Editing Yukio Mishima (section)

===Schooling and early works===
[[File:Self-portrait of Mishima Yukio.jpg|thumb|180px|Mishima's self-portrait drawn in junior high school]]
Mishima was enrolled at the age of six in the elite [[Gakushūin]], the Peers' School in Tokyo, which had been established in the [[Meiji period]] to educate the Imperial family and the descendants of the old feudal nobility.<ref>
* {{cite web | title = Guide to Yamanakako Forest Park of Literature (Mishima Yukio Literary Museum) | url=http://www.mishimayukio.jp/english/en_guide.html | access-date = 20 October 2009}}
* {{cite web |script-title=ja:三島由紀夫の年譜 | url=http://www.mishimayukio.jp/history.html | access-date = 20 October 2009}}</ref> Mishima began to write his first stories aged 12, taking inspiration from [[myth]]s ([[Kojiki]], [[Greek mythology]], etc.) and the works of numerous classic Japanese authors, as well as [[Raymond Radiguet]], [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam|l'Isle-Adam]], and other European authors. He also studied [[German language|German]]. After six years as a pupil, he became the youngest member of the editorial board of its literary society. Mishima was particularly drawn to the works of Japanese poet {{Nihongo|Shizuo Itō|[[:ja:伊東静雄|伊東静雄]]}}, [[Haruo Satō (novelist)|Haruo Satō]], and [[Michizō Tachihara]], who inspired Mishima's appreciation of classical Japanese ''[[waka (poetry)|waka]]'' poetry. Mishima's early contributions to the Gakushūin literary magazine {{Nihongo|''Hojinkai-zasshi''|[[:ja:学習院輔仁会雑誌|輔仁会雑誌]]}}{{efn|輔仁 (''Hojin'') is an East Asian name composed of two characters which individually mean "assistance" and "benevolence".}} included ''[[haiku]]'' and ''waka'' poetry before he turned his attention to prose.<ref>{{Harvnb|complete42|2005|pp=377–462}}</ref>

In 1941, at the age of 16, Mishima was invited to write a short story for the ''Hojinkai-zasshi'', where he submitted {{Nihongo|''Forest in Full Bloom''|[[:ja:花ざかりの森|花ざかりの森]]|Hanazakari no Mori|}}, a story in which the narrator describes the feeling that his ancestors somehow still live on within him. The story displays several metaphors and aphorisms that would become Mishima's hallmarks.{{efn|At the end of this debut work, a limpid "tranquility" is drawn, and it is often pointed out by some literature researchers that it has something in common with the ending of Mishima's posthumous work ''[[The Sea of Fertility]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Okuno|2000|pp=421–450}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Encyclo|2000|pp=335–345}}</ref>}} He also sent a copy of the manuscript to his teacher {{Nihongo|Fumio Shimizu|[[:ja:清水文雄|清水文雄]]}}, who was so impressed that he and his fellow editorial board members decided to publish it in their literary magazine {{Nihongo|''Bungei Bunka''|[[:ja:文藝文化|文藝文化]]}}.<ref name="shimizu"/>

In order to protect him from potential backlash from Azusa, Shimizu and the other editorial board members coined the pen-name Yukio Mishima.<ref name="shimizu">{{cite journal |last=Shimizu |first=Fumio |date=1975 |script-title=ja:「花ざかりの森」をめぐって |trans-title=Over the ''Hanazakari no Mori'' |language=ja |journal=Appendix of "Yukio Mishima Complete Works No.1" (Shinchosha) }} collected in {{Harvnb|N-Reader|1990|pp=22–24}}</ref> They took "Mishima" from [[Mishima Station]], which Shimizu and his fellow ''Bungei Bunka'' board member [[Hasuda Zenmei]] passed through on their way to the editorial meeting, which was held in [[Izu, Shizuoka]]. The name "Yukio" came from ''yuki'' ([[:ja:雪|雪]]), the Japanese word for "snow", because of the snow they saw on [[Mount Fuji]] as the train passed.<ref name="shimizu" /> The story was later published as a limited book edition (4,000 copies) in 1944 due to a wartime paper shortage. Mishima had it published as a keepsake to remember him by, as he assumed that he would die in the war.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1958 |script-title=ja:「花ざかりの森」出版のころ|trans-title=When I published "Forest in Full Bloom" |language=ja |journal=Gunzo (Kodansha)}}, collected in {{Harvnb|complete30|2003|pp=285–286}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|p=87}}</ref>

In the editorial notes of ''Bungei Bunka'' magazine in 1941, when this debut work was serialized, Hasuda praised Mishima's genius: "This youthful author is a heaven-sent child of eternal Japanese history. He is much younger than we are, but has arrived on the scene already quite mature."<ref name="hasu">{{cite journal |last=Hasuda |first=Zenmei |date=1941 |script-title=ja:編集後記 |trans-title=Editor's note |language=ja |journal=Bungei Bunka (Nihonbungaku No Kai) }} collected in {{Harvnb|Jurō|2005|p=116}}</ref> Hasuda, who became something of a mentor to Mishima, was an ardent nationalist and a fan of [[Motoori Norinaga]] (1730–1801), a scholar of ''[[kokugaku]]'' from the [[Edo period]] who preached [[Japanese values|Japanese traditional values]] and devotion to the emperor.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=86}}</ref> Hasuda had previously fought for the Imperial Japanese Army in China in 1938, and in 1943 he was recalled to active service for deployment as a first lieutenant in the Southeast Asian theater.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=88}}</ref> At a farewell party thrown for Hasuda by the ''Bungei Bunka'' group, Hasuda offered the following parting words to Mishima: "I have entrusted the future of Japan to you." According to Mishima, these words were deeply meaningful to him, and had a profound effect on the future course of his life.<ref name="mura4-3-4">{{Harvnb|Muramatsu|1990|pp=488–492}}</ref><ref name="ando">{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=59}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1970 |script-title=ja:序|trans-title=Introduction |language=ja |journal="Zenmei Hasuda and His Death" Written by Jiro Odakane }} collected in {{Harvnb|complete36|2003|pp=60–63}}</ref>

Later in 1941, Mishima wrote an essay about his deep devotion to [[Shintō]], titled {{Nihongo|''The Way of the Gods''|惟神之道|Kannagara no michi|}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1960 |script-title=ja:惟神之道|trans-title=[[Shinto|The way of the Gods]] |language=ja |journal=Private Note }} collected in {{Harvnb|complete26|2003|pp=88–90}}</ref> Mishima's story {{Nihongo|''The Cigarette''|[[:ja:煙草 (小説)|煙草]]|Tabako|}}, published in 1946, describes a homosexual love he felt at school and being teased from members of the school's [[rugby union]] club because he belonged to the literary society. Another story from 1954, {{Nihongo|''The Boy Who Wrote Poetry''|[[:ja:詩を書く少年|詩を書く少年]]|Shi o kaku shōnen|}}, was similarly based on Mishima's memories of his time at Gakushūin Junior High School.<ref>{{Harvnb|Encyclo|2000|pp=185–187, 222–223}}</ref>

On 9 September 1944, Mishima graduated Gakushūin High School at the top of the class, becoming a graduate representative.<ref name="mitani1-a">{{Harvnb|Mitani|1999|pp=14–15}}</ref><ref name="gradu">{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1957 |script-title=ja:学習院の卒業式 |trans-title=The graduation ceremony of Gakushūin |language=ja |journal=Style }}, collected in {{Harvnb|complete29|2003|p=499}}</ref> Emperor [[Hirohito]] was present at the graduation ceremony, with Mishima later receiving a silver watch from him at the Imperial Household Ministry.<ref name="mitani1-a"/><ref name="gradu"/><ref>{{Harvnb|complete42|2005|p=95}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Album|1983|p=18}}</ref>

On 27 April 1944, during the final years of World War II, Mishima received a [[conscription|draft]] notice for the [[Imperial Japanese Army]], barely passing his conscription examination on 16 May 1944 with a less desirable rating of "second class" conscript. Scholars have argued that Mishima's failure to receive a "first class" rating on his conscription examination (reserved only for the most physically fit recruits), in combination with the illness which led him to be erroneously declared unfit for duty, contributed to an inferiority complex over his frail constitution that later led to his obsession with physical fitness and bodybuilding.<ref>See for example, Tatsumi Okabe, "Revival of Japanese Militarism?" The Institute of South East Asian Studies Occasional Papers No. 22 (July 1974), p. 11.</ref>

Mishima had a cold during his medical check on convocation day (10 February 1945), which the army doctor misdiagnosed as [[tuberculosis]]; Mishima was consequently declared unfit for service and sent home.<ref name="sishun">{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1957 |script-title=ja:わが思春期 |trans-title=My Puberty |language=ja |journal=Myōjō (Shueisha) }} collected in {{Harvnb|complete29|2003|pp=339–408}}</ref><ref name="azusa3-akagami">{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|pp=69–72}}</ref><ref name="matsu-47">{{Harvnb|Matsumoto|1990|p=47}}</ref> Mishima would later hint in his quasi-autobiographical novel ''[[Confessions of a Mask]]'' (1949) that he might have lied to the doctor in order to secure the misdiagnosis.{{sfn|Stokes|1974|pp=105-106}} Mishima wrote:

<blockquote>Why had I looked so frank as I lied to the army doctor? Why had I said that I'd been having a slight fever for over half a year, that my shoulder was painfully stiff, that I spit blood, that even last night I had been soaked by a night sweat?...Why when sentenced to return home the same day had I felt the pressure of a smile come pushing so persistently at my lips that I had difficulty in concealing it? Why had I run so when I was through the barracks gate? Hadn't my hopes been blasted? What was the matter that I hadn't hung my head and trudged away with heavy feet? I realized vividly that my future life would never attain heights of glory sufficient to justify my having escaped death in the army...{{sfn|Stokes|1974|pp=105-106}}<ref name=mask>{{cite book |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |translator-last1=Weatherby |translator-first1=Meredith |title=Confessions of a Mask |date=1958 |publisher=New Directions |isbn=0-8112-0118-X |page=138}}</ref></blockquote>

The veracity of this account is impossible to know for certain, but what is unquestionable is that Mishima did not speak out against the doctor's diagnosis of tuberculosis.<ref name=six>{{cite book |last1=Lifton |first1=Robert Jay |last2=Kat |first2=Shichi |last3=Reich |first3= Michael R. |title=Six Lives, Six Deaths: Portraits from Modern Japan |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1979 |page=247 |isbn=0-300-02266-2}}</ref>{{sfn|Scott-Stokes|1974|pp=105-106}} Researchers have speculated that Mishima's guilt at allowing himself to escape death in the war left a lasting impression on his life and writing, possibly contributing to his later suicide.<ref name=six/>{{sfn|Scott-Stokes|1974|pp=105-106}}

The day before his failed medical examination, Mishima had written a farewell message to his family, ending with the words {{Nihongo|"Long live the Emperor!"|[[:ja:万歳|天皇陛下万歳]]|Tennō heika banzai|}}, including hair and nail clippings as mementos for his parents.<ref name="azusa3-akagami"/><ref name="album">photograph of the will in {{Harvnb|Album|1983|p=21}}</ref> The unit that Mishima would have enlisted in was eventually sent to the [[Philippines]], with few survivors.<ref name="sishun"/><ref name="matsu-47"/> Mishima's parents were ecstatic that he did not have to go to war, but Mishima's mood was harder to read, and Mishima's mother overheard him express a wish that he could have joined a "[[Japanese Special Attack Units|Special Attack]]" unit.<ref name="azusa3-akagami"/><ref name="matsu-47"/> He also expressed an admiration for [[kamikaze|kamikaze pilots]] and other "special attack" units.<ref name="mitani-tokko">{{Harvnb|Mitani|1999|pp=88–94}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=77}}</ref><ref name="hira-1-14">{{Harvnb|Hirano|2023|pp=61–64}}</ref> In a 21 April 1945 letter to a friend, Mishima wrote:
<blockquote>It was through the kamikazes that "modern man" has finally been able to grasp the dawning of the "present day", or perhaps better said, "our historical era" in a true sense, and for the first time the intellectual class, which until now had been the illegitimate child of modernity, became the legitimate heir of history. I believe that all of this is thanks to the kamikazes. This is the reason why the entire cultural class of Japan, and all people of culture around the world, should kneel before the kamikazes and offer up prayers of gratitude.<ref name="letter-makoto">Mishima's letter to Makoto Mitani (April 21, 1945)　{{Harvnb|complete38|2004|pp=917–918}}</ref><ref name="mitani-tokko"/><ref name="hira-1-14"/></blockquote>

Mishima was deeply affected by Emperor Hirohito's [[Hirohito surrender broadcast|radio broadcast announcing Japan's surrender]] on 15 August 1945, vowing to protect Japanese cultural traditions and to help to rebuild Japanese culture after the destruction of the war.<ref name="letter">Mishima's letters to his friends (Makoto Mitani, Akira Kanzaki) and teacher Fumio Shimizu in August 1945, collected in {{Harvnb|complete38|2004|pp=604,921–922,}}</ref><ref name="mitani-ketsui">{{Harvnb|Mitani|1999|pp=112–131}}</ref><ref name="ando-ketsui">{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=82}}</ref> He wrote in his diary, "Only by preserving Japanese irrationality will we be able contribute to world culture 100 years from now.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1945 |script-title=ja:戦後語録 |trans-title=Postwar Diary |language=ja |journal=Private Note }} collected in {{Harvnb|complete26|2003|pp=560–562}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=83}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1998|p=103}}</ref>
[[File:Mishima Yukio and sister.jpg|thumb|200px|Mishima at age 19, with his sister at age 16 {{avoid wrap|(on 9 September 1944)}}]]
Four days after Japan's surrender, Mishima's mentor Zenmei Hasuda, who had been drafted and deployed to the Malay peninsula, shot and killed his superior officer, who blamed Japan's defeat on the Emperor.<ref name="juro">{{Harvnb|Jurō|2005|pp=99–156}}</ref> Hasuda had long suspected the officer to be a Korean spy.<ref name="juro"/> After shooting him, Hasuda turned his pistol on himself.<ref name="juro"/> Mishima learned of the incident a year later and contributed poetry in Hasuda's honor at a memorial service in November 1946.<ref name="juro"/> On 23 October 1945 (Showa 20), Mishima's beloved younger sister Mitsuko died suddenly at the age of 17 from [[typhoid fever]] after drinking untreated water.<ref name="azusa3-mitsu">{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|pp=78–80}}</ref><ref name="kyoko">{{Harvnb|Yuasa|1984|pp=105–128}}</ref> Around the same time, he also learned that {{Nihongo|Kuniko Mitani|三谷邦子}}, a classmate's sister whom he had hoped to marry, was engaged to another man.<ref name="mura1-2-3">{{Harvnb|Muramatsu|1990|pp=91–97}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=85}}</ref>{{efn|Kuniko Mitani, the sister of {{Nihongo|Makoto Mitani|[[:ja:三谷信|三谷信]]}}, would become the model for "Sonoko" in ''[[Confessions of a Mask]]''.  Mishima wrote about his loss in a letter to his acquaintance, lamenting that "I wouldn't have lived if I didn't write about her."<ref>Mishima's letter to Chikayoshi Ninagawa in 1949, {{Harvnb|Ando|1996|p=120}}, {{Harvnb|Inose-j|1999|p=262}}</ref>}} Mishima used these events as inspiration and motivation for his later literary work.<ref name="shuma">{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1955 |script-title=ja:終末感からの出発―昭和二十年の自画像 |trans-title=A departure from feelings of ending: a self-portrait in 1945 |language=ja |journal=Shinchō}}, collected in {{Harvnb|complete28|2003|pp=516–518}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1996|pp=85–86}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ando|1998|pp=103–104}}</ref><ref name="mura1-2-3"/>

At the end of the war, his father Azusa "half-allowed" Mishima to become a novelist. He was worried that his son would become a professional novelist, preferring instead that his son follow in the footsteps of himself and Mishima's grandfather Sadatarō and become a bureaucrat. To this end, he advised his son to enroll in the Faculty of Law instead of the literature department.<ref name="azusa3-hogaku">{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|pp=64–68}}</ref> Attending lectures during the day and writing at night, Mishima graduated from the [[University of Tokyo]] in 1947. He obtained a position in the [[Ministry of the Treasury]] and was set for a promising career as a government bureaucrat. However, after just one year of employment, Mishima had exhausted himself so much that his father agreed to allow him to resign from his post and devote himself to writing full time.<ref name="azusa3-sibuya">{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|pp=83–84}}</ref>

In 1945, Mishima began the short story {{Nihongo|"A Story at the Cape"|[[:ja:岬にての物語|岬にての物語]]|Misaki nite no Monogatari|}} and continued to work on it throughout World War II. After the war, the story was praised by poet {{Nihongo|Shizuo Itō|[[:ja:伊東静雄|伊東静雄]]}}, whom Mishima respected.<ref>{{Harvnb|complete38|2004|pp=200–202}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Jurō|2005|p=127}}</ref>