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“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
Tags: dark beauty, darkness
“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
Tags: entrails, guts, intestines, ordeal by roses, roses, seppuku, spirit
“The lieutenant, not without a touch of egocentricity, rejoiced that he would never see this beauty crumble in death.”
- Yukio Mishima, Patriotism
Note: The beauty in context is his young wife.
“But what Hagakure has to say here about ideal human, or rather manly, beauty – ‘reverent yet stern, self collected’ – is still one kind of aesthetic for manly appearance. ‘Reverent’ requires a humility that inspires trust in others, while ’sternness’ hints at an air of austerity and aloofness. What is needed to reconcile and bind together these two opposite elements is a serene, unflappable calm.”
- Yukio Mishima, Mishima on Hagakure
