Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫 Mishima Yukio), was the public name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威 Hiraoka Kimitake), (January 14, 1925 - November 25, 1970), a Japanese author and rightist political activist, notable for both his nihilistic post-war writing and the circumstances of his suicide.

Ritual Suicide

On November 25, 1970, Mishima and 4 members of the Tatenokai under a pretext visited the commandant of the Ichigaya Camp, the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. Once inside, they proceeded to barricade the office and tied the commandant to his chair. With a prepared manifesto and banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped onto the balcony to address the gathered soldiers below. His speech was intended to inspire them to stage a coup d'etat and restore the Emperor to his rightful place. He succeeded only in irritating them and was mocked and jeered. As he was unable to make himself heard, he finished his planned speech after only a few minutes. He stepped back into the commandant's office and committed seppuku, the act was to end in his ritual decapitation by Tatenokai member Masakatsu Morita. Morita, who was rumored to have been Mishima's lover, was unable to perform the decapitation properly, and after several failed attempts, allowed another Tatenokai member, Hiroyasu Koga, to finish the job. After Mishima was decapitated, Morita also attempted to commit seppuku and was beheaded by Koga.

Related Topics:
November 25 - 1970 - Ichigaya - Tokyo - Eastern Command - Japan’s Self-Defense Forces - Coup d'etat - Seppuku - Ritual - Decapitation - Masakatsu Morita - Hiroyasu Koga

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Mishima prepared his suicide meticulously for a year and no one outside the group of handpicked Tatenokai members had any indication of what he was planning. Mishima must have known that his coup plot would never succeed and his biographer, translator, and former friend John Nathan suggests that the scenario was only a pretext for the ritual suicide that Mishima always dreamed of. Mishima made sure his affairs were in order and even had the foresight to leave money for the defense at trial of the three surviving Tatenokai members.

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