QUOTES

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Hagakure – New edition

November 5, 2009 in Hagakure, MISC NOTES - History + Japanese Culture | No comments

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#

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Mishima “Sincerity” T-Shirt Design

August 2, 2009 in Sincerity/Integrity/Purity, VISUAL ART | 4 comments

Sincerity T shirt, Yukio Mishima's Head

"Sincerity" T-Shirt - Yukio Mishima's severed head

"Sincerity" T-Shirt - Yukio Mishima's severed head

I did a block print of this basic design about a year ago. Several of the prints are for sale at this week’s “Germophilia” show in Philly. There are a few unframed ones going for like $20, as well as a framed one with daubs of my own blood for $50, so if you’re interested, contact Kevin Slaughter.
However, block prints are not so great for t-shirts, but I really liked the design, so I updated it by making the face more of a half-tone graphic (it’s Mishima’s severed head, btw).

I probably will not be selling these…too labor intensive to be profitable on this scale. I was just tired of wearing my staple plain black t-shirts all the time, and wanted something that related to my own work.

The quote on the back will read:

“His was a battlefield without glory, a battlefield where none could display deeds of valor: it was the front line of the spirit.”

- Yukio Mishima, Patriotism

The full quote is here:

http://www.jack-donovan.com/mishima/?p=64

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Beauty and Darkness…

May 15, 2009 in Beauty, QUOTES | No comments

“My concern, what confronted me with my real problem, was beauty alone. But I do not think that the war affected me by filling my mind with gloomy thoughts. When people concentrate on the idea of beauty, they are, without realizing it, confronted with the darkest thoughts that exist in this world. That, I suppose, is how humans are made.”

– Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

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The Intestines

May 13, 2009 in Beauty, Death/Suicide, QUOTES | No comments

“What is so ghastly about exposed intestines? Why, when we see the insides of a human being, do we have to cover our eyes in terror? Why are a man’s intestines ugly? Is it not exactly the same in quality as a youthful, glossy skin? [...] Why does there seem to be something inhuman about regarding human beings like roses and refusing to make any distinction between the insides of their bodies and the outside? If only human beings could reverse their spirits and their bodies, could gracefully turn them inside out like rose petals and expose them to the spring breeze and to the sun…”

– Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

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Insensitive people

May 13, 2009 in Death/Suicide, QUOTES | No comments

“Insensitive people are only upset when they actually see blood. Yet, by the time that blood has been shed, the tragedy is already completed.”

– Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

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The God Shelf

May 2, 2009 in MISC NOTES - History + Japanese Culture, QUOTES, Sincerity/Integrity/Purity, Uncategorized | No comments

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

kamidana

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Purity

April 30, 2009 in Death/Suicide, QUOTES, Sincerity/Integrity/Purity, Uncategorized

Mt fuji and cherry blossoms

“Purity, a concept that recalled flowers, the piquant mint taste of a mouthwash, a child clinging to its mother’s gentle breast, was something that joined all these directly to the concept of blood, the concept of swords cutting down through the shoulder to spray the air with blood. And to the concept of seppuku. The moment that a samurai “fell like the cherry blossoms, his blood-smeared corpse became at once like fragrant cherry blossoms. The concept of purity, then, could alter to the contrary with arbitrary swiftness. And so purity was the stuff of poetry.”

- Yukio Mishima, Runaway Horses

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The Restoration

April 29, 2009 in Death/Suicide, Fascist/Anarcho-fascist, QUOTES, Sincerity/Integrity/Purity, Strength/Action

“…we, never seeking power and giving no thought to personal advancement, go forth to certain death to become the foundation stones for the Restoration.”

- Yukio Mishima, Runaway Horses

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When one reality crumbles…

April 28, 2009 in Fascist/Anarcho-fascist, QUOTES

“Somehow Isao had grown accustomed to the idea that when one reality crumbles, another crystallizes and a new order comes into existence.”

- Yukio Mishima, Runaway Horses

The law

April 27, 2009 in Beauty, Death/Suicide, Fascist/Anarcho-fascist, Manhood, QUOTES, Sincerity/Integrity/Purity, Strength/Action

“The law is an accumulation of tireless attempts to block a man’s desire to change life into an instant of poetry. Certainly it would not be right to let everybody exchange his life for a line of poetry written in a splash of blood. But the mass of men, lacking valor, pass away their lives without ever feeling the least touch of such a desire. The law, therefore, of its very nature is aimed at a tiny minority of mankind.”

- Yukio Mishima, Runaway Horses

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