Headlessgod.com » Sincerity/Integrity/Purity

Mishima “Sincerity” T-Shirt Design

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:59:33 +0000

"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.

http://www.underworldamusements.net/2009/event/ua-germophilia-8709/.

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

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

Purity

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:17:45 +0000

“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

The Restoration

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:14:41 +0000

“…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

The law

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:06:08 +0000

“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

Purity and its glorification

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:40:47 +0000

“We must resurrect a faith in purity and its glorification.”

- Yukio Mishima, Mishima on Hagakure

Technocracy

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:36:12 +0000

“The present is the age of technocracy (under the leadership of technicians); differently expressed, it is the age of performing artists.”

- Yukio Mishima, Mishima on Hagakure

A Man’s Face

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:14:21 +0000

“A man’s face changes after he has given all he has for some purpose.”

- Yukio Mishima, “Sword” Acts of Worship

The Solemn Protection of the Gods

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:12:34 +0000

“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

Patriotism and the Flesh

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:11:53 +0000

“On looking into each other’s eyes and discovering there an honorable death, they had felt themselves safe once more behind steel walls which none could destroy, encased in an impenetrable armor of Beauty and Truth. Thus, so far from seeing any inconsistency or conflict between the urges of his flesh and the sincerity of his patriotism, the lieutenant was even able to regard the two as parts of the same thing.”

- Yukio Mishima, Patriotism