From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Yukio Mishima (January 14, 1925 - November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, film director, nationalist, and founder of the Tatenokai. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, but the award went to his countryman Yasunari Kawabata. His works include the novels Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and the autobiographical essay Sun and Steel. Mishima's work is characterized by its luxurious vocabulary and decadent metaphors, its fusion of traditional Japanese and modern Western literary styles, and its obsessive assertions of the unity of beauty, eroticism and death.
Ideologically a right wing nationalist, Mishima formed the Tatenokai, an unarmed civilian militia, for the avowed purpose of restoring power to the Japanese Emperor. On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of his militia entered a military base in central Tokyo, took the commandant hostage, and attempted to inspire the Japan Self-Defense Forces to overturn Japan's 1947 Constitution. When this was unsuccessful, Mishima committed seppuku.
Major works
Japanese Title
| English Title
| Year
| English translation, year
| ISBN
|
假面の告白 Kamen no Kokuhaku
| Confessions of a Mask
| 1948
| Meredith Weatherby, 1958
| ISBN 0-8112-0118-X
|
愛の渇き Ai no Kawaki
| Thirst for Love
| 1950
| Alfred H. Marks, 1969
| ISBN 4-10-105003-1
|
禁色 Kinjiki
| Forbidden Colors
| 1953
| Alfred H. Marks, 1968-1974
| ISBN 0-375-70516-3
|
潮騷 Shiosai
| The Sound of Waves
| 1954
| Meredith Weatherby, 1956
| ISBN 0-679-75268-4
|
金閣寺 Kinkaku-ji*
| The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
| 1956
| Ivan Morris, 1959
| ISBN 0-679-75270-6
|
鏡子の家 Kyōko no Ie
| Kyoko's House
| 1959
|
| ISBN
|
宴のあと Utage no Ato
| After the Banquet
| 1960
| Donald Keene, 1963
| ISBN 0-399-50486-9
|
午後の曳航 Gogo no Eikō
| The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
| 1963
| John Nathan, 1965
| ISBN 0-679-75015-0
|
絹と明察 Kinu to Meisatsu
| Silk and Insight
| 1964
| Hiroaki Sato, 1998
| ISBN 0-7656-0299-7
|
三熊野詣 Mikumano Mōde (short story)
| Acts of Worship
| 1965
| John Bester, 1995
| ISBN 0-87011-824-2
|
サド侯爵夫人 Sado Kōshaku Fujin (play)
| Madame de Sade
| 1965
| Donald Keene, 1967
| ISBN 0-394-17304-X
|
憂國 Yūkoku (short story)
| Patriotism
| 1966
| Geoffrey W. Sargent, 1966
| ISBN 0-8112-1312-9
|
真夏の死 Manatsu no Shi
| Death in Midsummer and other stories
| 1966
| Edward G. Seidensticker, Ivan Morris, Donald Keene, Geoffrey W. Sargent, 1966
| ISBN 0-8112-0117-1
|
葉隠入門 Hagakure Nyūmon
| Way of the Samurai
| 1967
| Kathryn Sparling, 1977
| ISBN 0-465-09089-3
|
わが友ヒットラー Waga Tomo Hittorā (play)
| My Friend Hitler and Other Plays
| 1968
| Hiroaki Sato, 2002
| ISBN 0-231-12633-6
|
太陽と鐡 Taiyō to Tetsu
| Sun and Steel
| 1970
| John Bester
| ISBN 4-7700-2903-9
|
豐饒の海 Hōjō no Umi
| The Sea of Fertility tetralogy:
| 1964- 1970
|
| ISBN 0-677-14960-3
|
I. 春の雪 Haru no Yuki
| 1. Spring Snow
| 1968
| Michael Gallagher, 1972
| ISBN 0-394-44239-3
|
II. 奔馬 Honba
| 2. Runaway Horses
| 1969
| Michael Gallagher, 1973
| ISBN 0-394-46618-7
|
III. 曉の寺 Akatsuki no Tera
| 3. The Temple of Dawn
| 1970
| E. Dale Saunders and Cecilia S. Seigle, 1973
| ISBN 0-394-46614-4
|
IV. 天人五衰 Tennin Gosui
| 4. The Decay of the Angel
| 1970
| Edward Seidensticker, 1974
| ISBN 0-394-46613-6
|
*
For the temple called Kinkaku-ji, see Kinkaku-ji.