Headlessgod.com » MISC NOTES – History + Japanese Culture

Hagakure – New edition

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:32:09 +0000

I was in Barnes and Noble today and I found a beautiful, hardcover edition of the Hagakure, which Mishima referred to as the “womb of his oeuvre” and wrote his own commentary on. It is bound in bright orange fabric, it’s printed in full color, and it even has a purple ribbon page marker. It’s very reasonably priced, and I almost picked it up–but I highlight my books and it seemed like too nice of an edition for me to own. I am tempted to pick it up for my Mishima bookshelf. Just to have…

The photo on Amazon/B&N doesn’t do it justice. Here’s a link to the publisher, Duncan Baird. Even that doesn’t quite show how nice it is for the money.

http://www.dbp.co.uk/book_preview.asp?b_id=559#

Is Japan’s New Prime Minister asking Mishima-esque Questions?

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:36:18 +0000

Came across this article from the Japan Times, written by Hiroaki Sato, who is working on a biography of Mishima.

Apparently, Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is getting criticism for saying things about Japan’s military being in the pocket of the US. This concerned another Yukio many years ago…

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Hatoyama just calling it as it is

By HIROAKI SATO

“…after all these years, there persists the nagging suspicion, articulated most clearly toward the end of the 1960s by Yukio Mishima, that the ultimate commander of the Japanese military, the SDF, is not the Japanese prime minister but the U.S. president.

Not just the Persian Gulf War in 1991 but also the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 has demonstrated the validity of this suspicion.

It was at least this murky status of the SDF that Mishima, originally a law student, wanted to clear away. He proposed to split the forces into two separate entities: one a Japanese contingent for “U.N. peacekeeping operations,” and the other an entity dedicated to homeland defense. Hatoyama’s outline for constitutional revision on his homepage comes remarkably close to Mishima’s idea four decades ago, though without the part about splitting the forces.”

Hitokiri (Tenchu!) – Another on-screen hara-kiri filmed in 1969

admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:18:31 +0000

Mishima’s character in the yakuza film “Afraid to Die“ actually dies in the end.

In “Patriotism,” Mishima famously filmed himself going through the motions of hara-kiri four years before he eventually committed suicide in almost exactly the same manner.

In “HitoKiri,” he plays Tanaka Shinbei. When Shinbei’s sword is found at a high official’s assassination scene, he quickly commits seppuku. Given the actor, that’s hardly a spoiler.

As a still, this is one of the most menacing images I’ve ever seen of Mishima.

The film itself seems to be particularly relevant to Mishima’s concerns in 1969, which is when it was filmed. According to IMDB, the film was released February of 1970*, just months before Mishima’s own late November exit.

Hitokiri translates roughly to “manslayer.” The alternate title of the film, Tenchu!, was a battle-cry, meaning “divine punishment.”

Hitokiri is a cinematic retelling of the tale of The Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. These warriors opposed the shogunate and favored the restoration of the Emperor to power. This role was chosen with artful precision. Not only did Mishima’s character commit suicide, but the Four Hitokiri, like Mishima, were supporters of the Emperor. Mishima’s private army, the Tatenokai, were a spiritual army sworn to “shield” the ideal of the Emperor.

Apparently, Mishima also sang the film’s theme song (!!?!?!). I’m working on that…

Review of Hitokiri on Midnight Eye

http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/hitokiri.shtml

Review of Hitokiri on Movie Feast

http://moviefeast.blogspot.com/2008/06/tenchu-hitokiri-1969.html

Review of Hitokiri on Lard Biscuit Enterprises

http://www.lardbiscuit.com/jidaigeki/gosha-tenchu.html

* At least in the USA. I was unable to find a Japanese release date, but it couldn’t have been much sooner if the film was produced in 1969.

h/t the Werwolf Ensemble guys, who told me about this film.

Adbusters on “The Soul of Japan”

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:52:05 +0000

A smug, pro-post-modernist article that mentions Mishima dismissively (almost in a bitchy way, actually), yet more or less summarizes the fears Mishima expressed about the “spirit” (or psychology) of a castrated Japan a few decades ago. He warned that Japan would become known for “the chrysanthemum” or Ikebana and, well, other “cute” stuff.

The author should know that American young people have also accepted that “there are no absolute answers to anything.”

It’s called relativism. They teach it in universities and on MTV. It could also be called overactive empathy, emotionalism, indecisiveness and fear of taking a stand. If you don’t bother with drawing lines, you can busy yourself with buying Manga and playing video games and chatting on Facebook while Rome burns.

The God Shelf

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:42:30 +0000

In the Mishima story, “Patriotism,” the characters pay homage to what is translated as the “god shelf.”

“On the god shelf below the staircase, alongside the tablet from the Great Ise Shrine, were set photographs of their Imperial Majesties, and regularly every morning , before leaving for duty, the lieutenant would stand with his wife at this hallowed place and together they would bow their heads low. The offering water was renewed each morning, and the sacred sprig of sasaki was always green and fresh. Their lives were lived beneath the solemn protection of the gods and were filled with an intense happiness which set every fiber in their bodies trembling.”

- Yukio Mishima, Patriotism

The “God Shelf” is a kamidana.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamidana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ise_Shrine

Some kamidana seem to be quite elaborate, while others are simple and have very clean lines.

There are some images of a very simple antique kamidana here, and an internet search will yield a wide variety of them.

http://www.budomall.com/index.php