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Physical inferiority and cynicism

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:51:57 +0000

“The cynicism that regards hero worship as comical is always shadowed by a sense of physical inferiority.”

Cult of the Hero – A Mighty Nihilism

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:25:59 +0000

“Facile cynicism, invariably, is related to feeble muscles or obesity, while the cult of the hero and a mighty nihilism are always are always related to a mighty body and well-tempered muscles. For the cult of the hero is, ultimately, the basic principle of the body, and in the long run is intimately involved with the contrast between the robustness of the body and the destruction that is death.”

- Yukio Mishima,Sun and Steel

Public vs. Private Hero Worship

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:15:15 +0000

“Most young men of Mibu’s age, even if they secretly revere someone, cant bring themselves to express it in words. Normally, the naive desire to appear self-sufficient makes them shy about such emotions. Mibu’s family thought it a sign of childishness that he was so forthcoming on the matter.”

- Yukio Mishima, “Sword” Acts of Worship

The Weakening of the Father’s Role

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:02:01 +0000

“Especially today, with the decline in the father’s authority, the ‘mother’s darling’ has become increasingly more common and there has been a dramatic rise in the number of what the Americans call the ‘domineering mother type’ [in English]. The father is ostracized, and the strict samurai instruction that is supposed to be handed down from father to son is completely neglected (indeed, there is no longer anything to hand down), and even for the child the father is reduced to a machine that brings home a pay-checque. There is no spiritual bond between them. The feminization of men is a common object of criticism today. But one should realize that the weakening of the father’s role is proceeding at an alarming rate.”

- Yukio Mishima, Mishima on Hagakure

Manly Beauty

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:31 +0000

“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

Aesthetics

admin — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:50:46 +0000

“…just as the ancient Greeks associated aesthetics with ethics, morality in Hagakure is determined by aesthetics. What is beautiful must be strong, vivid, and brimming with energy. This is the first principle; the second is that what is moral must be beautiful. It does not mean taking great care over clothing and becoming effeminate, but rather it brings together beauty and ethical goals in the greatest possible tension.”

- Yukio Mishima, Mishima on Hagakure