Yukio Mishima

Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威, Hiraoka Kimitake, January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), known also under the pen name Yukio Mishima[a] (三島 由紀夫, Mishima Yukio), was 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 and friend Yasunari Kawabata.[5] His works include the novels Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion as well as 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”.[6]

Mishima’s personal life was controversial, which makes him still a contested figure today.[7][8][9][10] 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.

Books (In English) in order of publication:

Confessions of a Mask1949
Thirst for Love 1950
Forbidden Colors1953
Death in Midsummer and other stories1953
The Sound of Waves 1954
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion1956
Rokumiekan1956
After the Banquet 1960
Star1960
Patriotism1960
The Black Lizard 1961
The Frolic of the Beasts 1961
The Sailor who fell with grace from the Sea1963
Silk and Insight1964
Acts of Worship 1965
Madame de Sade1965
Way of the Samurai 1967
The Decline and Fall of the Suzaku1967
My Friend Hitler and other plays1968
Life for Sale1968
The Terrace of the Leper King1968
Sun and Steel1968
Spring Snow1969
Runaway Horses1969
The Temple of Dawn1970
The Decay of the Angel1971