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    Yukio Mishima was a Japanese novelist born in 1925 who committed ritual suicide, known as seppuku, in 1970. He was raised primarily by his grandmother in an aristocratic household in Tokyo. Mishima was interested in traditional Japanese martial values and criticized the modernization and westernization of Japanese culture. In 1970, he led a failed coup attempt to protest these changes and then committed seppuku at a Self-Defense Forces base in Tokyo as an act of patriotism to return Japan to its imperial past. Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide practiced by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into enemy hands or live disgraced.

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    Yukio Mishima was a Japanese novelist born in 1925 who committed ritual suicide, known as seppuku, in 1970. He was raised primarily by his grandmother in an aristocratic household in Tokyo. Mishima was interested in traditional Japanese martial values and criticized the modernization and westernization of Japanese culture. In 1970, he led a failed coup attempt to protest these changes and then committed seppuku at a Self-Defense Forces base in Tokyo as an act of patriotism to return Japan to its imperial past. Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide practiced by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into enemy hands or live disgraced.

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    18 views3 pages

    Frinqassignment

    Uploaded by

    api-273376263
    Yukio Mishima was a Japanese novelist born in 1925 who committed ritual suicide, known as seppuku, in 1970. He was raised primarily by his grandmother in an aristocratic household in Tokyo. Mishima was interested in traditional Japanese martial values and criticized the modernization and westernization of Japanese culture. In 1970, he led a failed coup attempt to protest these changes and then committed seppuku at a Self-Defense Forces base in Tokyo as an act of patriotism to return Japan to its imperial past. Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide practiced by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into enemy hands or live disgraced.

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    PresentationResearchInformation

    ABOUTAUTHOR:
    Japanesenovelist
    whoseobsessionwiththelossoftraditionalJapanesemilitaryvaluesledtohissuicide.
    flamboyantlife
    UpperclassinTokyo
    Raisedbygrandmother
    graduatedfromtheUniversityofTokyoinlaw
    bornOnJanuary14,1925
    Hisfatherworkedasagovernmentofficial.
    Asachild,YukioMishimaslifewasdominatedbyhisgrandmotherNatsu
    YukioMishimasgrandmotherseparatedhimfromhisfamilyformanyyearsofhislonglife.
    NatsugrewupinthehouseholdofPrinceArisugawaTeruhito.ThisupbringinggaveNatsuan
    aristocraticair,despitethefactshemarriedabureaucratwhogainedhiswealthinterritories
    invadedbyJapan.
    YukioMishimasgrandmotherpreventedtheboyfromplayingsports.YukioMishimawasleft
    toplaywithhisgirlcousins.YukioMishimasfatherfearedthathewasbecomingoverly
    feminine.HewouldoftendestroytheboysearlyattemptsatliteratureYukioMishimasfather
    viewedsuchendeavorstobeunmanly.
    YukioMishimagavefromthebalconyoftheSelfDefenseForceheadquartersinTokyoin1970
    beforecommittingritualseppukuinsidethebuilding.Inhisperformance,Morimurarepurposed
    Mishima'smanifestoasacallforJapaneseartiststoreturntoJapaneseculture.

    Marriedtoawoman,had2children
    Hiswifeboredhim,however,hestillpresentedhimselfasamodelhusband
    Oftenwenttogaybarsandwasquotedsayingthereissomethingwrongwithmethatcannotbe
    satisfiedwithartalone.
    plannedhisseppukuforoverayear
    practicedphysicalfitnessandtheancientartsofthesamurai,e.g.,karateandswordsmanship,
    attemptingtoreturntotheidealsofJapanunderImperialrule.

    ABOUTSEPPUKU:
    Seppukumeanscut(withaswordorknife)abdomen

    1871
    A. B. MITFORD
    Tales Old Japan

    II. 193 Seppuku (


    hara-kiri
    ) is the mode of suicide adopted amongst
    Samurai when they have no alternative but to die.

    1890
    B. H. CHAMBERLAIN
    Things Japanese

    141 The Japanese word


    harakiri,so well-known all over the
    world, is but little used by the Japanese themselves. The Japanese almost always prefer to employ
    the synonym
    seppuku
    , which they consider more elegant because it is derived from the Chinese.
    1923
    J. L. STREET
    Mysterious Japan

    xvi. 198 At the sound of the guns he took his short sword and
    committed seppuku.
    1947
    R. BENEDICT
    Chrysanthemum & Sword

    x. 200 He could only come to terms with chu by killing


    himself according to the rules of seppuku.
    1973
    A. BROINOWSKI
    Take One Ambassador

    xi. 178 You would at once..kill yourself. By


    seppuku
    , slitting
    of the stomach.

    Itistraditionalforthewifetoalsocommitseppukuwiththehusband.Inreallife,hiswifedid
    notcommitseppuku.Inthestory,Reikoalsocommittedsuicide,howeveritwasnotseppuku.
    Mishimamayhavewantedhiswifetocommitsuicidewithhim,thusbywritingpatriotism,
    Reikodiesalongsideherhusband.

    SeppukuisatimehonoredtraditionalformofsuicideamongthesamuraiclassinJapanfor
    centuries.Itstillseemstocontinueeveninthetwentiethcentury.Itwastraditionallyabadgeof
    courageandanhonorreservedforthesamuraiormilitaryaristocracy.DuringWorldWarII,
    countlessnumbersofJapanesemilitaryofficerscommittedseppukubeforetheeyesofstunned
    Americanfightingmen.Afterthewarin1945,manymenandwomen,whowerebothmilitary
    andcivilian,committedseppukuasanapologytotheEmperorforhavinglostthewar.

    RELATETOPATRIOTISM:
    ThefactthatYukioMishimacommittedsuicidebyseppukushowsthatthestorymaybea
    romanticizedversionofhowhewantedtodiehimself.Hecommittedacoupd'etatsothathe
    couldtryandoverthrowthecurrentstyleofarmyinJapanwithhissquadof100men.Hedidnt
    agreewiththecurrentstyleofpoliticsandthewesternizationofJapaneseculture.Some
    speculatethathiscoupwasanexcusetocommitseppukutosendamessagetocurrentJapanese
    politicstoreturntotradition.

    Heappearedtohopethatthisactwouldpublicizehisviewson,andperhapsleadtoamilitary
    uprisingindefenceof,Japan'straditionalheritagelaterspeculationastowhatothermotives
    mightbeinvolvedprobablyderivesfromassumptionsaboutthepathologicalsubjectmatterof
    someofhisnovels.Mishimaalsowroteanumberofplays,bothonmodernsubjectsandon
    themesfromtheclassicalndrama.


    WORKCITED:
    YukioMishimaBiography.TheEuropeanGraduateSchool.N.D.Web.DateAccessed18May.2015.
    <http://www.egs.edu/library/yukiomishima/biography/>

    Eubank,Donald."NewShowOffersBreakthroughInstallation."JapanTimes(2006):NewspaperSource.
    Web.18May2015.

    "YukioMishima.".:,19990101.
    OxfordReference
    .20030101.Web.DateAccessed18May.2015
    <http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100201130>.

    "seppuku.".:,20050101.
    OxfordReference
    .20060101.Web.DateAccessed18May.2015
    <http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100455235>.

    "seppuku,n."
    OEDOnline
    .OxfordUniversityPress,March2015.Web.18May2015.

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