The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima

Book review by Joel
This is the biography of Japan’s most famous 20th century author. He wrote many books, plays, acted in movies, and started his own army. This is the book Scott-Stokes wrote to try to explain his suicide by hara-kiri at the age of 45. It was a planned suicide that was supposed to be a political statement against the use of the Japanese armed forces--or lack of use. Mishima was a militarist, and thought Japan was losing its identity to the West. There are several Web sites for him; including some interesting interviews on Youtube.com.

Henry Scott-Stokes’s purpose in this biography was to try and explain why someone with so much going for themselves would do such a thing. Using his large body of work and interviews with family members and friends, he put together what he thought must have been going on inside Mishima’s mind.

Yukio Mishima was a complex man. His first major book, Confessions of a Mask, brought him literary fame and prestige. His writing was different from what others were doing at the time. It was more honest and had a flair for uncommon characters that better explained the ideas he wanted to get across. He had a genius for language.

His life was a bit strange, however; his grandmother forcibly decided to raise him after he was born, and brought him up as a little girl. He was forbidden to go out, and could not play the way he wanted. His grandmother was ill and became aggravated when he wanted to play with toys, such as toy cars and toy guns. He had to stay in the room with his sick grandmother.

As he got older, he found that he was sexually excited by drawings of men in battle near death--especially a picture of St. Sebastian, which he found in an art book of his father’s. This picture influenced Mishima deeply and references to it or like it are in many of his books. He was obsessed with death. Many of his books ended with the main character committing hara-kiri or dying in some horrible way, all described in great detail.

Henry Scott-Stokes tries to capture the true author, but I feel he may have fallen short. Even the author wrote that it is extremely difficult to comprehend the Japanese culture completely if you are not from there. My problem with this book is that it focuses on his death. The book starts out with a minute-to-minute replay of the day he commits suicide. And then it goes into his childhood, using extensive quoting of his writing, especially Confessions of a Mask.

I would recommend the book only to those interested in Yukio, or in Japanese literature. I thought it was very interesting but it was not a fun read.

Joel.