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.

Schooling & Early Works

At 12, Mishima began to write his first stories. He voraciously read the works of Wilde, Rilke, and numerous Japanese classics. Although his family was not as affluent as those of the other students of this institution, Natsu insisted that he went to the elite Peers School.

Related Topics:
Wilde - Rilke - Peers School

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After six miserable years at school, he still was a pale and frail teenager, but he started to do well and became the youngest member of the editorial board in the literary society at the school. He was invited to write a short story for the prestigious literary magazine, Bungei-Bunka (Literary Culture) and submitted Hanazakari no Mori (The Forest in Full Bloom). The story was published in book form in 1944, albeit in a limited fashion due to the shortage of paper in wartime.

Related Topics:
Literary magazine - 1944

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Mishima received a draft notice for the Japanese Army during World War II. At the time of his medical check up he had a cold and spontaneously lied to the army doctor about having tuberculosis symptoms and thus was declared unfit. Although Mishima was greatly relieved of not having to go to war, he continued to feel guilty for having survived and having missed the chance for a heroic death.

Related Topics:
Draft - World War II - Tuberculosis

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Although his father had forbidden him to write any further stories, Mishima continued to write secretly every night, supported and protected by his mother Shizue, who was always the first to read a new story. After school, his father, who sympathized with the Nazis, wouldn't allow him to pursue a writer's career, but instead forced him to study German Law. Mishima attended lectures during the day and wrote at night and graduated from the elite University of Tokyo in 1947. He got a job as an official in the government's Finance Ministry and was set up for a promising career.

Related Topics:
University of Tokyo - 1947 - Finance Ministry

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However, he exhausted himself so much that his father agreed to his resigning his position within a year in order to devote his time to writing. When his father gave up his opposition, he told Mishima that he'd better become the best Japanese writer there was.

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