Chiyuki (平岡千之).[28][29]
Mishima's childhood home was a rented house, though a fairly large two-floor house that was the largest in the neighborhood. He lived with his parents, siblings and paternal grandparents, as well as six maids, a houseboy, and a manservant.
Mishima's early childhood was dominated by the presence of his grandmother, Natsuko, who took the boy and separated him from his immediate family for several years.[30] She was the granddaughter ofMatsudaira Yoritaka, thedaimyō ofShishido, which was a branch domain ofMito Domain inHitachi Province;[b] this relationship made Mishima a descendant ofTokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of theTokugawa Shogunate, through his grandmother.[31][32][33] Natsuko's father, Nagai Iwanojō (永井岩之丞), had been aSupreme Court justice, and Iwanojō's adoptive father,Nagai Naoyuki, had been abannerman of the Tokugawa House during theBakumatsu.[31] Natsuko had been raised in the household ofPrince Arisugawa Taruhito, and she maintained considerable aristocratic pretensions even after marrying Sadatarō, a bureaucrat who had made his fortune in the newly opened colonial frontier in the north, and who eventually became Governor-General of Karafuto Prefecture onSakhalin Island.[34] Sadatarō's father, Takichi Hiraoka (平岡太吉), and grandfather, Tazaemon Hiraoka (平岡太左衛門), had been farmers.[31][c] Natsuko was prone to violent outbursts, occasionally alluded to in Mishima's works,[36] to which some biographers have traced Mishima's fascination with death.[37] She did not allow Mishima to venture into the sunlight, engage in any kind of sport, or play with other boys. He spent much of his time either alone or with female cousins and their dolls.[38][36]
Mishima's father, Azusa, had a taste for military discipline, and worried Natsuko's style of childrearing was too soft. When Mishima was returned to his immediate family at the age of 12, Azusa employed extreme parenting tactics, such as holding young Mishima up close to the side of a speeding steam locomotive.[39][40][41] He also raided his son's room for evidence of an "effeminate" interest in literature, and often ripped his son's manuscripts apart.[42][43] Although Azusa forbade him from writing any further stories, Mishima continued to write in secret, supported and protected by his mother, who was always the first to read a new story.[42][43]
When Mishima was 13, Natsuko took him to see his firstKabuki play:The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, an allegory of the story of the47 Rōnin. He was later taken to his firstNoh play (Miwa, a story featuringAmano-Iwato) by his maternal grandmother Tomi Hashi (橋トミ). From these early experiences, Mishima became addicted toKabuki andNoh. He began attending performances every month and grew deeply interested in thesetraditional Japanese dramatic art forms.[44][45]
Mishima's self-portrait drawn in junior high school
Mishima was enrolled at the age of six in the eliteGakushūin, the Peers' School in Tokyo, which had been established in theMeiji period to educate the Imperial family and the descendants of the old feudal nobility.[46] Mishima began to write his first stories aged 12, taking inspiration frommyths (Kojiki,Greek mythology, etc.) and the works of numerous classic Japanese authors, as well asRaymond Radiguet,Jean Cocteau,Oscar Wilde,Rainer Maria Rilke,Thomas Mann,Friedrich Nietzsche,Charles Baudelaire,l'Isle-Adam, and other European authors. He also studiedGerman. After six years as a pupil, he became the youngest member of the editorial board of its literary society. Mishima was particularly drawn to the works of Japanese poet Shizuo Itō (伊東静雄),Haruo Satō, andMichizō Tachihara, who inspired Mishima's appreciation of classical Japanesewaka poetry. Mishima's early contributions to the Gakushūin literary magazineHojinkai-zasshi (輔仁会雑誌)[d] includedhaiku andwaka poetry before he turned his attention to prose.[47]
In 1941, at the age of 16, Mishima was invited to write a short story for theHojinkai-zasshi, where he submittedForest in Full Bloom (花ざかりの森,Hanazakari no Mori), a story in which the narrator describes the feeling that his ancestors somehow still live on within him. The story displays several metaphors and aphorisms that would become Mishima's hallmarks.[e] He also sent a copy of the manuscript to his teacher Fumio Shimizu (清水文雄), who was so impressed that he and his fellow editorial board members decided to publish it in their literary magazineBungei Bunka (文藝文化).[50]
In order to protect him from potential backlash from Azusa, Shimizu and the other editorial board members coined the pen-name Yukio Mishima.[50] They took "Mishima" fromMishima Station, which Shimizu and his fellowBungei Bunka board memberHasuda Zenmei passed through on their way to the editorial meeting, which was held inIzu, Shizuoka. The name "Yukio" came fromyuki (雪), the Japanese word for "snow", because of the snow they saw onMount Fuji as the train passed.[50] The story was later published as a limited book edition (4,000 copies) in 1944 due to a wartime paper shortage. Mishima had it published as a keepsake to remember him by, as he assumed that he would die in the war.[51][52]
In the editorial notes ofBungei Bunka magazine in 1941, when this debut work was serialized, Hasuda praised Mishima's genius: "This youthful author is a heaven-sent child of eternal Japanese history. He is much younger than we are, but has arrived on the scene already quite mature."[53] Hasuda, who became something of a mentor to Mishima, was an ardent nationalist and a fan ofMotoori Norinaga (1730–1801), a scholar ofkokugaku from theEdo period who preachedJapanese traditional values and devotion to the emperor.[54] Hasuda had previously fought for the Imperial Japanese Army in China in 1938, and in 1943 he was recalled to active service for deployment as a first lieutenant in the Southeast Asian theater.[55] At a farewell party thrown for Hasuda by theBungei Bunka group, Hasuda offered the following parting words to Mishima: "I have entrusted the future of Japan to you." According to Mishima, these words were deeply meaningful to him, and had a profound effect on the future course of his life.[56][57][58]
Later in 1941, Mishima wrote an essay about his deep devotion toShintō, titledThe Way of the Gods (惟神之道,Kannagara no michi).[59] Mishima's storyThe Cigarette (煙草,Tabako), published in 1946, describes a homosexual love he felt at school and being teased from members of the school'srugby union club because he belonged to the literary society. Another story from 1954,The Boy Who Wrote Poetry (詩を書く少年,Shi o kaku shōnen), was similarly based on Mishima's memories of his time at Gakushūin Junior High School.[60]
On 9 September 1944, Mishima graduated Gakushūin High School at the top of the class, becoming a graduate representative.[61][62] EmperorHirohito was present at the graduation ceremony, with Mishima later receiving a silver watch from him at the Imperial Household Ministry.[61][62][63][64]
On 27 April 1944, during the final years of World War II, Mishima received adraft notice for theImperial Japanese Army, barely passing his conscription examination on 16 May 1944 with a less desirable rating of "second class" conscript. Scholars have argued that Mishima's failure to receive a "first class" rating on his conscription examination (reserved only for the most physically fit recruits), in combination with the illness which led him to be erroneously declared unfit for duty, contributed to an inferiority complex over his frail constitution that later led to his obsession with physical fitness and bodybuilding.[65]
Mishima had a cold during his medical check on convocation day (10 February 1945), which the army doctor misdiagnosed astuberculosis; Mishima was consequently declared unfit for service and sent home.[66][67][68] Mishima would later hint in his quasi-autobiographical novelConfessions of a Mask (1949) that he might have lied to the doctor in order to secure the misdiagnosis.[69] Mishima wrote:
Why had I looked so frank as I lied to the army doctor? Why had I said that I'd been having a slight fever for over half a year, that my shoulder was painfully stiff, that I spit blood, that even last night I had been soaked by a night sweat?...Why when sentenced to return home the same day had I felt the pressure of a smile come pushing so persistently at my lips that I had difficulty in concealing it? Why had I run so when I was through the barracks gate? Hadn't my hopes been blasted? What was the matter that I hadn't hung my head and trudged away with heavy feet? I realized vividly that my future life would never attain heights of glory sufficient to justify my having escaped death in the army...[69][70]
The veracity of this account is impossible to know for certain, but what is unquestionable is that Mishima did not speak out against the doctor's diagnosis of tuberculosis.[71][72] Researchers have speculated that Mishima's guilt at allowing himself to escape death in the war left a lasting impression on his life and writing, possibly contributing to his later suicide.[71][72]
The day before his failed medical examination, Mishima had written a farewell message to his family, ending with the words "Long live the Emperor!" (天皇陛下万歳,Tennō heika banzai), including hair and nail clippings as mementos for his parents.[67][73] The unit that Mishima would have enlisted in was eventually sent to thePhilippines, with few survivors.[66][68] Mishima's parents were ecstatic that he did not have to go to war, but Mishima's mood was harder to read, and Mishima's mother overheard him express a wish that he could have joined a "Special Attack" unit.[67][68] He also expressed an admiration forkamikaze pilots and other "special attack" units.[74][75][76] In a 21 April 1945 letter to a friend, Mishima wrote:
It was through the kamikazes that "modern man" has finally been able to grasp the dawning of the "present day", or perhaps better said, "our historical era" in a true sense, and for the first time the intellectual class, which until now had been the illegitimate child of modernity, became the legitimate heir of history. I believe that all of this is thanks to the kamikazes. This is the reason why the entire cultural class of Japan, and all people of culture around the world, should kneel before the kamikazes and offer up prayers of gratitude.[77][74][76]
Mishima was deeply affected by Emperor Hirohito'sradio broadcast announcing Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, vowing to protect Japanese cultural traditions and to help to rebuild Japanese culture after the destruction of the war.[78][79][80] He wrote in his diary, "Only by preserving Japanese irrationality will we be able contribute to world culture 100 years from now."[81][82][83]
Mishima at age 19, with his sister at age 16(on 9 September 1944)
Four days after Japan's surrender, Mishima's mentor Zenmei Hasuda, who had been drafted and deployed to the Malay peninsula, shot and killed his superior officer, who blamed Japan's defeat on the Emperor.[84] Hasuda had long suspected the officer to be a Korean spy.[84] After shooting him, Hasuda turned his pistol on himself.[84] Mishima learned of the incident a year later and contributed poetry in Hasuda's honor at a memorial service in November 1946.[84] On 23 October 1945 (Showa 20), Mishima's beloved younger sister Mitsuko died suddenly at the age of 17 fromtyphoid fever after drinking untreated water.[85][86] Around the same time, he also learned that Kuniko Mitani (三谷邦子), a classmate's sister whom he had hoped to marry, was engaged to another man.[87][88][f] Mishima used these events as inspiration and motivation for his later literary work.[90][91][92][87]
At the end of the war, his father Azusa "half-allowed" Mishima to become a novelist. He was worried that his son would become a professional novelist, preferring instead that his son follow in the footsteps of himself and Mishima's grandfather Sadatarō and become a bureaucrat. To this end, he advised his son to enroll in the Faculty of Law instead of the literature department.[93] Attending lectures during the day and writing at night, Mishima graduated from theUniversity of Tokyo in 1947. He obtained a position in theMinistry of Finance and was set for a promising career as a government bureaucrat. However, after just one year of employment, Mishima had exhausted himself so much that his father agreed to allow him to resign from his post and devote himself to writing full time.[94]
In 1945, Mishima began the short story "A Story at the Cape" (岬にての物語,Misaki nite no Monogatari) and continued to work on it throughout World War II. After the war, the story was praised by poet Shizuo Itō (伊東静雄), whom Mishima respected.[95][96]
Mishima with his cat (Asahigraph, 12 May 1948 issue). He was known as a cat-lover.[97][98] Yōko (his wife) was jealous of his pet cat, and disliked him petting it.[97][98]
After Japan's defeat in World War II, the country wasoccupied by the U.S.-ledAllied Powers. At the urging of the occupation authorities, many people who held important posts in various fields werepurged from public office. The media and publishing industry were also censored, and were not allowed to engage in forms of expression reminiscent of wartime Japanese nationalism.[g] In addition, literary figures, including many of those who had been close to Mishima before the end of the war, were branded "war criminal literary figures". In response, many prominent literary figures became leftists, joined theCommunist Party as a reaction against wartime militarism, and began writingsocialist realist literature that might support the cause of socialist revolution.[101] These newly converted leftists held great influence in the Japanese literary world immediately following the end of the war, which Mishima found difficult to accept, and he denounced them as "opportunists" in letters to friends.[102][103][104] Although Mishima was just 20 years old at this time, he worried that his type of literature, based on the 1930sJapanese Romantic School (日本浪曼派,Nihon Rōman Ha), had already become obsolete.[105][106]
Mishima had heard that the famed writerYasunari Kawabata had praised his work before the end of the war. Uncertain of who else to turn to, Mishima took the manuscripts forThe Middle Ages (中世,Chūsei) andThe Cigarette (煙草,Tabako) with him, visited Kawabata inKamakura, and asked for his advice and assistance in January 1946.[107][108] Kawabata was impressed, and in June 1946, following Kawabata's recommendation,The Cigarette was published in the new literary magazineHumanity (人間,Ningen), followed byThe Middle Ages in December 1946.[109]The Middle Ages is set in Japan's historicalMuromachi Period and explores the motif ofshudō (man-boy love) against a backdrop of the death of the ninthAshikaga shogunAshikaga Yoshihisa in battle at the age of 25, and his fatherAshikaga Yoshimasa's resultant sadness. The story features the fictional character Kikuwaka, a beautiful teenage boy who was beloved by both Yoshihisa and Yoshimasa, who fails in an attempt to follow Yoshihisa in death by committing suicide. Thereafter, Kikuwaka devotes himself to spiritualism in an attempt to heal Yoshimasa's sadness by allowing Yoshihisa's ghost to possess his body, and eventually dies in adouble-suicide with amiko (shrine maiden) who falls in love with him. Mishima wrote the story in an elegant style drawing uponmedieval Japanese literature and theRyōjin Hishō, a collection of medievalimayō songs. This elevated writing style and the homosexual motif suggest the germ of Mishima's later aesthetics.[109] Later in 1948 Kawabata, who praised this work,[110] published an autobiographical workBoy (少年,Shōnen) describing his experience of falling in love for the first time with a boy two years his junior.[111][112]
Mishima aged 28(in January 1953)
In 1946, Mishima began his first novel,Thieves (盗賊,Tōzoku), a story about two young members of the aristocracy drawn towards suicide. It was published in 1948, and placed Mishima in the ranks of theSecond Generation of Postwar Writers. The following year, he publishedConfessions of a Mask, a semi-autobiographical account of a young homosexual man who hides behind a mask to fit into society. The novel was extremely successful and made Mishima a celebrity at the age of 24. In 1947, a brief encounter withOsamu Dazai, a popular novelist known for his suicidal themes, left a lasting impression on him.[113] Around 1949, Mishima also published a literary essay about Kawabata, for whom he had always held a deep appreciation, inModern Literature (近代文学,Kindai Bungaku).[114]
Mishima enjoyed international travel. In 1952, he took a world tour and published his travelogue asThe Cup of Apollo (アポロの杯,Aporo no Sakazuki). He visitedGreece during his travels, a place which had fascinated him since childhood. His visit to Greece became the basis for his 1954 novelThe Sound of Waves, which drew inspiration from theGreek legend ofDaphnis and Chloe. The Sound of Waves, set on the small island of "Kami-shima" where a traditional Japanese lifestyle continued to be practiced, depicts a pure, simple love between a fisherman and afemale pearl and abalone diver. Although the novel became a best-seller, leftists criticized it for "glorifying old-fashioned Japanese values", and some people began calling Mishima a "fascist".[115][116][117] Looking back on these attacks in later years, Mishima wrote, "The ancient community ethics portrayed in this novel were attacked by progressives at the time, but no matter how much the Japanese people changed, these ancient ethics lurk in the bottom of their hearts. We have gradually seen this proven to be the case."[118]
Mishima made use of contemporary events in many of his works.The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, published in 1956, is a fictionalization of the burning down of theKinkaku-ji Buddhist temple inKyoto in 1950 by a mentally disturbed monk.[119]
In 1959, Mishima published the artistically ambitious novelKyōko no Ie. The novel tells the interconnected stories of four young men who represented four different facets of Mishima's personality. His athletic side appears as a boxer, his artistic side as a painter, his narcissistic, theatrical side as an actor, and his secretive, nihilistic side as a businessman who goes through the motions of living a normal life while practicing "absolute contempt for reality". According to Mishima, he was attempting to describe the time around 1955 in the novel, when Japan was entering into its era ofhigh economic growth and the phrase "The postwar is over" was prevalent.[h] Mishima explained, "Kyōko no Ie is, so to speak, my research into the nihilism within me."[121][122] Although the novel was well received by a small number of critics from the same generation as Mishima and sold 150,000 copies in a month, it was widely panned in broader literary circles,[123][124] and was rapidly branded as Mishima's first "failed work".[125][124] It was Mishima's first major setback as an author, and the book's disastrous reception came as a harsh psychological blow.[126][127][128]
Until 1960, Mishima had not written works that were seen as especially political.[123] In the summer of 1960, Mishima became interested in the massiveAnpo protests against an attempt by U.S.-backed Prime MinisterNobusuke Kishi to revise theTreaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan (known as "Anpo" in Japanese) in order to cement theU.S.–Japan military alliance into place.[129] Although he did not directly participate in the protests, he often went out in the streets to observe the protestors in action and kept extensive newspaper clippings covering the protests.[130] In June 1960, at the climax of the protest movement, Mishima wrote a commentary in theMainichi Shinbun newspaper, entitled "A Political Opinion".[131] In the critical essay, he argued that leftist groups such as theZengakuren student federation, theSocialist Party, and theCommunist Party were falsely wrapping themselves in the banner of "defending democracy" and using the protest movement to further their own ends.[132][133][134] Mishima warned against the dangers of the Japanese people following ideologues who told lies with honeyed words.[132][133] Although Mishima criticized Kishi as a "nihilist" who had subordinated himself to the United States, Mishima concluded that he would rather vote for a strong-willed realist "with neither dreams nor despair" than a mendacious but eloquent ideologue.[132][133]
Shortly after the Anpo Protests ended, Mishima began writing one of his most famous short stories,Patriotism, glorifying the actions of a young right-wing ultranationalist Japanese army officer who commits suicide after a failed revolt against the government during theFebruary 26 incident.[131] The following year, he published the first two parts of his three-part playTenth-Day Chrysanthemum (十日の菊,Tōka no kiku), which celebrates the actions of the 26 February revolutionaries.[131]
Mishima's newfound interest in contemporary politics shaped his novelAfter the Banquet, also published in 1960, which so closely followed the events surrounding politicianHachirō Arita's campaign to become governor of Tokyo that Mishima was sued forinvasion of privacy.[135] The next year, Mishima publishedThe Frolic of the Beasts, a parody of the classical Noh playMotomezuka, written in the 14th-century by playwrightKiyotsugu Kan'ami. In 1962, Mishima produced his most artisticallyavant-garde workBeautiful Star, which at times comes close to science fiction. Although the novel received mixed reviews from the literary world, prominent criticTakeo Okuno singled it out for praise as part of a new breed of novels that was overthrowing longstanding literary conventions in the tumultuous aftermath of the Anpo Protests. AlongsideKōbō Abe'sWoman of the Dunes, published that same year, Okuno consideredA Beautiful Star an "epoch-making work" which broke free of literary taboos and preexisting notions of what literature should be in order to explore the author's personal creativity.[136]
In 1965, Mishima wrote the playMadame de Sade that explores the complex figure of theMarquis de Sade, traditionally upheld as an exemplar of vice, through a series of debates between six female characters, including the Marquis' wife, the Madame de Sade. At the end of the play, Mishima offers his own interpretation of what he considered to be one of the central mysteries of the de Sade story—the Madame de Sade's unstinting support for her husband while he was in prison and her sudden decision to renounce him upon his release.[137][138] Mishima's play was inspired in part by his friendTatsuhiko Shibusawa's 1960 Japanese translation of the Marquis de Sade's novelJuliette and a 1964 biography Shibusawa wrote of de Sade.[139] Shibusawa's sexually explicit translation became the focus of a sensational obscenity trial remembered in Japan as the "Juliette Case" (サド裁判,Sado saiban), which was ongoing as Mishima wrote the play.[137] In 1994,Madame de Sade was evaluated as the "greatest drama in the history of postwar theater" by Japanese theater criticism magazineTheater Arts (シアター・アーツ).[140][141]
Mishima was considered for theNobel Prize for Literature in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968 (he andRudyard Kipling are both the youngest nominees in history),[142] and was a favorite of many foreign publications.[143] However, in 1968 his early mentor Kawabata won the Nobel Prize and Mishima realized that the chances of it being given to another Japanese author in the near future were slim.[144] In a work published in 1970, Mishima wrote that the writers he paid most attention to in modern western literature wereGeorges Bataille,Pierre Klossowski, andWitold Gombrowicz.[145]
Mishima was featured as the photo model in the photographerEikoh Hosoe's bookBa-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses (薔薇刑,Bara-kei), as well as inTamotsu Yatō's photobooksYoung Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan (体道～日本のボディビルダーたち,Taidō: Nihon no bodybuilder tachi) andOtoko: Photo Studies of the Young Japanese Male (男,Otoko). The American authorDonald Richie gave an eyewitness account of seeing Mishima, dressed in a loincloth and armed with a sword, posing in the snow for one of Tamotsu Yatō's photoshoots.[149]
In the men's magazineHeibon Punch, to which Mishima had contributed various essays and criticisms, he won first place in the "Mr. Dandy" reader popularity poll in 1967 with 19,590 votes, beating second placeToshiro Mifune by 720 votes.[150] In the next reader popularity poll, "Mr. International", Mishima ranked second behind French PresidentCharles de Gaulle.[150] At that time in the late 1960s, Mishima was the first celebrity to be described as a "superstar" (sūpāsutā) by the Japanese media.[151]
In 1955, Mishima took upweight training to overcome his weak constitution, and his strictly observed workout regimen of three sessions per week was not disrupted for the final 15 years of his life. In his 1968 essaySun and Steel,[152] Mishima deplored the emphasis given by intellectuals to the mind over the body. He later became very skilled (5th Dan) atkendo (traditional Japanese swordsmanship), and became 2nd Dan inbattōjutsu, and1st Dan inkarate. In 1956, he triedboxing for a short period of time. In the same year, he developed an interest inUFOs and became a member of the "Japan Flying Saucer Research Association" (日本空飛ぶ円盤研究会,Nihon soratobu enban kenkyukai).[153]
In 1954, he fell in love with Sadako Toyoda (豊田貞子), who became the model for main characters inThe Sunken Waterfall (沈める滝,Shizumeru taki) andThe Seven Bridges (橋づくし,Hashi zukushi).[154] Mishima hoped to marry her, but they broke up in 1957.[155][156] After briefly considering marriage withMichiko Shōda, who later marriedCrown Prince Akihito and became Empress Michiko,[157] Mishima married Yōko (瑤子; née Sugiyama), the daughter of the Japanese-style painterYasushi Sugiyama, on 1 June 1958.[158] The couple had two children: a daughter named Noriko (紀子) (born 2 June 1959) and a son named Iichirō (威一郎) (born 2 May 1962).[159] Noriko eventually married the diplomatKoji Tomita.[160]
While working on his novelForbidden Colors, Mishima visitedgay bars in Japan.[161] Mishima's sexual orientation was an issue that bothered his wife, and she always denied his homosexuality after his death.[162] In 1998, the writer Jirō Fukushima (福島次郎) published an account of his relationship with Mishima in 1951, including fifteen letters (not love letters) from Mishima.[163] Mishima's children successfully sued Fukushima and the publisher for copyright violation over the use of Mishima's letters.[164][165][166] The publisherBungeishunjū had argued that the contents of the letters were "practical correspondence" rather than copyrighted works. However, the ruling for the plaintiffs declared, "In addition to clerical content, these letters describe the Mishima's own feelings, his aspirations, and his views on life, in different words from those in his literary works."[167][i]
In February 1961, Mishima became embroiled in the aftermath of theShimanaka incident. In 1960, the authorShichirō Fukazawa had published the satirical short storyThe Tale of an Elegant Dream (風流夢譚,Fūryū Mutan) in the mainstream magazineChūō Kōron. It contained a dream sequence (in which the Emperor and Empress are beheaded by a guillotine) that led to outrage from right-wing ultra-nationalist groups, and numerous death threats against Fukazawa, any writers believed to have been associated with him, andChūō Kōron magazine itself.[172] On 1 February 1961,Kazutaka Komori, a seventeen-year-old rightist, broke into the home ofHōji Shimanaka, the president ofChūō Kōron, killed his maid with a knife and severely wounded his wife.[173] In the aftermath, Fukazawa went into hiding, and dozens of writers and literary critics, including Mishima, were provided with round-the-clock police protection for several months;[174] Mishima was included because a rumor became widespread that Mishima had personally recommendedThe Tale of an Elegant Dream for publication, and even though he repeatedly denied the claim, he received hundreds of death threats.[174] In later years, Mishima harshly criticized Komori, arguing that those who harm women and children are neither patriots nor traditional right-wingers, and that an assassination attempt should be a one-on-one confrontation with the victim at the risk of the assassin's life.[175][176][177] Mishima also argued that it was the custom of traditional Japanese patriots (such asOtoya Yamaguchi) to immediately commit suicide after committing an assassination.[175][176][177]
In 1963, "The Harp of Joy Incident" (喜びの琴事件,Yorokobi no Koto Jiken) occurred within the theatrical troupeBungakuza, to which Mishima belonged. He wrote a play titledThe Harp of Joy (喜びの琴,Yorokobi no koto), but star actressHaruko Sugimura and otherCommunist Party-affiliated actors refused to perform because the protagonist heldanti-communist views and mentioned criticism about a conspiracy ofworld communism in his lines.[178] As a result of this ideological conflict, Mishima quit Bungakuza and later formed the troupe Neo Littérature Théâtre (劇団NLT,Gekidan NLT) with playwrights and actors who had quit Bungakuza along with him, including Seiichi Yashio (矢代静一), Takeo Matsuura (松浦竹夫), andNobuo Nakamura.[178][179] When Neo Littérature Théâtre experienced a schism in 1968, Mishima formed another troupe, the Roman Theatre (浪曼劇場,Rōman Gekijō), and worked with Matsuura and Nakamura again.[180][181][182]
During the1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Mishima interviewed various athletes every day and wrote articles as a newspaper correspondent.[183][184] He had eagerly anticipated the long-awaited return of the Olympics to Japan after the1940 Tokyo Olympics were cancelled due to Japan's war in China. Mishima expressed his excitement in his report on the opening ceremonies: "It can be said that ever sinceLafcadio Hearn called the Japanese "the Greeks of the Orient", the Olympics were destined to be hosted by Japan someday."[185]
Mishima hatedRyokichi Minobe, who was a socialist and the governor of Tokyo beginning in 1967.[186] Influential persons in the conservativeLiberal Democratic Party (LDP), includingTakeo Fukuda andKiichi Aichi, had been Mishima's superiors during his time at theMinistry of Finance, and Prime MinisterEisaku Satō came to know Mishima because his wife, Hiroko, was a fan of Mishima's work. Based on these connections LDP officials solicited Mishima to run for the LDP as governor of Tokyo against Minobe, but Mishima had no intention of becoming a politician.[186]
Mishima was a fan of science fiction, contending that "science fiction will be the first literature to completely overcome modern humanism".[194] He praisedArthur C. Clarke'sChildhood's End in particular. While acknowledging "inexpressible unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings after reading it," he declared, "I'm not afraid to call it a masterpiece."[195]
In February 1967, Mishima joined his fellow-authorsYasunari Kawabata,Kōbō Abe, andJun Ishikawa in issuing a statement condemning China'sCultural Revolution for suppressing academic and artistic freedom.[201][202] However, only one Japanese newspaper carried the full text of their statement.[203]
In September 1967 Mishima and his wife visited India at the invitation of the Indian government. He traveled widely and met with Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi and PresidentZakir Hussain.[204] He left extremely impressed byIndian culture, and what he felt was the Indian people's determination to resistWesternization and protect traditional ways.[205] Mishima feared that his fellow Japanese were too enamored of modernization and Western-style materialism to protect traditional Japanese culture.[204] On his way home from India, Mishima also stopped inThailand andLaos; his experiences in the three nations became the basis for portions of his novelThe Temple of Dawn, the third in his tetralogyThe Sea of Fertility.[206]
In a series of critical essays in the late 1960s, Mishima exalted what he viewed as traditional Japanese values. In 1967, he publishedOnHagakure: The Samurai Ethic and Modern Japan (葉隠入門,Hagakure Nyūmon), an impassioned plea for a return tobushido, the putative "samurai code" of Japan's past.[207] Mishima praised theHagakure, a treatise on warrior virtues authored by the samuraiYamamoto Tsunetomo during theEdo period that valorized the warrior's willingness to die, as being at the core of his literary production and "the source of his vitality as a writer".[208][209] Mishima concluded,
WhatHagakure is insisting is that even a merciless death, a futile death that bears neither flower nor fruit, has dignity as the death of a human being. If we value so highly the dignity of life, how can we not also value the dignity of death? No death may be called futile.[207]
InOn the Defense of Culture (文化防衛論,Bunka bōei ron; 1968),[210] Mishima preached the centrality of the emperor to Japanese culture,[211] and argued that Japan'spostwar era was a time of flashy but ultimately hollow prosperity (a "Shōwa Genroku"), lacking any truly transcendent literary or poetic talents comparable to the 18th century masters of the originalGenroku era, such as the playwrightChikamatsu Monzaemon or the poetMatsuo Bashō.[212]
In 1968, Mishima wrote a play titledMy Friend Hitler, in which he depicted the historical figures ofAdolf Hitler,Gustav Krupp,Gregor Strasser, andErnst Röhm as mouthpieces to express his own views on fascism and beauty.[123] Mishima explained that after writing the all-female playMadame de Sade, he wanted to write a counterpart play with an all-male cast.[213] Mishima wrote ofMy Friend Hitler, "You may read this tragedy as an allegory of the relationship betweenŌkubo Toshimichi andSaigō Takamori" (two heroes of Japan'sMeiji Restoration who initially worked together but later had a falling out).[214] Given the play's provocative title, Mishima was repeatedly asked if he intended to express admiration or support for Hitler.[215] Mishima wrote in a program note,
To be honest, I feel a terrifying interest in Hitler, but if the question is whether I like or dislike him, I can only answer, I don't like him. Hitler was a political genius but was not a hero. He thoroughly lacked the refreshing, sunny quality indispensable to becoming a hero. Hitler is as gloomy as the twentieth century.[216]
That same year, he wroteLife for Sale, a humorous story about a man who, afterattempting suicide, advertises his life for sale.[217] In a review of the English translation, the novelistIan Thomson called it a "pulp noir" and a "sexy, camp delight", but also noted that, "beneath the hard-boiled dialogue and the gangster high jinks is a familiar indictment of consumerist Japan and a romantic yearning for the past."[218]
Like many other right-wingers, Mishima was extremely alarmed by the riots and revolutionary actions undertaken by radical "New Left" university students, whotook over dozens of college campuses in Japan in 1968 and 1969.[219] On 25 February 1968, he and several other right-wingers met at the editorial offices of the recently foundedminzoku-ha monthly magazineControversy Journal (論争ジャーナル,Ronsō jaanaru), where they pricked their little fingers and signed a blood oath promising to die if necessary to prevent a left-wing revolution from occurring in Japan.[220][221][222][223] Mishima showed his sincerity by signing his birth name, Kimitake Hiraoka, in his own blood.[220][222][223]
On 13 May 1969, Mishima accepted an invitation to debate with members of the Tokyo UniversityZenkyōtō on the university's Komaba campus. This debate lasted for 2.5 hours, with both Mishima and the students treating each other amiably and with respect, despite Mishima's initial fears that the students might kill him on the spot for his right-wing views.[224][225][l] At this debate, Mishima told the students, "As long as you refer to the Emperor as 'Emperor,' I will gladly join forces with you," but in the end the ideological differences between Mishima and the students could not be overcome. Mishima ended by saying, "I believe in your passion. I believe in this alone. Even if I believe in nothing else of yours, I want you to know that I believe in this alone."[226][227][228][229] In an essay written after the debate Mishima said that "they could not escape established leftist thinking" and that "the discussion was inevitably at a stalemate."[227][228][229] In this essay, Mishima argued that the supposedly revolutionary Zenkyōtō were themselves "weakening the roots of the revolutionary ideal in Japan" by rejecting the idea of the "Emperor", which Mishima claimed was also "a revolutionary ideal deeply rooted in the consciousness of the Japanese people."[227][228][229] Mishima's friends interpreted this essay as him expressing his disappointment with the Zenkyōtō.[228][m]
In these days, Mishima wrote many essays and gave many dialogues about Japan and Japanese culture. In a dialogue about what you would die for as a Japanese, he stated that "protecting freedom," "protecting democracy," or "protecting a certain political system" were "secondary issues," not essential issues, and that he could not imagine dying for them.[230][231][232] He argued that the ultimate values that should be protected were the "Three Sacred Treasures," which represent the identity of Japanese culture, and the Emperor.[230][231][232]
Throughout this period, Mishima continued to work on hismagnum opus,The Sea of Fertility tetralogy of novels, which began appearing in a monthly serialized format in September 1965.[233] The four completed novels wereSpring Snow (1969),Runaway Horses (1969),The Temple of Dawn (1970), andThe Decay of the Angel (published posthumously in 1971). Mishima aimed for a very long novel with a completely differentraison d'être from Western chronicle novels of the 19th and 20th centuries; rather than telling the story of a single individual or family, Mishima boldly set his goal as interpreting the entire human world.[234] InThe Sea of Fertility, four stories convey the transmigration of the human soul as the main character goes through a series of reincarnations.[234] Mishima hoped to express in literary terms something akin topantheism.[235] The novelistPaul Theroux blurbed the first edition of the English translation ofThe Sea of Fertility as "the most complete vision we have of Japan in the twentieth century" and critic Charles Solomon wrote in 1990 that "the four novels remain one of the outstanding works of 20th-Century literature and a summary of the author's life and work".[236]
From 12 April to 27 May 1967, Mishima underwent basic training with theGround Self-Defense Force (GSDF).[237] Mishima had originally lobbied to train with the GSDF for six months, but was met with resistance from the Defense Agency.[237] Mishima's training period was finalized to 46 days, which required using some of his connections.[237] His participation in GSDF training was kept secret, both because the Defense Agency did not want to give the impression that anyone was receiving special treatment, and because Mishima wanted to experience "real" military life.[237][238] Accordingly, Mishima trained under his birth name, Kimitake Hiraoka, and most of his fellow soldiers did not recognize him.[237]
From June 1967, Mishima became a leading figure in a plan to create a 10,000-man "Japan National Guard" (祖国防衛隊,Sokoku Bōeitai) as a civilian complement to theSelf-Defense Forces. He began leading groups of right-wing college students to undergo basic training with the GSDF in the hope of training 100 officers to lead the National Guard.[239][240][238]
Finding that his plan for a large-scale Japan National Guard with broad public and private support had failed to catch on,[241] Mishima formed theTatenokai ("Shield Society"), a private militia composed primarily of right-wing college students, on 5 October 1968. Mishima accepted no outside money, and funded the activities of the Tatenokai using royalties from his writing.[242][243][244] The Tatenokai primarily focused on martial training and physical fitness, including traditionalkendo sword-fighting and long-distance running.[245][246] Live-fire training was also conducted.[247] Mishima personally oversaw this training. Initial membership was around 50, and was drawn primarily from students fromWaseda University and individuals affiliated with theControversy Journal. The number of Tatenokai members was later increased to exactly 100.[248][239]
Mishima delivering his speech on the balcony, 25 November 1970
On 25 November 1970, Mishima and four members of the Tatenokai—Masakatsu Morita, Masahiro Ogawa (小川正洋), Masayoshi Koga (小賀正義), andHiroyasu Koga—used a pretext to visitLieutenant general Kanetoshi Mashita (益田兼利), the commandant of Camp Ichigaya (防衛省市ヶ谷地区), a military base in central Tokyo and the headquarters of the Eastern Command of theJapan Self-Defense Forces.[162] Once inside, they barricaded the door to Mashita's office and tied him to his chair. Mishima wore a whitehachimaki headband with a redhinomaru circle in the center bearing thekanji for "To be reborn seven times to serve the country" (七生報國,Shichishō hōkoku), a reference to the last words ofKusunoki Masasue, the younger brother of the 14th-century imperial loyalist samuraiKusunoki Masashige, as the two brothers died fighting to defend the emperor.[249]
Holding a prepared manifesto and a banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped out onto the balcony to address the soldiers gathered below. His speech was intended to inspire a coup d'état to restore direct rule to the emperor. He succeeded only in irritating the soldiers, and was heckled, with jeers and the noise of helicopters drowning out some parts of his speech. In his speech, Mishima rebuked the JSDF for their passive acceptance of a constitution that "denies (their) own existence" and shouted to rouse them, "Where has the spirit of thesamurai gone?" In a final written appealGeki that Morita and Ogawa scattered copies of from the balcony, Mishima expressed his dissatisfaction with the half-baked nature of the JSDF: "It is self-evident that the United States would not be pleased with a true Japanese volunteer army protecting the land of Japan."[23][250][251]
After he finished reading his prepared speech in a few minutes' time, Mishima cried out "Long live the Emperor!" (天皇陛下万歳,Tenno-heika banzai) three times. He then retreated into the commandant's office and apologized to the commandant, saying, "We did it to return the JSDF to the Emperor. I had no choice but to do this."[252][253][254] Mishima then committedseppuku, a form of ritual suicide by disembowelment associated with the samurai. Morita had been assigned to serve as Mishima's second (kaishakunin), cutting off his head with a sword at the end of the rite to spare him unnecessary pain. However, Morita proved unable to complete his task, and after three failed attempts to sever Mishima's head, Hiroyasu Koga had to step in and complete the task.[252][253][254]
According to the testimony of the surviving coup members, originally all four Tatenokai members had planned to commit seppuku along with Mishima.[255] However, Mishima attempted to dissuade them and three of the members acquiesced to his wishes.[255] Only Morita persisted, saying, "I can't let Mr. Mishima die alone."[255] But Mishima knew that Morita had a girlfriend and still hoped he might live. Just before his seppuku, Mishima tried one more time to dissuade him, saying "Morita, you must live, not die."[255][256][n][o] Nevertheless, after Mishima's seppuku, Morita knelt and stabbed himself in the abdomen and Koga acted askaishakunin again.[260] Another traditional element of the suicide ritual was the composition ofdeath poems by the Tatenokai members prior to their entry into the headquarters.[261]
Mishima had planned his suicide meticulously for at least a year, with no one outside a small group of hand-picked Tatenokai members knowing of his plans.[263][264] Mishima had made sure his affairs were in order and left money for the legal defense of the three surviving Tatenokai members involved in the incident.[264] Mishima had also arranged for a department store to send his two children Christmas gifts every year until they became adults,[265][266] and had asked a publisher to pay the long-term subscription fee for children's magazines in advance and deliver them every month.[267]
Much speculation has surrounded Mishima's suicide. One of Mishima's biographers, translatorJohn Nathan, suggests that the coup attempt was only a pretext for the ritual suicide of which Mishima had long dreamed.[268] Mishima's friend Henry Scott-Stokes, another biographer, noted a meeting with Mishima in his diary entry for 3 September 1970 at which Mishima, with a dark expression on his face, said:
Japan has lost its spiritual tradition, and instead has become infested with materialism. Japan is under the curse of a green snake. There is a green snake in the bosom of Japan. There is no way to escape this curse.[269][270]
In 1990, Scott-Stokes told Takao Tokuoka (徳岡孝夫), who was entrusted with theGeki by Mishima just before the Mishima Incident, that he understood the meaning of "green snake" was the U.S. dollar.[271]
One researcher has speculated that Mishima chose 25 November for his coup attempt in order to set his period ofbardo until his reincarnation, such that the 49th day after his death would coincide with his birthday, 14 January.[272] Mishima's remains were returned to his family the day after the incident, and were buried in the grave of the Hiraoka family atTama Cemetery on what would have been his 46th birthday, 14 January 1971.[273]
Mishima Yukio Literary Museum inYamanakako, Yamanashi
Mishima has been recognized as one of the world's most important literary persons of the 20th century.[274] Mishima wrote 34 novels, approximately 50 plays and 25 books ofshort stories, more than 35 books of essays, plus alibretto and one film.[275]
Grave of Yukio Mishima in Tama Cemetery. The inscription reads, "Grave of Hiraoka family".
The annualMishima Prize was established in 1998 by the literary publisherShinchōsha to recognise groundbreaking Japanese literature. On 3 July 1999, the "Yukio Mishima Literary Museum" (三島由紀夫文学館,Mishima Yukio Bungaku-kan) opened inYamanakako,Yamanashi Prefecture.[276]
TheMishima Incident helped inspire the formation of "New Right" (新右翼,shin uyoku) groups in Japan, such as the "Issuikai", founded by Tsutomu Abe (阿部勉), who was one of Tatenokai members and Mishima's follower. Compared to older pro-American, anti-communist groups such asBin Akao'sGreater Japan Patriotic Party, New Right groups such as the Issuikai tended to emphasize ethnic nationalism andanti-Americanism.[277]
A memorial servicedeathday for Mishima, called "Patriotism Memorial" (憂国忌,Yūkoku-ki), is held every year in Japan on 25 November by the "Yukio Mishima Study Group" (三島由紀夫研究会,Mishima Yukio Kenkyūkai), as well as former members of the "Japan Student Alliance" (日本学生同盟,Nihon Gakusei Dōmei).[278] A separate memorial service has also been held annually by former Tatenokai members from 1975 onwards, one year after Masahiro Ogawa, Masayoshi Koga, and Hiroyasu Koga were released on parole.[279]
A variety of cenotaphs and memorial stones have been erected in honor of Mishima's memory in various places around Japan. For example, stones have been erected at Hachiman Shrine inKakogawa City,Hyōgo Prefecture, where his grandfather's permanent domicile was;[280] in front of the 2nd company corps atJGSDF Camp Takigahara;[281] and in one of Mishima's acquaintance's home garden.[282] There is also a "Monument of Honor Yukio Mishima & Masakatsu Morita" in front of theRissho University Shonan High school inShimane Prefecture.[283]
In 2020, a documentary titledMishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō: the Truth Revealed 50 Years Later (三島由紀夫vs東大全共闘〜50年目の真実〜,Mishima Yukio vs Todai Zenkyōtō〜50 nen me no Sinjitsu) was released, based on the debate between Mishima and members of theTokyo UniversityZenkyōtō on 13 May 1969.
On 14 January 2025, commemorative events to mark the 100th anniversary of Mishima's birth was held at two halls in Tokyo, in which Eiko Muramatsu (村松英子), who was an actress of Mishima's troupe, andTadanori Yokoo, an acquaintance of Mishima, talked at each venue about their memories of him.[287][288]
In addition to contemporary-style plays such asMadame de Sade, Mishima wrote for two of the three genres of classical Japanese theatre:Noh andKabuki (as a proud Tokyoite, he would not even attend theBunraku puppet theatre, always associated withOsaka and the provinces).[297]
Though Mishima took themes, titles and characters from the Noh canon, his twists and modern settings, such as hospitals and ballrooms, startled audiences accustomed to the long-settled originals.
Mishima starred in multiple films.Patriotism was written and funded by himself, and he directed it in close cooperation with Masaki Domoto. Mishima also wrote a detailed account of the whole process, in which the particulars regarding costume, shooting expenses and the film's reception are delved into.Patriotism won the second prize at theTours International Short Film Festival in January 1966.[298][299]
Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses (薔薇刑) byEikō Hosoe and Mishima (photoerotic collection of images of Mishima, with his own commentary, 1963) (Aperture 2002ISBN0-89381-169-6)[300][301]
The Death of a Man (Otoko no shi (男の死)) by Kishin Shinoyama and Mishima (photo collection of death images of Japanese men including a sailor, a construction worker, a fisherman, and a soldier, those were Mishima did modeling in 1970) (Rizzoli 2020ISBN978-0-8478-6869-8)[304]
Yukio Mishima by Peter Wolfe ("reviews Mishima's life and times, discusses, his major works, and looks at important themes in his novels", 1989,ISBN0-8264-0443-X)[315]
Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, No 33) bySusan J. Napier (Harvard University Press, 1991ISBN0-674-26180-1)[316]
Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors byColin Wilson (Mishima profiled in context of phenomenon of various "outsider" Messiah types), (Hampton Roads Publishing Company 2000ISBN1-57174-175-5)
Yukio Mishima's Report to the Emperor by Richard Appignanesi (2003,ISBN978-0-9540476-6-5)
Keene, Donald (2003).Five Modern Japanese Novelists. New York: Columbia University Press.ISBN0-231-12610-7.
The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima by Jerry S. Piven. (Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers, 2004ISBN0-275-97985-7)[320]
Mishima's Sword – Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend by Christopher Ross (2006,ISBN0-00-713508-4)[321]
Mishima Reincarnation (Mishima tensei (三島転生)) byAkitomo Ozawa (小沢章友) (Popurasha, 2007,ISBN978-4-591-09590-4) – A story in which the spirit of Mishima, who died at the Ichigaya chutonchi, floating and looks back on his life.[322]
Portrait of the Author as a Historian by Alexander Lee – an analysis of the central political and social threads in Mishima's novels (pages 54–55 "History Today" April 2017)
Mishima, Aesthetic Terrorist: An Intellectual Portrait by Andrew Rankin (University of Hawaii Press, 2018,ISBN0-8248-7374-2)[326]
Exquisite Nothingness: The Novels of Yukio Mishima by David Vernon (Endellion Press, 2025,ISBN978-1739136130)
Mishima Yukio vs. Zenkyōtō of Tokyo University: the Truth revealed in the 50th year (三島由紀夫vs東大全共闘〜50年目の真実〜) (2020), a documentary film directed byKeisuke Toyoshima (豊島圭介)[330]
Harakiri, byPéter Eötvös (1973). An opera music composed based on the Japanese translation ofIstván Bálint's poetryHarakiri that inspired by Mishima's hara-kiri. This work is included inRyoko Aoki (青木涼子)'s albumNoh x Contemporary Music (能×現代音楽) in June 2014.[331]
String Quartet No.3, "Mishima", byPhilip Glass. A reworking of parts of his soundtrack for the filmMishima: A Life in Four Chapters, it has a duration of 18 minutes.
"Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)", a song bythe Stranglers from theBlack and White album (1978). (Death and Night and Blood is the phrase from Mishima's novelConfessions of a Mask)[332]
Sonatas for Yukio –C.P.E. Bach: Harpsichord Sonatas, by Jocelyne Cuiller (2011).[331] A program composed of Bach sonatas for each scene of the novel "Spring Snow".
Yukio Mishima, a play byAdam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik, first performed at Holloway Prison, London, in 1991, and later in Finland, Slovenia and Portugal.
Jakomo Fosukari (Jakomo Fosukari (ジャコモ・フォスカリ)) byMari Yamazaki (2012) – The characters modeled on Mishima andKōbō Abe appears in.[339][331]
Persona 5 (2016) - A character named after Mishima, namedYuki Mishima, appears. He works to support the main characters from the sidelines and eventually resolves to write a documentary about them.[340]
3Tanka poems,Grave of Mishima (ユキオ・ミシマの墓,Mishima Yukio no haka) written byPierre Pascal (1970)[341]
and 12Haiku poems. Appendix of Shinsho Hanayama (花山信勝)'s bookDiscovering Peace: A Record of Life and Death in Sugamo (平和の発見―巣鴨の生と死の記録,Heiwa no Hakken: Sugamo no Sei to Shi no Kiroku) translated into French.[342]
The Ritual of Love and Death (Patriotism) (愛と死の儀式（憂国）,Ai to Shi no gishiki (Yūkoku)) written by Emmanuel Rothen (1970)[343][344]
Lamentation: Yukio Mishima (哭三島由紀夫,Koku Mishima Yukio) written by Akira Asano (浅野晃) (1971)[345][346]
described at the conclusion of the eulogy "Rainbow Gate".[346]
Kou (Kou (恒)) byJunji Wakebe (分部順治) (1976) – Life-sized male bronze sculpture modeled on Mishima. The work was requested by Mishima in the fall of 1970, he went to Wakebe's atelier every Sunday. It was exhibited at the 6th Niccho Exhibition on 7 April 1976.[348] In his will, Mishima wrote that he wanted his divided bones buried in a location with a view ofMount Fuji and the ocean, and that he wanted this bronze statue to be placed there concurrently, but as of 2017, this request had not yet been fulfilled.[349]
Season of fiery fire / Requiem for someone: Number 1, Mishima (Rekka no kisetsu/Nanimonoka eno rekuiemu: Sono ichi Mishima (烈火の季節／なにものかへのレクイエム・その壱 ミシマ)) andClassroom of beauty, listen quietly: bi-class, be quiet (Bi no kyositsu, seicho seyo (美の教室、清聴せよ)) byYasumasa Morimura (2006, 2007) – Disguise performance as Mishima[350][331][351]
Objectglass 12 andThe Death of a Man (Otoko no shi (男の死)) byKimiski Ishizuka (石塚公昭) (2007, 2011) – Mishima dolls[352][331]
Kosaburo Eto – Mishima states that he was impressed with the seriousness of Eto'sself-immolation, "the most intense criticism of politics as a dream or art."[353]
Kumo no kai – a literary movement group presided over byKunio Kishida in 1950–1954, to which Mishima belonged.
Phaedo – the book Mishima had been reading in his later years.
Suegen – a traditional authentic Japanese style restaurant inShinbashi that is known as the last dining place for Mishima and four Tatenokai members (Masakatsu Morita, Hiroyasu Koga, Masahiro Ogawa, Masayoshi Koga).
^Mishima had told about his bloodline that; "I'm a descendant of the peasants and samurais, and my way of working is like a most hard-working peasant."[35]
^輔仁 (Hojin) is an East Asian name composed of two characters which individually mean "assistance" and "benevolence".
^At the end of this debut work, a limpid "tranquility" is drawn, and it is often pointed out by some literature researchers that it has something in common with the ending of Mishima's posthumous workThe Sea of Fertility.[48][49]
^Kuniko Mitani, the sister of Makoto Mitani (三谷信), would become the model for "Sonoko" inConfessions of a Mask. Mishima wrote about his loss in a letter to his acquaintance, lamenting that "I wouldn't have lived if I didn't write about her."[89]
^In theoccupation of Japan,SCAP executed "sword hunt", and 3 million swords which had been owned by the Japanese people were confiscated. FurtherKendo was banned, and even when barely allowed in the form of "bamboo sword competition", SCAP severely banned kendo shouts,[99] and, they bannedKabuki which had the revenge theme, or inspired thesamurai spirit.[100]
^In 1956, the Japanese government had issued an economic white paper that famously declared, "The postwar is now over" (Mohaya sengo de wa nai).[120]
^As for the evaluation of Fukushima's book, it is attracting attention as material for learning about Mishima's friendships when writingForbidden Colors; however, there were criticisms that this book was confused readers, because it was written the real names of all characters like a nonfiction, at the same time, Fukushima specified "a novel about Mr. Yukio Mishima", "this work", "this novel" in the introduction and epilogue[168] or it was advertised as "an autobiographical novel", so the publisher didn't have the confidence to say that everything was true; the only valuable accounts in this book were Mishima's letters.[169] Also there were vitriolic criticisms that these contents of book was insignificant compared to its exaggerated advertising, or it was pointed out that there were contradictions and unnatural adaptations like a made-up story in the neighborhood of gay bars.[169] Gō Itasaka (板坂剛), who thinks Mishima was homosexual, said about this book as below, "Fukusima's petty touch only described a petty Mishima, Mishima was sometimes vulgar, but was never a narrow-minded man. The complex which Mishima himself kept holding like a poison in his own (is like available for use at any time), was not always an aversion for him."[170]Jakucho Setouchi andAkihiro Miwa said about this book and Fukusima as below, "It's the worst way for a man or a woman to write bad words about someone you once liked, and Fukusima is ingrateful, because he had been taken care of in various ways when he was poor, by Mishima and his parents."[171]
^On one occasion, when Mishima missed the new issue ofWeekly Shōnen Magazine on its release day because he had been shooting the movieBlack Lizard, at midnight he suddenly appeared in the magazine's editorial department and demanded, "I want you to sell to me theWeekly Shōnen Magazine just released today."[190]
^After that, Disneyland became Mishima's favorite. And, in theNew Year of 1970, the year he was determined to die, he had wanted the whole family with children to revisit the fantasy theme park. But the dream didn't come true because of his wife's objection that she wanted to do it after the completion ofThe Sea of Fertility.[198]
^A record of this debate was published in June 1969 by Shinchōsha under the titleDebate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle (討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争,Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō).
^Journalist Masayasu Hosaka (保阪正康) argues that the reason "Mishima was disappointed" after this debate was because the Zenkyōtō "was ultimately unwilling to defend their political slogans even at the risk of their own lives" and because of their "worldly speech and self-indulgent behavior", and that Mishima saw through their "limitations".[228]
^This is the survived member Masayoshi Koga (小賀正義)'s testimony.[256]
^Morita had a girlfriend named Yumiko Shibata (柴田由美子).[257][258] Her first grandchild was named "Masakatsu".[259][258]
^Immediately after the incident, Yasunari Kawabata rushed to the Ichigaya camp, but was unable to enter the commandant's room during on-the-spot investigation.[262] (Kawabata insisted that reports claiming "Kawabata was admitted to the bloody death scene" were false.[262])
Hijiya-Kirschnereit, Irmela (2009). "4. 'The Terrible Weapon of the Gravely Injured' – Mishima Yukio's Literature and the War". In Podoler, Guy (ed.).War and Militarism in Modern Japan. Folkstone: BRILL; Global Oriental. pp. 53–62.doi:10.1163/ej.9781905246854.i-242.40.ISBN978-90-04-21300-5.In the context of post-war literary and intellectual history, Mishima Yukio tends to be seen as a romantic nihilist and ultra reactionary, a prolific but ultimately predictable writer whose spectacular seppuku accentuated his artistic career. On the other hand, even though his philosophical agenda, as he developed it in a series of essays, seems readily accessible for critical evaluation, his fictional creations do not necessarily conform to this image.
^Mishima, Yukio (10 March 1966).フランスのテレビに初主演―文壇の若大将三島由紀夫氏 [First starring on French television: Yukio Mishima, the Wakadaishō (whizz kid) of the literary world].Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). collected inComplete34 2003, pp. 31–34
^Hiraoka, Shizue (December 1976).暴流のごとく―三島由紀夫七回忌に [Like as Turbulent water runs: On the sixth anniversary of Yukio Mishima's death].Shinchō (in Japanese).Shinchosha., collected inGunzo18 1990, pp. 193–204
^Mishima, Yukio (11 April 1963).私の遍歴時代 14 [My Wandering Years - Chapter 14].Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese) (Evening paper ed.)., collected inComplete32 2003, pp. 305–307
^abcShimizu, Fumio (January 1975).「花ざかりの森」をめぐって [Over theHanazakari no Mori].Appendix of "Yukio Mishima Complete Works No.1" (in Japanese). Shinchosha. collected inN-Reader 1990, pp. 22–24
^Mishima, Yukio (June 1958).「花ざかりの森」出版のころ [When I published "Forest in Full Bloom"].Gunzo (in Japanese). Kodansha., collected inComplete30 2003, pp. 285–286
^Mishima, Yukio (March 1970).序 [Introduction]."Zenmei Hasuda and His Death" Written by Jirō Odakane (in Japanese). collected inComplete36 2003, pp. 60–63
^See for example, Tatsumi Okabe, "Revival of Japanese Militarism?" The Institute of South East Asian Studies Occasional Papers No. 22 (July 1974), p. 11.
^abMishima, Yukio (January 1957).わが思春期 [My Puberty].Myōjō (in Japanese). Shueisha. collected inComplete29 2003, pp. 373–375
^abStokes 1974, pp. 105–106. sfn error: no target: CITEREFStokes1974 (help)
^Mishima, Yukio (1958).Confessions of a Mask. Translated by Weatherby, Meredith. New Directions. p. 138.ISBN0-8112-0118-X.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^abLifton, Robert Jay; Kat, Shichi; Reich, Michael R. (1979).Six Lives, Six Deaths: Portraits from Modern Japan. Yale University Press. p. 247.ISBN0-300-02266-2.
^Mishima's letter to Makoto Mitani (April 21, 1945) Complete38 2004, pp. 917–918
^Mishima's letters to his friends (Makoto Mitani, Akira Kanzaki) and teacher Fumio Shimizu in August 1945, collected inComplete38 2004, pp. 604, 921–922,
^Mishima, Yukio (August 1955).終末感からの出発―昭和二十年の自画像 [A departure from feelings of ending: a self-portrait in 1945].Shinchō (in Japanese)., collected inComplete28 2003, pp. 516–518
^Mishima, Yukio (19 January 1970).「変革の思想」とは―道理の実現 [What is "Idea of Reform": Realization of Reason].Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). collected inComplete36 2003, pp. 30–38
^Mishima, Yukio (1970).武士道と軍国主義 [Bushido and Militarism].Weekly Playboy 1978 August Issue (Posthumous publication) (in Japanese). collected inComplete36 2003, pp. 247–266
^Mishima, Yukio (7 February 1963).私の遍歴時代 5 [My Wandering Years - Chapter 5].Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese) (Evening paper ed.)., collected inComplete32 2003, pp. 281–284
^Mishima, Yukio (14 February 1963).私の遍歴時代 6 [My Wandering Years - Chapter 6].Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese) (Evening paper ed.)., collected inComplete32 2003, pp. 284–286
^Sugimoto, Kazuhiro (1990).『潮騒』：「歌島」の物語 ["Shiosai": The Story of "Utajima"].Journal of College of International Studies, Chubu University (in Japanese).6:355–364.
^Mishima, Yukio (August 1959).「鏡子の家」そこで私が書いたもの [Kyōko no Ie, What I wrote in there].Advertising Leaflet (in Japanese). collected inComplete31 2003, p. 242
^Mishima, Yukio (29 June 1959).日記―裸体と衣裳 「昭和34年6月29日（月）」 [Diary: Naked body and Apparel].Shinchō (in Japanese). collected inComplete30 2003, pp. 236–240
^Mishima, Yukio (November 1965).跋 [The Epilogue].Appendix of Madame de Sade (in Japanese).Kawade Shobō Shinsha. collected inComplete33 2003, pp. 585–586
^Isaka, Maki (2023). "Mishima Yukio's "Onnagata" as a Shingeki Theatre-Fiction: "Amalgamation" of the Theatrical and the Literary in a Kabuki-World Tale". In Wolfe, Graham (ed.).The Routledge Companion to Theatre-Fiction. Routledge. pp. 103–115.ISBN9781032069906.
^判決文・三島由紀夫の手紙無断使用事件(２) [The judgment sentence: The case of unauthorized copying of Mishima's letters].Japan Uni Copyright Center (in Japanese). Retrieved23 August 2020.
^abMishima, Yukio (16 June 1968).国家革新の原理―学生とのティーチ・イン その一 [Principle of national innovation] (Speech). Teach in with students (No.1) (in Japanese).Hitotsubashi University Japanese Culture Study Group. collected inComplete40 2004, pp. 204–208, 216–218
^Tokyo Olympics reports are collected inComplete33 2003, pp. 171–196
^Mishima, Yukio (11 October 1964).東洋と西洋を結ぶ火―開会式 [The Fire connecting the East and the West: Opening ceremony].Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). collected inComplete33 2003, pp. 171–174
^Mishima, Yukio (June 1966).二・二六事件と私 ["February 26 Incident" and Me].Appendix of Voices of the Fallen Heroes (in Japanese). Kawade Shobō Shinsha. collected inHeroic 2005, pp. 243–261 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHeroic2005 (help),Complete34 2003, pp. 107–119
^abBlomberg, Catharina (1995).The Heart of the Warrior: Origins and Religious Background of the Samurai System in Feudal Japan. Routledge. p. 193.ISBN978-1873410066.
^Mishima, Yukio (July 1968).文化防衛論 [On the Defense of Culture].Chūō Kōron (in Japanese). collected inComplete35 2003, pp. 15–51
^Iida, Yumiko (2002).Rethinking Identity in Modern Japan: Nationalism as Aesthetics. Routledge. pp. 148–149.ISBN978-0415235211.
^Matsui, Midori (2002). "The Place of Marginal Positionality: Legacies of Japanese Anti-Modernity". In Lloyd, Fran (ed.).Consuming Bodies: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art. Reaktion Books. p. 155.ISBN1-86189-147-4.
^Mishima, Yukio (27 December 1968).作品の背景―「わが友ヒットラー」 [Background of the work:My Friend Hitler].Tokyo Shimbun (in Japanese). collected inComplete35 2003, pp. 319–320
^Debate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle (討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争,Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō)(Shinchōsha, 1969) pp.9–119,Complete40 2004, pp. 442–506
^abcYukio MishimaAlogical eulogy for the desert dwellers: closing the debate (砂漠の住民への論理的弔辞――討論を終へて) (1969), collected inDebate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle (討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争,Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō)(Shinchōsha, 1969) pp.124–143,Complete35 2003, pp. 474–489
^abMishima, Yukio (November 1969).守るべきものの価値―われわれは何を選択するか（石原慎太郎との対談） [The Value of What Should Be Protected: What Choices Should We Make? (A Dialogue with Shintaro Ishihara)].Monthly Pen (in Japanese). Hankyu Communications. collected inComplete40 2004, pp. 537–556 (of that in pp.537–542)
^abMishima, Yukio (26 February 1969).「豊饒の海」について [AboutThe Sea of Fertility].Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese) (Evening paper ed.). collected inComplete35 2003, pp. 410–412
^Mishima, Yukio; Mitsuo, Nakamura (1968).行動と作品の「根」 [The "Roots" of Actions and Works].対談・人間と文学 [Dialogue: Human being and Literatures] (in Japanese). Kodansha.NCIDBN04404448. collected inComplete40 2004, pp. 169–175 (dialogue withMitsuo Nakamura)
^三島由紀夫が生誕100年 宮本亜門さん、記念集会で「読むたび心震える」 [100th anniversary of Yukio Mishima's birth: Amon Miyamoto at commemorative event: "My heart trembles every time I read his works"].Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). 14 January 2025. Archived fromthe original on 3 February 2025. Retrieved21 March 2025.
^三島由紀夫生誕100年 横尾忠則さんが生前のエピソード語る [100th anniversary of Yukio Mishima's birth: Tadanori Yokoo talked about episodes from his life].NHK News Web (in Japanese). 14 January 2025. Archived fromthe original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved21 March 2025.
^読売文学賞 [Yomiuri Prize for Literature].Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived fromthe original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved26 September 2018.
^Keene, Donald (2008).Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 104.ISBN978-0-231-14440-7.OCLC173299185.
^Mishima, Yukio (April 1966).「製作意図及び経過」（『憂國 映画版』） [The Production intention and Progress].Film Patriotism (in Japanese). Shinchosha. collected inComplete34 2003, pp. 35–64
^Hiroaki Fujii (藤井浩明)The path that the film Patriotism has taken (映画『憂国』の歩んだ道)Complete-Se 2006 Appendix booklet
^三島由紀夫へ、劇画からの熱い「返礼」 [To Yukio Mishima, the passionate “returns” from Gekiga].Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 12 November 2020. Archived fromthe original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved8 December 2024.
Andō, Takeshi (1996).三島由紀夫「日録」 ["Daily Record" of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Michitani.ISBN978-4-915841-39-2.
Andō, Takeshi (1998).三島由紀夫の生涯 [The Life of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Natsume Shobo.ISBN978-4-931391-39-0.
Date, Munekatsu (1972).裁判記録「三島由紀夫事件」 [Judicial Record of the "Mishima Incident"] (in Japanese).Kodansha.NCIDBN0140450X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Etsugu, Tomoko (1983).三島由紀夫 文学の軌跡 [Yukio Mishima: Trajectory of His Literature] (in Japanese). Kōronsha.NCIDBN00378721.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Fukushima, Jirō (1998).三島由紀夫―剣と寒紅 [Yukio Mishima: Sword and Winter Red] (in Japanese).Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-317630-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) an out-of-print book for copyright violation
Hasegawa, Izumi; Takeda, Katsuhiko, eds. (1976).三島由紀夫事典 [Encyclopedia of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Meiji Shoin.ISBN978-4-625-40025-4.NCIDBN01686605.
Hijiya-Kirschnereit, Irmela, ed. (2010).MISHIMA!―三島由紀夫の知的ルーツと国際的インパクト [MISHIMA!: The Intellectual Roots of Yukio Mishima and the International Impact] (in Japanese). Shōwado.ISBN978-4-8122-1064-2.
Inose, Naoki (1999) [1st pub. 1995].ペルソナ―三島由紀夫伝 [Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima]. Bunshun Bunko (in Japanese) (Paperback ed.). Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-743109-9.
Inoue, Takashi (2010).三島由紀夫 幻の遺作を読む―もう一つの『豊饒の海』 [Reading a Never-before-published Phantom Posthumous Work of Yukio Mishima: Another "The Sea of Fertility"]. Kobunsha Shinsho (in Japanese).Kobunsha.ISBN978-4-334-03594-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Isoda, Kōichi, ed. (1983).新潮日本文学アルバム20 三島由紀夫 [Yukio Mishima]. Shincho Japanese literature Album No.20 (in Japanese). Shinchosha.ISBN978-4-10-620620-7.
Itagaki, Shin; Fukuda, Kiyoto (2016) [1st pub. 1969].川端康成―人と作品 [Yasunari Kawabata - The Man and His Works]. Century Books - Men and Works 20 (in Japanese) (New Binding ed.). Shimizu Shoin.ISBN978-4-389-40109-2.
Itasaka, Gō (1998).真説・三島由紀夫―謎の原郷 [A True Theory on Yukio Mishima: Mysterious Urheimat] (in Japanese). Natsume Shobo.ISBN978-4-931391-44-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Itasaka, Gō; Suzuki, Kunio (2010).三島由紀夫と一九七〇年 [Yukio Mishima and 1970] (in Japanese). Rokusaisha.ISBN978-4-8463-0772-1.
Itō, Katsuhiko (2006).最後のロマンティーク 三島由紀夫 [The Last Romantic: Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Shinyōsha.ISBN978-4-7885-0981-8.
Iwashita, Hisafumi (2008).見出された恋 「金閣寺」への船出 [A Love Found: Sailing into "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion"] (in Japanese). Yūzankaku.ISBN978-4-639-02024-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Iwashita, Hisafumi (2011).ヒタメン―三島由紀夫が女に逢う時… [The Face with No Mask: When Yukio Mishima Meet with His Woman…] (in Japanese). Yūzankaku.ISBN978-4-639-02197-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Iwashita, Hisafumi (2016) [1st pub. Yūzankaku:2011].直面（ヒタメン）―三島由紀夫の若き日の恋 [The Face with No Mask (Hitamen): Yukio Mishima's Love in His Youth]. Bunshun Bunko (in Japanese) (Paperback ed.). Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-790735-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Keene, Donald (2012) [1st pub. 1992].日本文学史―近代・現代篇（六） [History of Japanese Literature: Modern/Contemporary pieces No.6] (in Japanese). Translated by Tokuoka, Takao; Kakuchi, Yukio (Paperback ed.). Chuokoron-Shinsha.ISBN978-4-12-205647-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Kimura, Tokuzō (1995).文芸編集者の戦中戦後 [Wartime and Postwar of A Literary Editor] (in Japanese). Ōzorasha.ISBN978-4-7568-0007-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Komatsu, Kazuo (1991).日本ファシズムと「国家改造」論 [Japanese Fascism and the Theories of "National Reform"] (in Japanese). Sekai Shoin.NCIDBN0625039X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Miyazaki, Masahiro (1999).三島由紀夫「以後」―日本が日本でなくなる日 ["After" Yukio Mishima: The Day When Japan is No Longer Japan] (in Japanese). Namiki Shobo.ISBN978-4-89063-112-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Miyoshi, Yukio, ed. (1989).三島由紀夫必携 [Yukio Mishima Must-Have] (in Japanese). Gakutōsha.ISBN978-4-312-00522-9.
Mochimaru, Hiroshi; Satō, Matsuo (2010).証言 三島由紀夫・福田恆存 たった一度の対決 [Testimonies: The Only Once Confrontation between Yukio Mishima andTsuneari Fukuda] (in Japanese). Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-373250-3.
Morita, Masakatsu (2002) [1st pub. 1971].わが思想と行動―遺稿集 [My Thoughts and Actions: His Posthumous Manuscripts] (in Japanese) (New Format ed.). Nisshin Hōdō.ISBN978-4-8174-0528-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Murakami, Takeo (2010).君たちには分からない―「楯の會」で見た三島由紀夫 [You Guys don't Understand: Yukio Mishima that I Saw in "Tatenokai"] (in Japanese). Shinchosha.ISBN978-4-10-327851-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Muramatsu, Takeshi (1990).三島由紀夫の世界 [The World of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Shinchosha.ISBN978-4-10-321402-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Murata, Haruki (2015).三島由紀夫が生きた時代―楯の会と森田必勝 [The Period when Yukio Mishima was Alive: The Tatenokai and Masakatsu Morita] (in Japanese). Seirindo.ISBN978-4-7926-0532-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Nagawa, Yumiko (2023).手記 三島由紀夫様 私は森田必勝の恋人でした [Notes: To Mr. Yukio Mishima, I was Masakatsu Morita's Girlfriend] (in Japanese). Shumei University Shuppan-kai.ISBN978-4-915855-47-4. Her maiden name is Shibata.
Nakamura, Akihiko (2015) [1st pub. Bungeishunjū:2000].三島事件 もう一人の主役―烈士と呼ばれた森田必勝 [Another Protagonist of the Mishima Incident: Masakatsu Morita who Called an Upright Man] (in Japanese) (Enlarged ed.). WAC inc.ISBN978-4-89831-729-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Nathan, John (2000) [1st pub. 1976 (an out-of-print book)].新版 三島由紀夫─ある評伝 [New edition - Mishima: A Biography] (in Japanese). Translated by Noguchi, Takehiko (New/Revised ed.). Shinchosha.ISBN978-4-10-505702-2.
Nishi, Hōtaro (2017).死の貌―三島由紀夫の真実 [The Appearance of Death: The Truth about Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Ronsōsha.ISBN978-4-8460-1669-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Nishi, Hōtaro (2020).三島由紀夫事件 50年目の証言―警察と自衛隊は何を知っていたか [Yukio Mishima Incident - Testimonies of 50 Years Later: What did the Police and the Self-Defense Forces Know] (in Japanese). Shinchosha.ISBN978-4-10-353581-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Nosaka, Akiyuki (1991) [1st pub. 1987].赫奕たる逆光―私説・三島由紀夫 [Brilliant Backlight: A Personal Opinion about Yukio Mishima]. Bunshun Bunko (in Japanese) (Paperback ed.). Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-711912-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Okayama, Norihiro (2014).三島由紀夫外伝 [The Side Story of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Sairyusha.ISBN978-4-7791-7022-5.
Religious Thought Research Society, ed. (1972).日本人の生死観 [Japanese Views on Life and Death] (in Japanese). Daizō Shuppan.NCIDBN05030434.
Satō, Hideaki; Inoue, Takashi; Matsumoto, Tōru, eds. (2006).三島由紀夫と映画〈三島由紀夫研究2〉 [Yukio Mishima and Movies]. Research of Yukio Mishima 2 (in Japanese). Kanae Shobo.ISBN978-4-907846-43-5.
Satō, Hideaki; Inoue, Takashi; Matsumoto, Tōru, eds. (2008).三島由紀夫 金閣寺 〈三島由紀夫研究6〉 [Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion]. Research of Yukio Mishima 6 (in Japanese). Kanae Shobo.ISBN978-4-907846-58-9.
Satō, Hideaki; Yamanaka, Takeshi; Matsumoto, Tōru, eds. (2024).三島由紀夫のエンターテインメント〈三島由紀夫研究24〉 [Yukio Mishima's Entertainment]. Research of Yukio Mishima 24 (in Japanese). Kanae Shobo.ISBN978-4-907282-97-4.
Satō, Hideaki; Yamanaka, Takeshi; Matsumoto, Tōru, eds. (2011).同時代の証言 三島由紀夫 [Testimonies of the Contemporaries: Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Kanae Shobo.ISBN978-4-907846-77-0.
Scott-Stokes, Henry (2000).The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima (Enlarged/Revised ed.).New York: Cooper Square Press.ISBN978-0-8154-1074-4.
Scott-Stokes, Henry (1985).三島由紀夫─死と真実 [The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Translated by Tokuoka, Takao. Diamond, Inc.ISBN978-4-478-94056-3.
Scott-Stokes, Henry (1998).三島由紀夫─生と死 [The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Translated by Tokuoka, Takao (Enlarged/Revised ed.). Seiryu Publ.ISBN978-4-916028-52-5.
Scott-Stokes, Henry; Kase, Hideaki (2012).なぜアメリカは、対日戦争を仕掛けたのか [Reason Why America Set a Trap of the War against Japan]. Shodensha Shinsho (in Japanese). Translated by Fujita, Hiroyuki.Shodensha.ISBN978-4-396-11287-5.
Seikai, Ken (1992).三島由紀夫とニーチェ―悲劇的文化とイロニー [Yukio Mishima and Nietzsche: Tragic Culture and Irony] (in Japanese).Seikyūsha.ISBN978-4-7872-9066-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Seikai, Ken (2000).三島由紀夫の帰還―青海健評論集 [The Return of Yukio Mishima: Ken Seikai's Criticism Collection] (in Japanese). Ozawa Shoten.ISBN978-4-7551-0393-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Setouchi, Jakucho; Miwa, Akihiro (2003).ぴんぽんぱん ふたり話 [Pin-pon-pan: Chatting of Two] (in Japanese).Shueisha.ISBN978-4-08-775295-3.
Shibata, Shōji (2012).三島由紀夫 作品に隠された自決への道 [Yukio Mishima: The Path to Suicide Hidden in His Works] (in Japanese).Shodensha.ISBN978-4-396-11300-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Shimauchi, Keiji (2010).三島由紀夫―豊饒の海へ注ぐ [Yukio Mishima: Flows into The Sea of Fertility]. Minerva Japan Biography Selection (in Japanese). Minerva Shobo.ISBN978-4-623-05912-6.
Sugiyama, Takao (2007).「兵士」になれなかった三島由紀夫 [Yukio Mishima, who could not Become a "Soldier"]. Soldier Series (in Japanese). Shogakukan.ISBN978-4-09-379773-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Suzuki, Ayumi; Tamura, Tsukasa (supervisor) (2005).火群のゆくへ―元楯の会会員たちの心の軌跡 [Whereabouts of the Flames: The Trajectories of Their Hearts who once Belonged to the Tatenokai] (in Japanese). Hakurosha.ISBN978-4-434-07066-2.
Tekina, Osamu (2015).ミシマの警告―保守を偽装するB層の害毒 [Mishima's Warnings: The Poison of the B-class Disguised as Conservative] (in Japanese). Kodansha.ISBN978-4-06-272784-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Toda, Yoshio; Nagafuji, Takeshi (1978).よみがえる三島由紀夫―霊の人の文学と武と [Yukio Mishima Resurrected: The Person of Spirit, His Literature and Martial Arts] (in Japanese). Nippon Kyobunnsha.ISBN978-4531060924.NCIDBN09146011.
Tokuoka, Takao (1999) [1st pub. 1996].五衰の人―三島由紀夫私記 [The Man of the Decay of the Angel: Private Notes about Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese) (Paperback ed.). Bungeishunjū.ISBN978-4-16-744903-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Yamamoto, Kiyokatsu (1980).三島由紀夫・憂悶の祖国防衛賦―市ケ谷決起への道程と真相 [Yukio Mishima - An AnguishVerse of Fatherland Defense: The Path to the Ichigaya Uprising and the Truth] (in Japanese).Nihon Bungeisha.ISBN978-4-537-00517-2.NCIDBN10688248.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Yamamoto, Kiyokatsu (2001).自衛隊「影の部隊」―三島由紀夫を殺した真実の告白 [Japan Self-Defense Forces "A Unit of Shadow": Confession of a Truth that Killed Yukio Mishima] (in Japanese). Kodansha.ISBN978-4-06-210781-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
Yuasa, Atsuko (1984).ロイと鏡子 [Roy & Kyoko] (in Japanese).Chuoukoronsha.ISBN978-4-12-001276-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)Atsuko Yuasa (湯浅あつ子) was an old friend of Mishima, and her house was model ofKyōko no Ie (鏡子の家; "Kyōko no Ie"). Her husband was Japanese TV personality Roy James (ロイ・ジェームス).
新潮 1月・臨時増刊 三島由紀夫読本 [Shinchō – January Extra Special Issue: Yukio Mishima Reader] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. 1971.ASINB00QRZ32NO.
ユリイカ 特集 攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX [Eureka - Special Feature: Ghost in the Shell STAND ALONE COMPLEX] (in Japanese). Seidosha. 2005.ISBN978-4-7917-0139-1.
月刊日本2008年1月号 [Monthly Nippon - January 2008 Issue] (in Japanese). Vol. 12. K&K Press. 2008.ASINB001190EIW.
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