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In search of the sun: Yukio Mishima's body aesthetic
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IN SEARCH OF THE SUN: YUKIO MISHIMA'S BODY AESTHETIC
by
Akem i A lyson M ayeda
A Thesis P resented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P artial Fulfillm ent of the
R equirem ents for the D egree
MASTER OF ARTS
(East A sian L anguages an d C ultures)
A ugust 1996
C opyright 1996 Akem i A lyson M ayeda
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UMI Number: 1381597
UMI Microform 1381597
Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17, United States Code.
UMI
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UNIVERSITY O F SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY RARK
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA > 0 0 0 7
This thesis, written by
_A Jcem i..A lys.on..Jila.yeda.
under the direction of hex.— Thesis Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements for the degree of
__________ M.as.texL-Qi.-Ax.ts____________________
D m
Date August 2, 1996
THESIS COMMITTEE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................iii
In Search of the Sun: Yukio M ishima's Body Aesthetic....................................1
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................50
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iii
ABSTRACT
In Search of the Sun: Yukio Mishima's Body Aesthetic
In his 1968 essay, Sun and Steel. Yukio Mishima presents his views on the
beauty of body and action. As he explores worlds that oppose knowledge and
art, he praises the beauty of experiencing the world through the sweat, muscles,
and intuition of the trained body. Mishima elaborates upon this ideal existence
and captures the momentary beauty that accompanies the body in action. The
standards of beauty that Mishima constructs in Sun and Steel also inform the
lives of his protagonists in the literary works "Sword," Runaway Horses. The
Temple of the Golden Pavilion. "Act of W orship," and The. Decay of the Angel
The naturally beautiful heroes, who represent Mishima's body aesthetic, are
contrasted to die ugly antiheroes, who seek the beauty they lack through arson
and myth-creation.
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1
In Search of the Sun: Yukio Mishima's Body Aesthetic
In the essay Sun and Steel (1968), Yukio Mishima traces his philosophy
regarding art and action and provides a consistent framework for viewing his
immense body of literary works. Briefly stated, the author expresses disdain for
the literary world as the cause of his early feeble state, while praising the world
of action and physical being. Robust physical health is associated with the
world of action and is also connected to a sense of momentary beauty that can
only be captured in fleeting instants of action in progress. Although Sun and
Steel was written quite late in Mishima's career, the aesthetic that he expands
upon in this essay has clear echoes in many of his literary works. While Sun and
Steel may serve as an enlightening source to explain Mishima's life and death, the
object here will be to utilize Sun and Steel as a guide that sketches the body
aesthetic found in the author's literary works: "Sword" (1963), Runaway Horses
(1969), The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956), "Act of Worship" (1965), and
The Decay of die Angel (1970).
Yukio Mishima details an aesthetic that is based upon the dichotomy
between words and action in Sun and Steel. The formulation of the author's
body aesthetic is comprised of the rejection of words in favor of embracing
action. One of the author's principal arguments is a belief in the corrupt nature
of words. Mishima explains his early beginnings as a young literary man,
surrounded by words, but possessed of a frail physique. Whether his writings in
Sun and Steel reflect the actual life of the author is another story, but the message
that Mishima elaborates upon is very dear— the world of words is assodated
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2
w ith tiie dark, weak, and ugly and is to be rejected in favor of a vibrant existence
bathed in the sunlight of action. Mishima writes:
hi the average person, I imagine, the body precedes
language. In m y case, words came first of all; then—
belatedly, w ith every appearance of extreme reluctance,
and already clothed in concepts— came the flesh. It was
already, as goes without saying, sadly wasted by words.1
Mishima implies that the world of words has a deleterious effect, as it hinders
the experience of life through the physical realm of the body. Using the personal
example of his own life, he demonstrates that words warp existence, and
because of their poisonous nature he can no longer experience a pure life of
action. Words become associated w ith the author's own debilitated condition as
a sickly youngster, who was then transformed into a writer. The author refers to
words as "excess stomach fluids"2 and further expresses the disdain for the
literary world, through a metaphor of words and action:
First comes the pillar of plain wood, then the white ants
that feed on it. But for me, the white ants were there from
the sta rt and the pillar of plain wood emerged tardily,
already half eaten away.3
Throughout Sun and Steel. Mishima constantly rejects the realm of words as
inferior to the realm of action. He voices frequent lam ent "Oh, the fierce longing
simply to see, without words!"4
1 Yukio Mishima, Sun and Steel, trans. John Bester (New York: Kodansha
International, 1980) 8.
2Mishima, Smand-Stesl 9.
3Mishima, Sun and Steel 8.
^Mishima, £un.and-Steel 66.
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3
The complementary side to Mishima's bashing of the literary realm is the
cherished realm of physical existence or action. Unlike the realm of words, the
author has only praise for his attempts to experience life physically through
various exercises such as boxing, kendo, and weightlifting. The realm of body
becomes symbolized by die radiant sun, which is contrary to the darkness that
surrounds the literary man. Thus, existence through the medium of the body in
action becomes the ideal for the author. He elaborates on the beginning of this
search:
And since my own, abnormal bodily existence was
doubtless a product of the intellectual corrosion of words,
the ideal body— the ideal existence— m ust, I told myself, be
absolutely free from any interference by words.5
The world of body and action becomes the solution to the corrosive and acidic
nature of words, which deteriorate the quality of existence and experience. The
empowering symbols of the "sun" and "steel" reflect the author's laudatory
attitude toward experiencing life through the body and action. The author
rejoices in developing a new perspective on life through action, as an antithesis to
the existence he experienced as a pale academic. Mishima asserts that,
The sun was enticing, almost dragging, my thoughts away
from their night of visceral sensations, away to the
swelling of muscles encased in sunlit skin. And it was
commanding me to construct a new and sturdy dwelling
in which my mind, as it rose little by little to the surface,
could live in security. That dwelling was a tanned,
lustrous skin and powerful, sensitively rippling muscles.6
5 Mishima, Sun and Steel 11.
6Mishima, Sun and Steel 23.
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This "new and sturdy dwelling"7 that Mishima develops through unrelenting
exercise and devotion to his training program is not only physically beautiful but
also has spiritual implications as well. As the author continues his journey to
physical health through the martial arts and various exercises, he describes
m ind/body harmony. A beautiful body, honed through physical action, also
implies the presence of a pure mind. Mishima explains that
The steel faithfully taught me the correspondence
between the spirit and the body: thus feeble emotions, it
seemed to me, corresponded to flaccid muscles,
sentimentality to a sagging stomach, and
overimpressionability to an oversensitive, white skin.
Bulging muscles, a taut stomach, and a tough skin, I
reasoned, would correspond respectively to an intrepid
fighting spirit, the power of dispassionate intellectual
judgem ent and a robust disposition.8
Physical beauty is not only an objective in itself but is even more desirable
because it becomes equated with spiritual perfection. A beautifully sculpted
physique symbolizes an equally strong spirit while a weak physique, on die
other hand, is an external metaphor for a weak sp irit In short Mishima in Sun
and Steel rejects the world of words as a cause and expression of poor physique
and sp irit while he extols the virtues of action and living through the body.
Aside from sim ply qualifying words as negative and action as positive
mediums of experience, Mishima further pronounces exactly what makes the
realm of action unique. To the world of action, Mishima attributes a quality of
impermanent spontaneous, and instantaneous movement In his vivid
7Mishima, Sun and Steel 23.
8Mishima, Sun and Steel 26-27.
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descriptions of his body engaged in combat; via boxing or the martial arts,
Mishima analyzes the moments of contact that transcend all intellectual
calculation. These intuitive "Zen moments" have been a focus of treatises of
m aster swordsmen as well practitioners of the various martial arts. Zen m aster
Taisen Deshimaru says that, "In the martial arts there is no time to w ait Victory
or nonvictory, life or not-life, are decided in no time."9 Mishima echoes this
statement by affirming th at "By the time the right moment is consciously
perceptible, it is already too Iate."i° In the types of engagements that Mishima
describes, Alphonso Lingis notes the necessity of spontaneous action,
unhindered by the slow mental faculties:
In combat there is immediacy. One knows the bulk,
position, momentum, rhythms, nerves, insight; foresight
of the opponent with one's own eloquent body. There is
contemporaneousness, no interval of time between
oneself and the opponent, no time for the scum of
imagination to form.1 !
Free horn all of the webs of mental intricacies and words, Mishima describes
instants of pure action, or pure existence. In these moments of intense existence,
there is no thought that precedes action, but the action merely occurs naturally,
freely, and effortlessly. Mishima reveals his awe of these moments as instances
where one cannot possibly think, verbalize, or calculate. S5hd Takuan, a Rirtzai
9Taisen Deshimaru, The Zen Way to the Martial Arts, trans. Nancy
Amphoux (New York: EJ> . Dutton, 1982) 23.
I °Mishima, Sun and Steel 40.
II Alphonso Lingis, "Seppuku," Literature as Philosophy: Philosophy as
Literature, ed. Donald G. Marshall (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1987)
290.
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6
priest of the Tokugawa period, writes, "But if in the interval between your
opponent's striking sword and your own action you cannot introduce even the
breadth of a hair, your opponent's sword should become your own."1 2 Mishima
declares his admiration for die beauty of these spontaneous instances in
claiming
For me, the attempts at rephrasing took the form of
boxing and fencing. . . It was natural that my rephrasing
of the pure sense of strength should turn in the direction
of the flash of the fist and the stroke of the bamboo sword;
for that which lay at the end of the flashing fist and
beyond the blow of the bamboo sword, was precisely what
constituted the most certain proof of that invisible light
given off by die muscles. 1 3
This "invisible light"1 4 found at the end of the fist or sword captures the radiant
nature of these moments, devoid of thought
In short, the body aesthetic of Mishima as analyzed in Sim and Steel may
be summarized in a threefold definition. First words are to be rejected as the
favorable medium of existence. Immersion in the verbal realm will ultimately
lead to a frail physique and therefore a weak constitution. Second, the world of
body/action is offered as the perfect alternative to pursuing the realm of words.
The perfection of the body is an external sign of spiritual strength. Third, the
author attributes a unique and momentary beauty to the world of action. His
12SBh5 Takuan, The Unfettered Mind: Writings of the Zen Master to the
Sword Master, trans. William Scott Wilson (New York; Kodansha International,
1986) 26.
13 Mishima, Sun and Steel 34.
1 ^Mishima, Sun and Steel 34.
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skillful descriptions of die martial arts impress upon the reader the significance
of these moments.
That which lurked beyond the flash of the fist and the
stroke of the fencing sword was at the opposite pole from
verbal expression— that much, at least was apparent from
the feeling it conveyed of being die essence of something
extremely concrete, the essence, even, of reality. ^
The world of body/action becomes an intricate part of Mishima's outlook as it is
associated with what is true, genuine, or real. Words, on the other hand, are
artificial and contrived.
Understanding Mishima's threefold body aesthetic in Sun and Steel
provides avenues for exploring the author's other works. The literary heroes in
"Sword" and Runaway Horses prefer action to words and are blessed with
beautiful bodies. Consequently, they possess the ability to perceive the unique,
evanescent beauty that can only be intuitively understood in a world of action.
They exude brilliance as worshippers of the sun and steel and, determined to
walk the path of the sun at all costs, they live and die beautifully.
Mishima draws images of ideal heroes in works like "Sword" and
Runaway Horses: at the same time he acknowledges the complexity of beauty. In
these works, the author portrays his beautiful literary heroes at their best, but the
protagonists are not w ithout flaws. Since Sun and Steel is non-fictional, it is
ambitious in clearly stating the personal philosophies of the author, without the
necessity of being entertaining or imaginative as in fiction. Mishima may strive
to create figures that represent his body aesthetic of Sim and Steel, but they do
not strictly follow the ideal that he proposes in this essay. Instead, the reader
15Mishima, Sun and Steel 36.
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8
finds fictional characters who serve as reflections of the body aesthetic, as well
as distortions of i t The heroes of "Sword" and Runaway Horses preserve
Mishima's body aesthetic; b u t they also destroy it as they expose the flaws in
their "perfect" beauty. These flaws may be necessary for the creation of complex
and vivid fictional figures, not shallow ones who simply regurgitate the author's
philosophies. The flawed protagonists of "Sword" and Runaway Horses
uphold a certain imagination, mystery, and aura as fictional figures who are ideal
in their seemingly perfect existences, yet realistic in showing the imperfections of
their beauty.
In addition, Mishima highlights another complexity, since beauty is not
solely the property of the beautiful. Mishima's ugly heroes in The Temple of the
Golden Pavilion. "Act of W orship," and The Decay of the Angel are cursed with
intricate associations to the realm of words and lack physical beauty. Yet the
ugly are not passive, simple characters who accept their wretched conditions.
They are obsessed with beauty, even more so than the beautiful, as they
consciously strive to achieve beauty through such various means as vandalism
and myth-creation. Therefore, although Sun and Steel is helpful in analyzing
Mishima's beautiful and ugly heroes, it is not a comprehensive guide to
understanding the complexities of their fictional existences. The perfectly
beautiful heroes distort their images in revealing ugly flaws, while the thoroughly
ugly struggle to alter their images through their futile pursuits of beauty.
The narrative of Mishima's "Sword" revolves around the beautiful young
hero, Kokubu Jiro. As captain of the university kendo club, his whole life is
concentrated upon perfecting his a rt
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9
Jiro in the fencing hall was a god on the rampage; all the
heat and energy of the training session seemed to emanate
from him, to be transmitted in turn to his surroundings.1 6
Jiro is especially idolized by one junior member of the kendo club, Mibu.
Convinced of Jiro's physical and spiritual purity, Mibu laments that, " . . . the
world of adults was hopelessly repulsive, and the idea that sooner or later Jiro
too would be sullied by it horrified him."1 7 The climax of the short story concerns
the actions of the kendo club which is in training at a summer retreat While Jiro is
away to welcome the arrival of their director, Kinouchi, the club breaks
regulations. Jiro experiences extreme humiliation when he returns to find his
subordinates drenched after wading in the sea. On the final day of the retreat
during the farewell party, Jiro leaves the festivities. After a thorough search by
the kendo club, Jiro is found dead in full kendo dress, with a practice sword on his
person. Critic Makoto Ueda interprets this ending as follows.
The young captain of a student kendo team in "The
Sword" commits suicide upon discovering that the
premodem community spirit that he had imagined his
team to have is being violated by all his teammates.1 6
This may be an accurate analysis, but it oversimplifies the character of Jiro,
without consideration of his image as the pure "god on the rampage."1 9 Jiro is
16Yukio Mishima, "Sword," trans. John Bester, Acts of Worship: Seven
Stories (New York: Kodansha International, 1989) 75.
17Mishima, "Sword" 63.
18Makoto Ueda, M oderiU aganj^W ri.ters aod &e.Natare-<2f Uterahm e
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976) 245.
1 ^Mishima, "Sword" 75.
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10
sensitive to the intensity that involves the unity of physical and spiritual realms
during confrontation and is appropriately blessed with a death that ensures his
purity.
The body aesthetic that Mishima prizes in Sun and Steel offers an almost
formulaic guide to understanding the beauty of Jiro in "Sword." Jiro serves as a
model of the perfect hero. N ot only does he avoid the world of words, but he
focuses his life entirely on m artial arts or action. Consequently, because of his
immersion in the realm of action, Jiro is sensitive to the instantaneous beauty that
transcends words.
Jiro's dedication to honing his skills and spiritual self as a kendoka is not
the sole source of admiration for younger students, like Mibu. The young hero
specifically sequesters himself from words and knowledge. Though he is by no
means a recluse, Jiro manages to distance himself from the petty concerns of
society and anything unworthy of his attention:
Innocent of any interest in politics or the workings of
society, he retrieved from mem just such snippets of
knowledge as were necessary for his own purposes. The
"trivial" chatter of his fellows he listened to in smiling
taciturnity. Books he read not at all.20
Content to immerse himself in the sweat of relentless practice and intense
confrontation, Jiro avoids the corrupt influence of words and leads an animated
lifestyle. Because he lives in the realm of action, Jiro is unharmed by the physical
and spiritual debilitation that Mishima attributes to words in Sun and Steel. The
narrator of "Sword" attests to the unique purity of Jiro: 'Tiro alone was aloof
and untouched. Alone in this murky world he remained clear as crystal, so that
20Mishima, "Sword" 47.
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11
die activity around him seemed almost a defilement"2 1 Seeking the intense silent
communication through the body instead of through words, Jiro escapes the traps
of empty philosophizing and a weak physique and sp irit As he insists on
making action the principle force in his world, Jiro transcends the ugliness of
present society.
"Sword" promotes the body aesthetic of Sun and Steel by discouraging
the association with words, and it also echoes Mishima's ideas about the
significance of a beautiful physical body. Through the author's descriptions of
the protagonist the reader is given no doubt that Jiro possesses a physical
beauty by means of rigorous practice. The opening scene of "Sword" captures
Jiro's healthy masculine body:
The sides of his pleated kimono skirt gave glimpses of
sleek amber thigh, alive and stirring in a way that hinted
at the young body dancing within the uniform and
protective gear that covered him from head to foot2 2
Repeated descriptions of Jiro's powerful, sweating body parallel the desired
physique in Sun and Steel. An unshapely body denotes the deficiency of
physical and spiritual strength, while the opposite indicates a certain physical
and spiritual splendor. Jiro has achieved both favorable qualities. He has
elevated his physical body to a level where he appears to exert little effort during
confrontation, while remaining spiritually invincible. "The positions were
unfailingly beautiful, never doing violence to the natural postures of the body.
21 Mishima, "Sword" 76.
22\iishim a, "Sword" 37.
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However fierce the movement; he was always there motionless at its core. .. Z'2 3
Jiro's body and mind unite to form strength and stability, even in the midst of the
fury of confrontation. This characteristic of being motionless, even while in
motion, is indicative of his physical prowess and a mind that is free from the
constraints of thought
Lastly, Jiro serves as a perfect expression of Mishima's body aesthetic in
Sun and Steel because he not only rejects words and embraces action but is
capable of perceiving the flash of beauty that accompanies action. In committing
himself to endless kendo practice, Jiro decides,
He would focus the whole of his daily life on fencing. The
sword was a sharp-pointed crystal of concentrated,
unsullied power, the natural form taken by the spirit and
the flesh when they were honed into a single shaft of pure
light . . . The rest was mere trivia.2 4
Jiro's ideal body combines spirit and power to produce the beauty of this "single
shaft of pure light"2 5 These moments of glory are no doubt a result of both his
rejection of mental calculations and the accumulated years of dedicated practice.
The avenue to experiencing these spontaneous moments is, of course, through the
body, since intellect acts as a hindrance in the world of physical action. The
narrator expresses Jiro's skill in offering attestations of his keen insight
The sword cleft the air of its own volition. When things
went well at least it really seemed as though this were so.
Even without his taking aim, it winged home on that
23Mishima, "Sword" 37.
24Mishima, "Sword" 45.
25Mishima, "Sword" 45.
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13
merest hairsbreadth of inattention show n by the
adversary, delivering its blow w ith accuracy.2 *
Jiro's skill has developed to a level where the movements are no longer awkward
but quite natural and executed w ith ease. He is capable of sensing the openings
in his opponent instinctively. However, this capability of knowing when to strike
relies not on intelligence but on the body. In another scene that captures a
martial confrontation between Jiro and the director of the kendo club, Kinouchi,
there is an emphasis on this same concept of a split-second beauty. Jiro is
greatly outmatched by the director but still demonstrates the beautiful intensity
of action. Kazusuke Ogawa writes, "Here Mishima depicts the aesthetic of the
sword as the explosive tension between the spiritual and the physical."
[Translation mine] 2 7 Jiro, who finds the relaxed Kinouchi to be invincible, in
frustration attem pts to strike w ith an unreserved blow. The response to this
reckless attack by Kinouchi provides another subtle moment of beauty:
. . . Kinouchi, the skilled and advanced-level kendoka,
withdraws one step while sliding to hit the concentrated
mask of C aptain K okubu. . . For those readers with
martial arts experience or knowledge, it is something
experienced with one's own body or as a spectator. They
can [reflect back to] those aesthetic movements, as they
appear again when they read these scenes, where beauty is
formed in an instant [Translation mine] 2 *
The simultaneous motion of withdrawing, while coolly attacking at the precise
26Mishima, "Sword" 47.
27fCazusuke Ogawa, Mishima Yukio— Han 'Nihon Romanha' Ron
(Saitama, Japan: Rindosha, 1985) 88.
28Qgawa 88.
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14
m oment reveals another one of the elegant scenes in "Sword." Again, this
"beauty formed in an instant"® is the property of action and is a result of
endless physical toil and practice, not the intricacies and corruption of words.
At any rate, whether Jiro successfully attacks and demonstrates beauty, or is
being attacked, beauty arises horn his ability to be sensitive to and a participant
in generating and witnessing this moment of pure existence.
Mishima sketches an almost perfect image of beauty in creating the
character of Kokubu Jiro, yet the protagonist does reveal complexities that
tarnish his image. Jiro rejects words and embraces action, but certain scenes
betray the purity of his character. For example, Jiro vehemently believes th at
"As he saw i t there was only one choice-to be strong and upright or to commit
s u i c i d e ." * He contradicts his own personal philosophy when he has thoughts of
killing a pigeon that he has rescued horn a group of youths who have injured it
with an air rifle. Jiro is about to strangle the pigeon when the school handyman
interrupts his plans. As he hears the sound of the handyman's cart in the
distance, "Aroused from his murderous intent Jiro turned to look."3 1 This scene
reveals a flaw in the protagonist's beauty. Although he asserts the necessity of
being upright he acts in contrary to his own beliefs by exposing a cruel aspect of
his character. Though Jiro may state his personal philosophy clearly and
forcefully, the credibility of his word wavers in scenes like the one
290gawa 88.
SOMishima, "Sword" 46.
31 Mishima, "Sword" 51.
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15
above, which suggest that he m ay not be as beautiful or as upright as he claims.
Another blemish on Jiro's character is the manner of his death. Although
Jiro's beauty is preserved permanently by freezing his image through sudden
death, Mishima again suggests complexities in the vision of Jiro's perfection.
Through deliberately being unclear about the manner in which Jiro dies, Mishima
casts doubt upon the authenticity of his beauty. His death is a mystery. "PCs
sword tucked beneath die arm of his uniform, Jiro lay on the ground, face up,
dead."3 2 The original text in Japanese specifically notes that the "sword" that
Jiro is found with is not a real one but rather a practice bamboo one. It becomes
difficult to imagine how Jiro could have killed himself with a bamboo sword. The
vague ending implies that perhaps Jiro may not have been such a simple
character who lived and died beautifully, since his death is shrouded in
uncertainty and an obscurity that is ill-suited to the initial beautiful character
that Mishima suggests. Therefore, though Mishima follows title guidelines of
beauty based upon the body aesthetic in Sun and Steel, he allows room for
questioning the perfection of this beauty through presenting flaws and
contradictions to these visions of the ideal hero.
In addition to "Sword," Mishima offers another portrayal of the beautiful
young hero in Runaway Horses. Although the context of the plot is more
elaborate than "Sword," the author nevertheless follows the same qualities of
beauty that are discussed in Sun and Steel. Runaway Horses is the second novel
32Mishima, "Sword" 91.
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16
in Mishima's tetralogy entitled The Sea of Fertility.3 3 The first novel in the series,
Spring Snow, describes die life of a beautiful young aristocrat, Matsugae Kiyoaki,
who becomes involved in a forbidden love affair with the future bride of an
imperial prince. Runaway Horses examines youths who are willing to act
violently in die name of the emperor. The protagonist of Runaway Horses.
Iinuma Isao, supposedly is the reincarnation of Kiyoaki from Spring Snow.
Although Isao's cool, masculine military character differs from Kiyoaki, the two
share a striking similarity in being young and overflowing with passion. While
Kiyoaki's passion involves a forbidden love, Isao's passion takes the form of
desiring to sacrifice himself in homage to the emperor. Both characters also die
at age twenty. As a young patriot, Isao forms the "Showa League of the Divine
Wind" that vows to purge Japan of its corrupt politicians. The young men have
litde to offer in terms of a specific political agenda, but they are dedicated to
changing society through assassination. Not only do they aspire to exterminate
the politicians and business leaders whom they associate with Japan's moral
corrosion, but they are also determined to end their own lives after accomplishing
their mission. Unfortunately, the group's treasonous schemes are discovered,
and the case is brought before die court While die group eludes punishm ent
Isao alone kills a prominent politician, Kurahara Busuke. Then, to conclude the
novel, Isao is able to fulfill his dream of committing seppuku in a display of
loyalty to the emperor.
The body aesthetic of Sun and Steel is helpful in discerning Isao's
33Mishima's tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, is comprised of Spring Snow.
Runaway Horses. The Temple of Dawn, and The Decay of the Angel.
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17
qualifications as one of Mishima's beautiful literary heroes. lik e Jiro, Isao of
Runaway Horses favors action over words, possesses a beautiful physique, and
is perceptive to the intuitive, instant flashes of beauty that exist in the realm of
the body.
Isao differs from Jiro in his involvement in the world of present day
politics but shares a similar disdain of words and preference for action. Isao
clearly does not favor empty words and unfulfilled objectives. Isao and his
group are earnestly committed to displaying their loyalty to the emperor with
action. The action they have in mind includes taking not only the lives of corrupt
politicians but their own lives as well. Isao voices the urgency of the situation as
he claims, " 'Somebody must take action. If not, Japan is lo st There is nothing
else to be done if the heart of the Emperor is to be put at re s t' "3* Isao plans to
purify the corrupt world through bombing transformer substations, assassinating
powerful figures, and destroying the Bank of Japan. All these disruptive actions
are planned in hopes for a restoration of power to the Emperor. While Isao's
schemes for societal purification enter the boundaries of blind and reckless
fanaticism, still a pure brilliance emanates from Isao in his unwavering
dedication to action. As Honda, the narrator, witnesses Isao, "Honda's heart
throbbed violently. An irresistible power was approaching, a power that would
deal a smashing blow to his rational outlook."^ Therefore, in relying on action
for his existence, Isao parallels Jiro in "Sword."
34Yukio Mishima, Runaway Horses, trans. Michael Gallagher, The Sea of
Fertility: A Cycle of Four Novels (New York: Vintage International, 1990) 153.
3 5 Mishima, Runaway Horses 253.
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18
Furthermore, Isao also shares Jiro's privilege of a beautiful body. Besides
die obvious similarity of being skillful kendoka, both protagonists share a certain
intense beauty from dwelling in the realm of action. Mishima delights in
describing die sweat and muscles of both young heroes. The narrator of Runaway
Horses notes of Isao:
When the boy turned toward Honda, the streaked
shadow of his mask bars could not obscure the black,
well-defined eyebrows, the brilliant eyes, and the line of
white teeth that flashed when he shouted. And then when
he turned his back, the shaven nape of his neck, below the
neatly folded towel inserted beneath the blue mask straps,
conveyed a sense of pure, youthful p o w e r.3 6
Impressed with the visual beauty and energy of his beautiful heroes, Mishima
meticulously describes the physical features of Isao. The sculpted body of Isao
also implies die simultaneous existence of spiritual beauty. Even his descriptions
of Isao in his kendo outfit bear a striking resemblance to the passages describing
Jiro in "Sword." For instance,
Even to Honda, as little as he knew of kendo, young
Iinuma's perfect form was evident However violent the
action, he maintained his poise throughout his flawless
bearing at each moment fixed in space like a classic
pattern cut from blue doth.37
Isao, like Jiro, is blessed w ith a vigor that is manifested in his beauty as well as in
his intensity for living. Through rejecting words and being outstanding examples
of physical beauty, the two protagonists closely follow the aesthetic guidelines
that Mishima emphasizes in Sun and Steel.
36Mishima. Runaway Horses 29-30.
37Mishima, Runaway Horses 30.
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19
Lastly, as a consequence of living his life through action, Isao is capable
of sensing die momentary beauty that is captured so vividly in Sun and Steel and
"Sword." As Honda witnesses Isao in a kendo tournament, he is impressed by
this youngster's sp irit as well as his keen sensitivity to the actions that occur
around him. Jiro and Isao are able to experience the flashes of instant beauty
that fade in a split second. In stressing Isao's skill, Mishima comments,
The vigor of his spirit manifested itself without a trace of
disorder, and, whatever the resistance, created a vacuum
within his opponent's resolve, if but for an instant And
the usual result was th at just as air is drawn into a
vacuum, so this weak spot of his opponent drew Iinuma's
stave. Thrust with perfect form, that stave, Honda
thought would no doubt pierce the guard of any
opponent as easily as one enters through an unlocked
door.3 8
Because his physical skill allows him to be receptive to this spontaneous,
evanescent beauty, Isao joins Jiro as the ideal youthful, powerful, and perceptive
hero. His movements are free of the fetters of the mind. Another example where
Isao is witness to the silent, split-second beauty of the moment occurs as he is
practicing with Lieutenant Hori. On Isao's second visit to the complex of the
military officer, Isao and the Lieutenant decide to practice forms together. The
narrator captures the intensity of the practice:
The Lieutenant's eyes glared fiercely. Isao's stave came
whistling down, aimed directly at the top of the
Lieutenant's dose-cropped head. At the same m oment
their eyes met, and Isao sensed a communication pass
between them too swift for anv words. . . . Just before the
blow would have landed, at the instant the stave stopped
in midair, an intuitive force swifter than light passed
38Mishima, Runaway Horses 31-32.
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between die two of diem.3 9
This episode that once again conveys Isao's sensitivity, has an almost identical
resonance to Jiro's bouts in "Sword." Both Isao and Jiro can cast aside intellect
and words while they engage in a faster, more beautiful communication through
the body.
Isao appears to be the ideal hero according to Mishima's body aesthetic.
Yet like Jiro of "Sword," Isao may not be perfect The conclusion of Runaway
Horses examines a few flaws of Isao's beautiful character. From an obvious
perspective, Runaway Horses is an account of Isao's plot to kill Kurahara
Busuke and others in a grand scheme to remedy the plight of Japan. His
dedication to achieving his objectives through drastic measures is impressive and
frightening. Y et a lack of credibility in the protagonist's political agenda is a
subtle undercurrent that runs the course of the novel. While Isao and his
comrades are determined to wreak havoc in the government with their plots of
assassination and schemes to turn the capital into a chaotic mess, they plan for
little else. Hoping that their violent actions succeed in ushering in a Showa
Restoration is the extent of their plan. They do not specify w hat is supposed to
occur after they all commit suicide.
Since Isao and his group lack any political ideas for the long term,
suspicions surface regarding die superficiality of die league. Rather than
assuming that the novel is politically oriented, it is more accurate to insist that
Isao hopes to cleanse Japan of its evils but is even more obsessed over
maintaining his own purity and dying beautifully. In an ugly age, "How to be
39Mishima, Runaway Horses 155-156.
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21
pure in all respects was a problem that disturbed him."4 0 hi another telling scene,
Lieutenant Hori asks Isao, " '. . . w hat do you wish for more than anything
else?' "4 1 To the surprise of Isao's two friends, Izutsu and Sagara, Isao discloses
his wish of dying in die ideal setting. Rather than outlining his desire to reform
Japan, assassinate politicians, or serve the Emperor, Isao replies that his greatest
wish is to commit the perfect suicide. His devotion is directed to something that
transcends the em peror and politics.
With this analysis, Isao's beautiful existence as the perfect hero is thrown
into turmoil. The reader is left w ith a split image as to the real identity of the
protagonist Not knowing whether Isao actually believes in the whole political
schema or not leads the reader to doubt Isao's every statement and action. As it
is difficult to distinguish Isao's true intentions, his beauty is marred as he causes
the reader to doubt the credibility of his own statements. The complexity does
not end here.
One may also question whether Isao is actually interested only in his own
perfect death rather than politics. At first, Isao seems obsessed w ith remaining
pure. When he discovers that his detested enemy, Kurahara Busuke, provided
monetary funds to his father, Isao is enraged. Isao struggles with the anger and
shock of disillusionment
Isao opened the window. He sp at If the food he had
eaten at breakfast if his lunch, too, had come through
Kurahara's bounty, then, in his ignorance, he had already
40Mishima, Runaway Horses 119.
41 Mishima, RunawayJjorses 125.
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22
corrupted his innards and his flesh w ith poison.4 2
Completely disgusted to imagine that all these years his purity had been secretly
tainted in having his livelihood financed by Kurahara, Isao is filled with fury.
Finding no other way to preserve his purity, Isao resorts to fulfilling his goal of a
beautiful end.
The conclusion of Runaway Horses, however, renders Isao's purity false.
Kurahara's villa is surrounded by luxurious tangerine orchards, which are a prize
possession of the politician. After Isao kills Kurahara, he flees to a cliff past the
orchards for his final act Quite strangely, right before committing suicide, Isao
stops to devour a tangerine that is not only a symbol of Kurahara's exorbitant
lifestyle but is also stained with the politician's blood:
Since his throat was painfully dry, he tore the skin off his
tangerine and roughly thrust the fruit into his mouth all at
once. He smelled blood. It had splotched the tangerine
skin and half-dried there.4 3
It is preposterous for Isao to sully his purity so overtly, immediately before
achieving his final goal. Although earlier Isao spat at the idea of having eaten
food indirectly financed by Kurahara, he eats the tangerine (a direct product of
Kurahara) w ith relish. This puzzling act nullifies the idea that his true objective
is a pure death. Isao's image is consequently further tarnished and fragmented,
in that his actions and statements lead the reader nowhere. If Isao is a genuine
believer neither in his politics nor in his obsession with purity, exactly who is he?
It is safe to assume that Isao is beautiful because of action, but it becomes
42Mishima, Runaway Horses 229.
43Mishima, Runaway Horses 420.
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23
exceedingly complex to comprehend what motivates his actions in this double
subversion. First, Isao's image as a political patriot is subverted, and then his
other image as the purist who seeks a beautiful death is also overturned. In the
end, Isao is only the shell of a reincarnation, with no dear purpose but to act
Therefore, like Jiro of "Sword," Isao of Runaway Horses may possess
characteristics of the exemplary beautiful hero as outlined in Sun and Steel but
on doser examination discloses complexities that may refute the perfection of his
image.
In short, in "Sword" and Runaway Horses. Mishima captures literary
manifestations of the body aesthetic formed in Sun and Steel. Jiro and Isao are
symbols for the ideal beauty that insist on literary/intellectual rejection and
embradng the body/action. As a result, followers of the body aesthetic are
privileged as witnesses/generators of fleeting instants of beauty. On the whole,
Mishima expresses an admiration for these two vibrant men; however, their
masks of perfection are tested as he also highlights complications and
contradictions that mar the images of their ideal existences. Mishima also has a
plethora of ugly literary figures, who are ugly because they possess
characteristics that are the exact opposite of Jiro and Isao. Mishima's works that
focus upon the literary ugly share common trends in emphasizing the reliance
upon words and the absence of physical beauty. Consequently, because of their
lack of physical beauty, the protagonists strive to create a sense of beauty
through their own efforts. However, since their beauty is calculated and
contrived, these intentional efforts are bound to be further manifestations of their
hideous natures. Mishima's works that incorporate these types of unfortunate
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24
heroes indude The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. "Act of Worship/' and The
Decay of the Angel.
Having received the Yomiuri Prize for Literature in 1957, The Temple of
the Golden Pavilion has often been lauded as one of Mishima's masterpieces.
Complexities abound in the novel, which concentrates upon the first-person
narrative of Mizoguchi, a priest who bums the national treasure, Kinkakuji (the
Golden Pavilion). Basing his novel on an actual event, Mishima delves into the
psyche of one responsible for an act of such enormity. As the son of a country
priest Mizoguchi is given entidng accounts of the beauty of Kinkakuji from early
youth. Being physically ugly and a stutterer, Mizoguchi delights in imagining the
immense beauty of the pavilion. However, when he finally visits the site with his
father, he is disappointed at the actual appearance of the temple. Only after he
arrives home, does the image of the temple improve and become beautiful once
again. After the death of his father, Mizoguchi serves as an acolyte at Kinkakuji,
under the guidance of Father Dosen. As acolyte of the temple, Mizoguchi meets
two friends who serve as auxiliary characters to the narrative. One of these
companions is the bright, happy Tsurukawa, while the other is a crippled pedant
named Kashiwagi. As World War II rages on in the background, Mizoguchi is
captivated with the idea of dying with the temple during a bomb raid. Finally
feeling a sense of identification with beauty in sharing the same destructive fate
as the temple, Mizoguchi experiences a certain degree of happiness. This
happiness is destroyed when the war ends, with the temple untouched.
Obsessed with the beauty of the temple and its destruction, Mizoguchi devotes
his energies to plotting its razing and his own death in the flames. However,
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25
when he finally bums the temple, Mizoguchi smokes a cigarette and expresses the
desire to live on.
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion accentuates the intricacies of the
literary ugly by focusing upon Mizoguchi, who has features that contrast starkly
with the physical beauty delineated in Sun and Steel. A severe stutterer,
Mizoguchi has an extreme sense of isolation from the rest of the world. His
estrangement from others is caused by the inability to effectively communicate
through words. Mizoguchi assesses the degree of his isolation: "My stuttering, I
need hardly say, placed an obstacle between me and the outside world."4 *
Ironically, the medium of words, which is supposed to aid communication,
fosters alienation in the case of Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi's stuttering symbolizes the
deleterious effect of words on true communication, and it widens the gulf that
turns him into such a lonely, desperate character. Being so preoccupied by his
ineffectual efforts to communicate, Mizoguchi discovers that, "When action was
needed, I was always absorbed in words; for words proceeded with such
difficulty from my mouth that I was intent on them and forgot all about
action."# Mizoguchi is disqualified from the category of the beautiful hero
because of his inability to engage in action; only at the conclusion of the novel,
when Mizoguchi consciously attempts to participate in the creation of beauty,
does he act by burning the temple.
Not only does Mizoguchi demonstrate the worthless use of words by the
44Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, trans. Ivan Morris
(New York: Vintage International, 1994) 5.
45Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 12.
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26
literary ugly, but he is literally physically lacking in beauty. Mizoguchi considers
himself to be unattractive from a young age, which adds to his sense of isolation
from the world:
It is no exaggeration to say that the first real problem I
faced in my life was that of beauty. . . . If beauty really
did exist there, [Golden Temple] it meant that my own
existence was a thing estranged from beauty.4 6
In comparing the beauty of the temple to his own physical appearance, he
realizes even to a greater degree the vast gap between the two. The only sense of
consolation that Mizoguchi feels is in hoping that the war will close the gap, by
destroying the temple and killing him at the same time. This hope for mutual
destruction and thus similarity is crushed as the war ends and the temple lives
on. Disappointed, Mizoguchi again senses his inadequate beauty in comparison
to the temple. He admits,
"Now my vision that the Golden Temple and I were
living in the same world has broken down. Now I shall
return to my previous condition, but it will be even more
hopeless than before. A condition in which I exist on one
side and beauty on the other."47
The picture of Mizoguchi, complete with these deficiencies, provides a great
contrast to Mishima's radiant heroes in "Sword" and Runaway Horses.
Whereas Jiro of "Sword" and Isao of Runaway Horses celebrate the glory of
muscles and action, Mizoguchi remains confined in his ugly, stammering world.
The protagonist of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is trapped in the
stuttering realm of words and lacks physical beauty, but Mizoguchi attempts to
46Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 21.
47Mishima. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 64.
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27
achieve beauty through the means of burning the temple. Because the concept of
beauty is deficient in Mizoguchi's isolated and estranged existence, his decision
to bum the national treasure is an effort consciously to participate in beautiful
action. Before burning the temple, Mizoguchi engages in a debate with Kashiwagi
regarding knowledge and action. Already having elaborately planned the
destruction of the temple, Mizoguchi confidently claims," 'Knowledge can never
transform the world. . . . What transforms the world is action. There's nothing
else.' "48 In a final monstrous act, the protagonist is freed from his pathetic
stagnation. With the decision to bum the temple, Mizoguchi breaks from his
passive existence as an inept and stuttering being unable to live in the realm of
action and turns into an arsonist who will destroy a national icon of beauty.
Therefore, the burning of the temple represents Mizoguchi's assertion to switch
his world of experience from words (which prove futile) to one of action.
The decision to bum the temple is also an effort to preserve Mizoguchi's
own perfect image of Kinkakuji. Destroying the temple assures that the ideal
vision that he has created in his mind will live on untouched by time.
Mizoguchi's obsession with the temple's beauty originated not by actually seeing
an image of the temple but rather through imagining its beauty from accounts
given by his father. When he travels to see the actual temple, Mizoguchi recounts
that, "The shadow was more beautiful than the building itself,and says of a
miniature model of the temple, "This model pleased me. It was closer to the
48Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 216.
49Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 24.
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28
Golden Temple of my dreams."® After being initially disappointed on seeing the
actual temple, Mizoguchi discovers, "After my return to Yasuoka, the Golden
Temple, which had disappointed me so greatly at first sight, began to revivify its
beauty. .. ."51 This great beauty that the temple possesses is an image that is
created in Mizoguchi's mind. Reiko Nemoto, in "The Obsession to Destroy
Monuments," asserts that the illusion of beauty that Mizoguchi generates
suggests a certain danger:
When Mizoguchi actually travels to see the temple,
however, he feels betrayed, and it is not until his return to
the provinces that an awareness of its beauty revives
within him. His view of reality at this point is severely
affected by the standards he has created in his mind: the
temple seems most beautiful when it is absent The seed
of Mizoguchi's compulsion to destroy or deface beauty is
planted h e r e .5 2
Because the beauty of the temple is greatest when Mizoguchi can not physically
see the building, the destruction of the temple will result in a even more supreme
beauty. In his love for the image of the temple, Mizoguchi chooses to freeze the
image in history forever by preventing its change and ending its existence.
Mizoguchi's arson may appear to be an act of negation, but it may also be
interpreted as an extremely intense act, intended to perpetuate perfect beauty.
Unable to find anything beautiful about his own life, Mizoguchi strives to be
SOMishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 25.
51 Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 29.
52Reiko Tachibana Nemoto, "The Obsession to Destroy Monuments:
Mishima and Boll," Twentieth Century Literature: A Scholarly and Critical
journal 39.2 (Summer 1993): 234.
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29
beautiful himself through acting drastically or at least attempting to preserve the
beauty that he perceives in die temple. However, though Mizoguchi may attempt
to act beautifully in razing the temple, the reality of his action is horrid. He
bums a national treasure in order to compensate for his own isolation and
estrangement from beauty. In the end, Mizoguchi does not succeed in achieving
beauty, as the reader is left with the ghastly image of Kinkakuji in ashes while the
protagonist nonchalantly smokes a cigarette. The act which is supposed to be
beautiful only reinforces the pathetic nature of Mizoguchi. He does not even die
with the temple, but decides to go on living, now that the temple has been
sacrificed for his own obsessive ends.
Another example of the literary ugly can be discovered in a short story
entitled "Act of Worship." "Act of Worship" depicts the life of an established
professor of literature and his relationship to his servant Tsuneko. Aside from
serving as chair of the literature department at Seimei University, Professor
Fujimiya is revered by Tsuneko as a skilled poet The narrative of "Act of
Worship" concentrates principally on conveying the awe that Tsuneko and the
university students have for Professor Fujimiya, as well as elaborating on his
eccentric personality.
Professor Fujimiya lives alone with his servants on a large estate. An
aura of loneliness and depression surrounds the professor, except when he is in
the company of his students, who worship him. As an avid admirer of the
professor, Tsuneko is thrilled in being asked to accompany him on a trip to
Kumano. While the two participate in pilgrimages to the various shrines of
Kumano, Professor Fujimiya reveals a mysterious secret to Tsuneko.
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30
Apparently, his love for a young woman was opposed by his parents decades
ago. The couple was forced to separate, and the professor is returning to
Kumano to attest to his love for his ex-lover, Kayoko. Professor Fujimiya's
hidden objective in travelling to Kumano is to fulfill a promise to Kayoko to visit
the area together. As a symbol honoring Kayoko's presence he buries combs,
inscribed with the characters of her name, at shrines he visits. Surprised at the
professor's revelation of this romantic affair, Tsuneko accompanies him as a
dubious witness.
Like The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the protagonist of "Act of
Worship" also qualifies as the ugly antihero counterpart to the beautiful heroes
Mishima presents in "Sword" and Runaway Horses. Firstly, Professor Fujimiya
has an obvious preference for the world of words, in comparison to action. As
an aging scholar, he commands respect from his small circle of devoted students
and his servant Tsuneko. The narrator writes, "Around him had gathered a
swarm of followers to whom he was a god. .. Z'5 3 He reserves his personal
study for private literary meetings with his students, which reinforce his elevated
status. The narrator comments on the lofty air that permeates the being of
Professor Fujimiya:
So routine had the feeling of reverence become in the
Fujimiya household that it was difficult to believe that
such emotions could count for so little in the world at
large. As a scholar of Japanese literature of no ordinary
accomplishment, as a poet who wrote both modem verse
and traditional tanka, the Professor, in Tsuneko's eyes,
53Yukio Mishima, "Act of Worship," trans. John Bester, Acts of
Worship: Seven Stories (New York: Kodansha International, 1989) 146.
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31
occupied a middle ground between heaven and earth.5 4
The Professor's semi-divine status results solely from his intellectual efforts.
Unlike the beautiful heroes that taste life through the body and physical activity,
Professor Fujimiya cannot experience the hot intensity of sweat, toil, and
confrontation. Instead, the professor finds satisfaction in dwelling in the literary
world.
Next, Professor Fujimiya also qualifies as an unfavorable character
through his actual physical appearance. In short, the professor is ugly and old.
Aside from lacking the vitality that accompanies youth, the professor has a
physical deformity that adds to his overall image. This external appearance
supports his dismal disposition. "A childhood injury had left him with a walleye
and an accompanying sense of inferiority that accounted in part for the gloom
and inwardness of his personality."5 5 His unattractive physical appearance
mirrors his dark and melancholy nature. The professor is also a great contrast
from the previously mentioned beautiful protagonists in that he lacks the beauty
of youth. Rather than aging beautifully, the professor tends to wallow in his old
age. Through compulsively wiping his hands with alcohol-soaked pads, it is as if
he wishes to intensify the arrival of old age. Because of this peculiar habit,
The Professor had beautiful hands, as dry and chaste as
handmade paper, but the number of dark spots had
become increasingly noticeable recently, and constant
wiping with alcohol had macerated the fingertips so that
S^Mishima, "Act of Worship" 154.
55Mishima, "Act of Worship" 147.
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32
they suggested a drowned corpse.*
Although Mishima's beautiful heroes in "Sword" and Runaway Horses possess
the muscles, sweat, and vigor of youth, the professor revels in emphasizing the
physical unsightliness of old age.
Lastly, though Professor Fujimiya is clearly one of Mishima's ugly
antiheroes, he nevertheless seeks beauty. While Mizoguchi bums Kinkakuji in
support of his aesthetics, Professor Fujimiya fabricates an image for himself.
Lacking true beauty that is present in jiro of "Sword" or Isao of Runaway
Horses, the professor strives to incorporate beauty into his life through
deception. Throughout the short story, the narrator notices that the professor's
somber disposition seems somewhat artificial. For example, the professor has
the tendency to stop and pet stray dogs. The narrator remarks,
The impression he gave at such times was of wanting to
see his solitude reaffirmed, framed like a picture, of
deliberately seeking opportunities to act out the loneliness
again for his own benefits?
The aura of the lonely, gloomy scholar that emanates from Professor Fujimiya is
actually one that is carefully designed by himself. In another scene, when the
professor climbs the stairs to visit a shrine in Nachi, the narrator observes,
His profile as he flogged himself on, head bent, eyes fixed
on the bleached surface of the steps, bore noble suggestions
of a life spent in the solitary pursuit of knowledge and at
the same time, typically, suggested a desire to let people
56Mishima, "Act of Worship" 162-163.
57Mishima, "Act of Worship" 151.
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33
see the suffering inherent in his s o l i t u d e . ^
If the professor's image is a fabricated one, the trip to Kumano is a logical
attempt to strengthen the illusion he has intentionally formulated. Wrapped in
the religious and spiritual mystique of the shrines of Kumano, Professor Fujimiya
adds a romantic final touch to his image. The burying of the combs by the
professor, as an attestation to an unfulfilled promise to a lover, seems
unexpected from a man with Professor Fujimiya's character. When the professor
reveals the past relationship with his long-ago lover and explains the meaning of
the combs, Tsuneko muses,
Wasn't the real truth that for some extraordinary reason
the Professor, without the least faith in this ritual of
burying the three combs, much less the fantasy as a whole,
had sought to create, toward the close of his lonely life, a
legend about himself?59
While the professor lacks physical beauty, his attempt to generate a fantasy as
cold scholar who is secretly sentimental may be a measure to balance his actual
ugliness. Since he can not be beautiful due to his academic lifestyle and
unattractive features, he seeks beauty through the means of deception and myth
weaving. However, this effort of Professor Fujimiya's is revealed as a farce by
Tsuneko. Ultimately, attempting to achieve beauty through deception leads to
false beauty. Professor Fujimiya tries to enter the realm of the beautiful through
fantasy but does not achieve his objective. The fantasy only amplifies his
desperation as one who will sacrifice his own authentic nature in order to appear
58Mishima, "Act of Worship" 183.
5 9 Mishima, "Act of Worship" 203.
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34
unique and beautiful. His pathetic personal myth-making merely helps magnify
his inescapable unsightliness.
Similarly, in The Decay of the Angel. Mishima once again concentrates
upon the exposure of the ugly antiheroes who embrace knowledge and lack
external beauty. In The Decay of the Angel, the final work of Mishima's
tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, the reincarnation of the protagonist of the first
novel, Spring Snow, serves as the connecting force until the conclusion. The
passionate Matsugae Kiyoaki of Spring Snow is reborn in the form of Iinuma Isao
in Runaway Horses, who is reborn as Princess Ying Chan in The Temple of
Dawn. The narrator of the series is Honda Shigeyuki, once a friend of Kiyoaki's
who became a respected judge. He also acts as a strand that links the four
works together. In The Decay of the Angel he is retired and enjoys the luxuries of
wealth. The final stop for the cycle of reincarnations is supposedly in the form
of a young orphan named Yasunaga Torn.
T8ru is a lighthouse attendant who directs sea traffic. One day on a visit
to the Nihondaira vicinity, Honda spots Tflru, with three moles, the mark that
identifies the reincarnated beings. Enticed by the possibility that Torn may be
the latest reincarnation, Honda impulsively decides to adopt him. Anxious to
know whether T5ru is indeed the latest reincarnation, Honda waits for the
arrival of TSru's twentieth birthday. Because the protagonists of the other novels
all died at twenty, Torn is sure to do the same. However, the process of waiting
is not enjoyable for Honda. In spite of the fact that Honda provides Tdru with
an education and material comfort Torn indulges in his egotistic, cruel nature.
Convinced that he is an angel, Torn delights in knowing that he is different from
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35
others. As proof of his identity, Torn exhibits a purity that is supposedly
characteristic of angels. He deeply believes that,
From the moment I was bom on this earth, it would
seem, my being knew that it flew in the face of reason. I
was not bom with any defect. I was bom like an
impossibly perfect human being, a perfect film negative.6 0
Acting on this notion of his angelic perfection, Tom enjoys manipulating people
and being ruthless. While T5ru is emotionally cool to his adopted father, Honda,
he also begins physically abusing him toward the end of the novel:
He had suddenly come to treat his father as an adversary.
He was prompt in putting down every sign of resistance.
After Tom had hit him on the forehead with a fire poker,
Honda went to a clinic for a few days to have the wound
treated ... Thereafter he was most attentive in reading
and deferring to Tom's wishes 6i
In his experiment gone out of control, the only consolation that Honda has is
anticipating whether Tom is the authentic reincarnation. Taken advantage of by
Tom, Honda has only one hope:
If Tom were to die in the six months before his
twenty-first birthday, everything could be forgiven. Only
the awareness of that birthday had made it possible for
Honda to endure the arrogance.6 *
Before T5ru reaches twenty-one, he is invited by Honda's friend, Keiko, to a
private dinner. In disclosing that TCru may be the possible reincarnation that
SOYukio Mishima, The Decay of the Angel, trans. Edward G.
Seidensticker, The Sea of Fertility. A Cycle of Four Novels (New York: Vintage
International, 1990) 142.
61 Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 172.
62Mishima. The Decay of the Angel 183.
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36
Honda searches for, she destroys Toru's illusions of uniqueness. After
discovering the truth he drinks poison but fails to kill himself. His suicide
attempt leaves him blind, and he lives past his twenty-first birthday. Torn then
rapidly sinks into physical and emotional decay as he refuses to bathe, change
clothes, or associate with the outside world. Content to live in a small house
with a mentally ill woman, Kinue, Torn wastes his life away. Meanwhile, Honda
ventures to Nara to visit the Abbess Satoko of GesshQji. Satoko is of supreme
importance because she was the forbidden lover of Kiyoaki who began the whole
cycle of reincarnation. Though she receives Honda, she has no recollection of
Kiyoaki and destroys Honda's firm belief that the cycle of reincarnation occurred
at all.
In The Decay of the Angel. Toru and Honda are both quintessential
models of how knowledge and the absence of physical beauty classify the
protagonists as ugly antiheroes. For one thing, Torn delights in the knowledge
that he is actually an angel. He is described early on as,
A sixteen-year-old who was quite certain that he did not
belong to this world. ... There were consequently no laws
and no regulations that governed him. He but pretended
that he was bound by the laws of this world. Where are
there laws regulating an a n g e l? 6 3
As a believer of this illusion, TSru is content with being vicious, cold, and
manipulating. The narrator characterizes T5ru as, "This orphan, one of the elect
different from other men, had complete confidence in his own immaculateness,
63Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 14.
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37
whatever evil he might work."6 4 As an external symbol of his spiritual
immaculateness, Toru also requires physical cleanliness. Obsessed with having a
clean body, "He washed his hands any number of times every day. Constantly
scrubbed at, they were white and dry."6 5 The physical fastidiousness stems from
TSru's knowledge of his divine origins. It is this knowledge that reduces the
arrogant TSru to his wretched state in the concluding chapters of The Decay of
die Angel. TOru, like Professor Fujimiya of "Act of Worship," favors knowledge
as the force behind his existence. While the knowledge that Toru favors is not
academic in nature, he is emotionally attached to the knowledge that he is an
angel. His ability for cruelty relies upon his knowledge that since he is divine,
nothing can taint his purity. However, it is specifically this knowledge that leads
to Toru's downfall. He becomes so convinced of his status as a superhuman that
he suffers disillusionment when Keiko reveals the reasons for his adoption. As
Keiko discloses the possibility that Toru may or may not be the reincarnation of
Ying Chan (of The Temple of Dawn), she succeeds in smashing Toru's self-image.
She assures Toru that,
"There is nothing in the least special about you. I
guarantee you a long life. You have not been chosen by
the gods, you will never be at one with your acts, you do
not have in you the green light to flash like young
lightning with the speed of the gods and destroy yourself.
All you have is a certain premature senility. Your life will
be suited for coupon-clipping. Nothing more."6 6
64Mishima. The Decay of the Angel 14-15.
fiSMishima, The Decay of the Angel 15.
66Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 205.
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38
Thus, Keiko's knowledge of Honda's scheme to discover whether Toru is the true
reincarnation destroys Toru, who had been so confident of his divine origins.
Toru's arrogant knowledge of his heavenly roots is demolished by Keiko's further
knowledge that he may or may not be a reincarnation. Again, knowledge is the
negative force that confines the protagonist to his ugly existence. First, Toru is
unhesitatingly cruel and manipulative while confident in the knowledge that he is
an angel. Though he may be physically attractive, he is morally rotten. This
knowledge is then destroyed by further knowledge that Keiko discloses regarding
Toru's true nature as a mere incarnation of someone else, or even as "'... a
mean, cunning little country boy of the sort we see sprawled all over the
place.' "67 Because of this second wave of knowledge that Keiko reveals, Toru is
disillusioned of his true nature and falls into a further state of ugliness, that of
physical decay.
Not only does The Decay of the Angel emphasize the corrosive force of
knowledge, but it also attributes the lack of physical beauty to the Mishima
antihero. In the case of Toru, the knowledge that he is not a divine creation
deprives him of physical beauty. Although Toru has always insisted on being
clean, after his severe disillusionment, he physically deteriorates. Content to sit
in silence and blindness in the cottage of Kinue, Toru dwells in the fetid aroma of
his own sweat and Kinue's vomit As Honda visits Toru in Kinue's cottage, the
narrator depicts his loathsome state:
Toru's heels looked up from the skirt of his kimono. They
were white and wrinkled as those of a drowned corpse,
67Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 205.
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39
and patches of dirt were scattered like bits of foil over
them. The kimono had gone quite limp. Sweat drew
clusters of yellow clouds at the neckline. Honda had for
some time been aware of a strange odor. He saw that the
dirt and oil on the kimono had mixed with the sweat into
the smell as of a dank canal that young men put out in the
summer. Toru had lost his fastidiousness.®
Toru, who always insisted on cleanliness, becomes a filthy, ruined hero who will
live the rest of his days with his hideous partner, Kinue. Lack of physical beauty
in the case of Tc5ru is an obvious result of the power of knowledge to corrode
existence and cause the ugly decay of its worshippers. The downfall of Toru
also signals the conclusion of the cycle of reincarnations, heralds the end of the
world that Mishima has so meticulously created, and marks the dark end to the
elaborate story-telling that the reader has witnessed.
In The Decay of the Angel, aside from Toru, Honda Shigeyuki also
qualifies as a counterexample of beauty through his own reliance upon
knowledge and his possession of repulsive physical features. Honda relies on
the rational, logical approach to viewing the world. As a former judge, he
exercises thinking that is calculated. Even in being confronted with the
possibility of reincarnation, Honda shows his colors as a scholar, researching
Buddhism in hopes of uncovering the mystery. The thirst for knowledge drives
Honda in The Decay of the Angel. Through adopting Toru, he hopes to discover
the continuation of the cycle of birth and death by finding the latest reincarnation
of Ying Chan. In anticipating TSru's early death, that characterized the other
three youths of the cycle,
He could not deny that there was pleasure in looking
68Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 219.
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40
forward to Toru's death, in looking ahead to it with the
quiet love, oozing sweet poison, of one who knows
everything.6 ’
Honda views the adoption of Toru as an opportunity to satisfy his own curiosity
regarding the possibility of reincarnation. Toru's early death could affirm his
hypothesis and reward him the satisfaction of being "one who knows
e v e r y t h i n g ." ^ Like T5ru, Honda relies on the realm of knowledge to give meaning
to his life. While Toru delights in knowing he is an angel, Honda revels in
knowing that T3ru may be another reincarnation that he will be privileged to
witness. Of course, knowledge again becomes the harmful force, as Honda's
quest for knowledge ultimately leads to his grand disillusionment at the end of
The Decay of the Angel.
Honda has reached the old age of eighty-one by the novel's conclusion,
but he still relies upon the power of knowledge and the mind to give meaning to
his existence. Even at eighty-one, he strives for the possession of knowledge and
is satisfied that
Indeed general debilitation and rhythmical attacks of pain
brought new powers to think. ... At the age of eighty-one
Honda attained to a wondrous and mysterious realm that
had before been denied him.7 1
Reluctant to relinquish the power of knowledge, Honda discovers that old age
finds new avenues for exercising the mind. Susan Napier, in Escape from the
69Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 183.
7°Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 183.
71 Mishima. The Decay of the Angel 212-213.
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41
Wasteland, explains, "Confronted by the possibility that the entire notion of a
cycle of rebirths was false, Honda's probing analytical mind cannot rest."72
Honda insists that the cycle of reincarnation of Kiyoaki to Isao, to Ying Chan, to
Toru, is a reality, yet he demands concrete proof that the cycle truly exists.
Seeking further assistance in solving the puzzle of reincarnation, Honda visits
Abbess Satoko one last time. She succeeds in negating all of Honda's
intellectual, rational, and logical efforts to figure out the cycle of rebirth. His
whole life view is thrown into turmoil when she has no recollection of Kiyoaki.
As Satoko insists that Honda must have the wrong person, the rational Honda is
jolted:
He spoke loudly, as if to retrieve the self that receded like
traces of breath vanishing from a lacquer tray. "If there
was no Kiyoaki, then there was no Isao. There was no
Ying Chan, and who knows, perhaps there has been no
I."73
The rational thinking of Honda amounts to nothing, as Satoko demolishes
whatever logical webs he has carefully constructed throughout the tetralogy.
David McPherson comments on Mishima's bleak final vision:
At the end of the quartet, Honda is left looking at an
empty Zen garden, a symbol of both eternity and
nothingness. His illusions about reincarnation are
shattered and he is left confused and embittered, faced
72susan J. Napier, Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in
the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo (Cambridge: Council on East Asian
Studies, Harvard University Press, 1991) 212.
73Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 235.
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42
with the stark feet of paltry and futile old age 74
Because Honda relies so heavily upon the power of the mind and knowledge,
when these prove to be futile, the protagonist has nothing substantial left of his
character except the reluctant acknowledgement of his age and perhaps the even
more fearful notion that his existence, too, may be questionable.
In accordance with Mishima's other ugly antiheroes, Honda also lacks
beauty. The cause of Honda's unsightliness is directly connected to his old age.
The Decay of the Angel begins with a seventy-six year old Honda and ends as he
reaches the age of eighty-one. Completely lacking in a desirable physique, void
of muscles and a sculpted body, Honda shrinks at the sight of his grotesque
reflection:
He took off his bathrobe before the steaming mirror. He
looked at himself. His ribs were in sharp relief, his
stomach sagged, and in its shadow hung a shriveled white
bean; and so down to whitish shins from which the flesh
seemed to have been stripped away. The knees were like
swellings. How many years of self-deception would it
take to find rejuvenation in this u g lin e s s ? 7 5
Mishima describes the unsightliness that accompanies old age, as Honda beholds
himself in the mirror. At the end of The Decay of the Angel, both protagonists,
Toru and Honda, lead a similar existence. While Torn is only twenty-one, he
already begins his physical decay by retreating from the world, content to be
enveloped in the smell of his own sweat and bodily secretions. At the other end ’
of the spectrum, the eighty-one year old Honda experiences the decay of the
74David E. McPherson, "A Personal Myth-Yukio Mishima: The Samurai
Narcissus," The Psychoanalytic Review 73.3 (Fall 1986): 375.
75Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 216.
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43
body that results from old age.
Regardless of their disparate ages, Toru and Honda both lose their
physical beauty through intentional or natural means. Through accentuating the
physical decay of the old and young alike, Mishima criticizes the corroded state
of the contemporary world. The old have naturally turned ugly through the
process of aging. Whatever morals they may have treasured are discarded by the
present age as obsolete and utterly useless. The youths destroy their beauty
through wild abandon, the pursuit of material riches, and their faith in the
illusions of their own purity. Present society is inhabited by the old and ugly, or
youth who have turned ugly by betraying their own beauty. The only hope for
such a society is the young, who resist decay through their reliance on the body
and action. They are not preoccupied with immoral behavior, knowledge of their
identity, or material comforts of the future. In concentrating on the urgency of the
present moment, these youths have a certain vitality and beauty that separates
them from the massive ocean of others who are living examples of the dead.
The Decay of the Angel features Mishima's ugly antiheroes, but the author
still allows them the privilege of searching for beauty. Like Mizoguchi, who seeks
his beauty through arson, and Professor Fujimiya, who attempts to create a
beautiful myth about himself, Torn and Honda, too, are not denied their own
search. Toru strives for beauty in his insistence that he is an angel. He delights
in his clean physical body and the fact that his "... pale, finely carved face was
like ice. It conveyed no emotion, no affection or tears."7 6 Toru's beauty is
expressed as an arrogance and aloofness that result from assuming that he is an
76Mishima. The Decay of the Angel 13.
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angel. Originally Torn is an attractive, dean adolescent The factor that causes
his fall from beauty is the devastating effect of knowledge. Because Toru is
attractive at first the corrosive power of knowledge is even more obvious in the
severity of the outcome of Toru's disillusionment No longer the immaculate,
angelic being, Toru sinks rapidly into physical and emotional degeneration.
Honda, too, desires beauty. In Honda's case, beauty constitutes being "one who
knows everything."?7 What Honda seeks is the satisfaction of being the one who
has solved the puzzle and who witnesses the amazing. He seeks beauty as being
the privileged one, who has lived to see all the reincarnations.
The attempts of the ugly, however, end in further hideousness. When
Mizoguchi of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion strives to preserve the most
beautiful image of the temple in his mind, he ends up razing a national treasure.
Professor Fujimiya, too, is denied his success as Tsuneko is aware of his
deceptive efforts to intentionally create a myth surrounding himself. Similarly,
Torn is thwarted of his pure evil beauty as Keiko destroys his illusions of
greatness and divinity. Honda also suffers the denial of beauty as his rational
calculations are destroyed by Abbess Satoko, who denies any recollection of
Kiyoaki, the first of the chain of reincarnations. Therefore, the attempts of the
literary antiheroes are rendered futile; their efforts end only in reinforcing the
initial unattractiveness that is so essential to their character.
In the final analysis, Mishima's beautiful heroes are awarded with early
deaths, while the ugly antiheroes are cursed with long life. In the conclusion of
"Sword," Jiro is found dead in the hills, and Isao in Runaway Horses commits
77Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 183.
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seppuku after killing Kurahara Busuke. The young heroes are frozen in the
radiance of youth, to be captured forever as beautiful. They are spared the
ugliness of old age and experience what Honda defines in The Decay of the
Angel as " 'Endless physical beauty. That is the special prerogative of those
who cut time short' "7 8 Jiro's and Isao's lives are concluded with one of the most
powerful actions of all— the abrupt ending of their own existences. Because these
young, beautiful heroes can sense the momentary beauty that accompanies their
actions, they are destined to experience death as something that also occurs in a
single flash. Contrary to the early deaths of Mishima's beautiful heroes, the ugly
must cope with long lives. At the conclusion of The Temple of the Golden
Pavilion. Mizoguchi does not commit suicide in the flames, but instead, he says
that, "I felt like a man who settles down for a smoke after finishing a job of
work. I wanted to live."7 9 In "Act of Worship," Professor Fujimiya is already in
his sixties, as he fabricates a myth of pity and romance. He shows no signs of
death and even attempts to live a longer metaphorical life through forming, "...
toward the close of his lonely life, a legend about himself?"8 * ) In The Decay of the
Angel. Toru and Honda, too, must suffer the undesirable consequences of long
life. Toru will spend the rest of his days furthering his own physical and
spiritual decay, while Honda will naturally suffer the ailments of old age. These
antiheroes will not be given a deus ex machina to end their unsightly lives.
78Mishima, The Decay of the Angel 107.
78Mishirna, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 262.
SOMishima, "Act of Worship" 203.
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While the ultimate destinations of Mishima's characters differ, the
complex journey to these end points is the same. Whether one is a beautiful hero
or an ugly antihero, the search for beauty is complex and costly. Even as ideal
heroes like Jiro and Isao of "Sword" and Runaway Horses strive to walk the
path of the sun (body/action), they become entangled in the web of words. At
times, their words contradict their actions and reveal their imperfect natures.
Only the power of the sun can ensure their purity, as they are liberated through
their commitment to action. While the sun illuminates, it also bums. The cost of
relying upon the sun is the price of death, but it is a pure death.
Mishima's ugly antiheroes are no less complex than the beautiful ones.
They worship a different god of words/knowledge, but their desire for beauty is
equally as strong. Their attempts at beauty are destined to fail, as their efforts
generate from the corruption and pollution of words/knowledge. They rely upon
the total antithesis to the pure brilliant force of the sun (body/action). As the
ugly insist on the power of the mind or the value of illusions, they are trapped in
their dark worlds. In The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Mizoguchi's mind
creates the perfect image of beauty. He is relieved at destroying one of the most
haunting creations of his own mind, but how long will this feeling last before he
must resort to further acts of desperation? Mizoguchi simply watches as
Kinkakuji bums. He has not changed at all by the conclusion, as he reverts back
to " 'A condition in which I exist on one side and beauty on the other.' "8 1
Professor Fujimiya's intellectual approach to beauty through deception is clever
but not convincing enough to fool even his gullible maid. Since he enjoys living in
81 Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 64.
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a fantasy world of lies, the beauty that results is equally superficial. Toru of The
Decay of the Angel is proof of how knowledge can relentlessly destroy its
believers. T5ru is devastated when he discovers that the illusion of his angelic
purity may be false. Honda, too, experiences the crushing force of reason, when
Satoko demolishes his rational approach, leaving him dumbfounded. In short,
Mishima's beautiful heroes rely on body/action and are saved from the corrosive
effect of words/knowledge. Although the characters are not flawless, the
brilliance of the sun protects them from the darkness of words. As for the ugly,
their efforts to enjoy the beauty of the sun are automatically thwarted, since the
avenues they choose are those of words and knowledge. In attempting to escape
from their dark worlds via other paths, their efforts are doomed from the start.
In conclusion, although one can trace the manifestation of Mishima's body
aesthetic in his literary works, there is a fundamental irony to the author's
statements in Sun and Steel. Mishima is disgusted at the ill effects of words
upon existence, but he still must use words to express this disdain. The facts
can not be altered-he is a literary man who deals constantly with words.
Because of this awkward position of the author, it is easy to disregard Mishima's
Sun and Steel body aesthetic as blatantly hypocritical. Probably in anticipation
of this contradiction, Mishima writes in Sun and Steel.
At the same time, I decided that if the corrosive
power of words had any creative function, it must find its
model in the formal beauty of this "ideal body," and that
the ideal in the verbal arts must lie solely in the imitation
of such physical beauty-in other words, the pursuit of a
beauty that was absolutely free from corrosion.8 2
82Mishima, Sun and Steel 12.
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Words could be construed as an avenue to imitate the beautiful world of the
body. Words might have some value then, in depicting the world of body and
action, which tends to elude verbalization. Through attempting to imitate that
which was not suited for imitation, words could be powerful in their creative
force. However, Mishima still insists on the purity of body / action and the
artificiality of words. The author definitively contrasts the two realms by
proclaiming in Sun and Steel. "Action-one might say-perishes with the blossom;
literature is an imperishable flower. And an imperishable flower, of course, is an
artificial flower."® The body/action realm is the reality that represents pure
existence. Words occupy a different plane of reality that simulates the beauty of
action. For Mishima, the direct beauty of the body in action overshadowed the
indirect beauty of words, that struggled to capture the evanescence of these
moments.
Lastly, Mishima supported the clear distinction between body/action
and words/knowledge in Sun and Steel, yet many critics are quick to note that
his own lifestyle was a betrayal of this distinction. In analyzing Mishima's
works, it becomes extremely difficult to ignore the manner of his fantastic death.
Knowing about his seppuku at the Self-Defense headquarters in Tokyo and his
own personal life, one can easily equate Mishima, the man, to one of his own
literary characters. However, with all the similarities that are present between
life and work, Noriko Lippit remarks, "Mishima was consistent, however, in
insisting on his creative theory— that is, that art belongs to a logically constructed
83Mishima, Sun and Steel 50.
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49
fictional world dimensionally different from that of life."8 4 Still, regardless of
Mishima's insistence, it is tempting to view the author's life and work as
interchangeable media. Works like Runaway Horses can be analyzed as verbal
rehearsals for Mishima's own seppuku. However, on the assumption that
Mishima's own proclamations were not a farce, the distinct line between the
author's life and work can be honored in considering that the two realms occupy
two different planes of experience, which can not possibly be crossed.
Mishima's works may closely reflect his personal life, but it is impossible for an
artificial flower to transform into a real one. Therefore, regardless of how
Mishima's own personal life may surface in his literature, as Edward Fowler
states, " ... authorial 'presence' must always be, in the final analysis, a product
of representation."8 8 The author's impermanent life cannot possibly be equated
to his literature, which is an imitative medium that will last forever. Mishima, in
homage to his complex aesthetics, demonstrated the boundary between life and
art a final time, with his own seppuku. Yukio Mishima's literary legacy would
endure and attest to the image of the "imperishable flower,"8 6 while on
November 25,1970, the world was witness to the brilliant transience of the body
in action.
84Noriko Mizuta Lippit, Reality and Fiction in Modem Tapanese
Literature (New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1980) 184.
85Edward Fowler, The Rhetoric of Confession: Shishosetsu in Early
Twentieth— Century Tapanese Fiction (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1988) 9.
86Mishima, Sun and Steel 50.
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50
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Lingis, Alphonso. "Seppuku." Literature as Philosophy: Philosophy as
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Creator
Mayeda, Akemi Alyson
(author)
Core Title
In search of the sun: Yukio Mishima's body aesthetic
School
Graduate School
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
East Asian Languages and Cultures
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University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
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literature, Asian,OAI-PMH Harvest
Language
English
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Digitized by ProQuest
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[illegible] (
committee chair
), Zimmerman, Eve (
committee chair
), Hayden, George (
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5493
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Mayeda, Akemi Alyson
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