Editing Yukio Mishima (section)

===Later life===
{{Conservatism in Japan|Intellectuals}}
Mishima's [[nationalism]] grew towards the end of his life. In 1966, he published his short story {{Nihongo|''The Voices of the Heroic Dead''|[[:ja:英霊の聲|英霊の聲]]|Eirei no koe|}},<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1966 |script-title=ja:二・二六事件と私 |trans-title="February 26 Incident" and me |language=ja |journal=Appendix of Book "The Voices of the Heroic Dead" (Kawade Shobō Shinsha) }} collected in {{Harvnb|Heroic|2005|pp=243–261}},{{Harvnb|complete34|2003|pp=107–119}}</ref> in which he denounced Emperor [[Hirohito]] for [[Humanity Declaration|renouncing his own divinity]] after World War II.{{sfn|Keene|2003|p=54}} Mishima argued that the soldiers who had died in the [[February 26 incident]] and the ''[[Kamikaze]]'' had died for their "living god" Emperor, and that Hirohito's renunciation of his own divinity meant that all those deaths had been in vain.{{sfn|Keene|2003|p=54}}

In February 1967, Mishima joined his fellow-authors [[Yasunari Kawabata]], [[Kōbō Abe]], and [[Jun Ishikawa]] in issuing a statement condemning China's [[Cultural Revolution]] for suppressing academic and artistic freedom.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ge|first=She|title=China's Cultural Revolution and Japan's Intelligentsia: Kazumi Takahashi's Humanistic Sensibilities|journal=Comparative Literature Studies|date=2015|volume=52|issue=1|pages=72–73|doi=10.5325/complitstudies.52.1.0065|s2cid=144471902 |url=https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.52.1.0065}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|complete42|2005|p=288}}</ref> However, only one Japanese newspaper carried the full text of their statement.<ref name="nishi3-1">{{Harvnb|Nishi|2020|pp=187–207}}</ref>

In September 1967 Mishima and his wife visited India at the invitation of the Indian government. He traveled widely and met with Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] and President [[Zakir Husain (politician)|Zakir Hussain]].<ref name="Inose-e 2012 521–522">{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=521–522}}</ref> He left extremely impressed by [[Indian culture]], and what he felt was the Indian people's determination to resist [[Westernization]] and protect traditional ways.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=522–527}}</ref> Mishima feared that his fellow Japanese were too enamored of modernization and Western-style materialism to protect traditional Japanese culture.<ref name="Inose-e 2012 521–522" /> On his way home from India, Mishima also stopped in [[Thailand]] and [[Laos]]; his experiences in the three nations became the basis for portions of his novel ''[[The Temple of Dawn]]'', the third in his tetralogy ''[[The Sea of Fertility]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=521}}</ref>

In a series of critical essays in the late 1960s, Mishima exalted what he viewed as traditional Japanese values. In 1967, he published {{Nihongo|''On [[Hagakure]]: The Samurai Ethic and Modern Japan''|[[:ja:葉隠入門|葉隠入門]]|Hagakure Nyūmon}}, an impassioned plea for a return to [[bushido]], the putative "samurai code" of Japan's past.<ref name=blomberg>{{cite book |last=Blomberg |first=Catharina |title=The Heart of the Warrior: Origins and Religious Background of the Samurai System in Feudal Japan |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-1873410066 |page=193}}</ref> Mishima praised the ''[[Hagakure]]'', a treatise on warrior virtues authored by the samurai [[Yamamoto Tsunetomo]] during the [[Edo period]] that valorized the warrior's willingness to die, as being at the core of his literary production and "the source of his vitality as a writer".{{sfn|Keene|2003|p=53}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Must|1998|pp=56–57}}</ref> Mishima concluded, <blockquote>What ''Hagakure'' is insisting is that even a merciless death, a futile death that bears neither flower nor fruit, has dignity as the death of a human being. If we value so highly the dignity of life, how can we not also value the dignity of death? No death may be called futile.<ref name=blomberg/></blockquote>

In {{Nihongo|''On the Defense of Culture''|[[:ja:文化防衛論|文化防衛論]]|Bunka bōei ron|1968}},<ref name="bunbou">{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1968 |script-title=ja:文化防衛論 |trans-title=On the Defense of Culture |language=ja |journal=Chūō Kōron}} collected in {{Harvnb|complete35|2003|pp=15–51}}</ref> Mishima preached the centrality of the emperor to Japanese culture,<ref>{{cite book |last=Iida |first=Yumiko |year=2002 |title=Rethinking Identity in Modern Japan: Nationalism as Aesthetics |publisher=Routledge |pages=148–149 |isbn=978-0415235211}}</ref> and argued that Japan's [[postwar Japan|postwar era]] was a time of flashy but ultimately hollow prosperity (a "[[Shōwa era|Shōwa]] Genroku"), lacking any truly transcendent literary or poetic talents comparable to the 18th century masters of the original ''[[Genroku]]'' era, such as the playwright [[Chikamatsu Monzaemon]] or the poet [[Matsuo Bashō]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Matsui |first=Midori |year=2002 |editor-last=Lloyd |editor-first=Fran |title=Consuming Bodies: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=155 |chapter=The Place of Marginal Positionality: Legacies of Japanese Anti-Modernity |isbn=1-86189-147-4}}</ref>

In 1968, Mishima wrote a play titled ''[[My Friend Hitler]]'', in which he depicted the historical figures of [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Gustav Krupp]], [[Gregor Strasser]], and [[Ernst Röhm]] as mouthpieces to express his own views on fascism and beauty.{{sfn|Kapur|2018|pp=251–252}} Mishima explained that after writing the all-female play ''[[Madame de Sade]],'' he wanted to write a counterpart play with an all-male cast.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=417, 581}}</ref> Mishima wrote of ''My Friend Hitler,'' "You may read this tragedy as an allegory of the relationship between [[Ōkubo Toshimichi]] and [[Saigō Takamori]]" (two heroes of Japan's [[Meiji Restoration]] who initially worked together but later had a falling out).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1968 |script-title=ja:作品の背景―「わが友ヒットラー」 |trans-title=Background of the work ''My Friend Hitler'' |language=ja |journal=Tokyo Shinbun}} collected in {{Harvnb|complete35|2003|pp=319–320}}</ref> Given the play's provocative title, Mishima was repeatedly asked if he intended to express admiration or support for Hitler.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|p=580}}</ref> Mishima wrote in a program note,<blockquote>To be honest, I feel a terrifying interest in Hitler, but if the question is whether I like or dislike him, I can only answer, I don't like him. Hitler was a political genius but was not a hero. He thoroughly lacked the refreshing, sunny quality indispensable to becoming a hero. Hitler is as gloomy as the twentieth century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=580-581}}</ref></blockquote>

That same year, he wrote ''[[Life for Sale]]'', a humorous story about a man who, after failing to commit suicide, advertises his life for sale.<ref>{{Harvnb|Encyclo|2000|pp=26–27}}</ref> In a review of the English translation, the novelist [[Ian Thomson (writer)|Ian Thomson]] called it a "pulp noir" and a "sexy, camp delight", but also noted that, "beneath the hard-boiled dialogue and the gangster high jinks is a familiar indictment of consumerist Japan and a romantic yearning for the past."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/life-for-sale-by-yukio-mishima-review-a4203166.html |title=Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima – review |last=Thomson |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Thomson (writer) |date=1 August 2019 |website=[[Evening Standard]] |access-date=26 November 2020}}</ref>

Like many other right-wingers, Mishima was extremely alarmed by the riots and revolutionary actions undertaken by radical "[[New Left in Japan|New Left]]" university students, who [[1968–1969 Japanese university protests|took over dozens of college campuses]] in Japan in 1968 and 1969.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nishi|2020|pp=80–82}}</ref> On 25 February 1968, he and several other right-wingers met at the editorial offices of the recently founded ''[[minzoku-ha]]'' monthly magazine {{Nihongo|''Controversy Journal''|[[:ja:論争ジャーナル|論争ジャーナル]]|Ronsō jaanaru|}}, where they pricked their little fingers and signed a blood oath promising to die if necessary to prevent a left-wing revolution from occurring in Japan.<ref name="h-mochi">Hiroshi Mochimaru, "The Tatenokai and the ''Controversy Journal''" (Appendix of {{Harvnb|complete32|2003}})</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|complete42|2005|p=295}}</ref><ref name="Inose-e 2012 540">{{Harvnb|Inose-e|2012|pp=540}}</ref><ref name="azusa5-chi">{{Harvnb|Azusa|1996|pp=171–173}}</ref> Mishima showed his sincerity by signing his birth name, Kimitake Hiraoka, in his own blood.<ref name="h-mochi"/><ref name="Inose-e 2012 540"/><ref name="azusa5-chi"/>

On 13 May 1969, Mishima accepted an invitation to debate with members of the Tokyo University [[Zenkyōtō]] on the university's Komaba campus. This debate lasted for 2.5 hours, with both Mishima and the students treating each other amiably and with respect, despite Mishima's initial fears that the students might kill him on the spot for his right-wing views.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schieder|first=Chelsea Szendi|title=Coed Revolution: The Female Student and the Japanese New Left|publisher=Duke University Press|date=2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vscWEAAAQBAJ|pages=110–115|isbn=978-1478011453}}</ref>{{sfn|Scott-Stokes|1974|pp=275-276}}{{efn|A record of this debate was published in June 1969 by Shinchōsha under the title {{Nihongo|''Debate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle''|[[:ja:討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争|討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争]]|Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō|}}.}} At this debate, Mishima told the students, "As long as you refer to the Emperor as 'Emperor,' I will gladly join forces with you," but in the end the ideological differences between Mishima and the students could not be overcome. Mishima ended by saying, "I believe in your passion. I believe in this alone. Even if I believe in nothing else of yours, I want you to know that I believe in this alone."<ref name="Zenkyōtō">{{Nihongo|''Debate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle''|[[:ja:討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争|討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争]]|Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō|}}(Shinchōsha, 1969) pp.9–119, {{Harvnb|complete40|2004|pp=442–506}}</ref><ref name="sabaku">Yukio Mishima {{Nihongo|''Alogical eulogy for the desert dwellers: closing the debate''|砂漠の住民への論理的弔辞――討論を終へて}} (1969),  collected in {{Nihongo|''Debate: Yukio Mishima vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - Beauty, Community, and the Tokyo University Struggle''|[[:ja:討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争|討論 三島由紀夫vs.東大全共闘―美と共同体と東大闘争]]|Tōron: Mishima Yukio vs. Tokyo University Zenkyōtō - bi to kyōdōtai to Todai ronsō|}}(Shinchōsha, 1969) pp.124–143, {{Harvnb|complete35|2003|pp=474–489}}</ref><ref name="hosaka-todai">{{Harvnb|Hosaka|2001|pp=199–213}}</ref><ref name="jiten-zenkyo">{{Harvnb|Encyclo|2000|pp=513–514}}</ref> In an essay written after the debate Mishima said that "they could not escape established leftist thinking" and that "the discussion was inevitably at a stalemate."<ref name="sabaku"/><ref name="hosaka-todai"/><ref name="jiten-zenkyo"/> In this essay, Mishima argued that the supposedly revolutionary Zenkyōtō were themselves "weakening the roots of the revolutionary ideal in Japan" by rejecting the idea of the "Emperor", which Mishima claimed was also "a revolutionary ideal deeply rooted in the consciousness of the Japanese people."<ref name="sabaku"/><ref name="hosaka-todai"/><ref name="jiten-zenkyo"/> Mishima's friends interpreted this essay as him expressing his disappointment with the Zenkyōtō.<ref name="hosaka-todai"/>{{efn|Journalist {{Nihongo|Masayasu Hosaka|[[:ja:保阪正康|保阪正康]]}} argues that the reason "Mishima was disappointed" after this debate was because the Zenkyōtō "was ultimately unwilling to defend their political slogans even at the risk of their own lives" and because of their "worldly speech and self-indulgent behavior", and that Mishima saw through their "limitations".<ref name="hosaka-todai"/>}}

Throughout this period, Mishima continued to work on his ''[[magnum opus]]'', ''[[The Sea of Fertility]]'' tetralogy of novels, which began appearing in a monthly serialized format in September 1965.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Flanagan|first=Damian|date=22 August 2015|title=Descending to the depths of Yukio Mishima's ''Sea of Fertility''|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/08/22/books/descending-depths-yukio-mishimas-sea-fertility/|access-date=19 July 2020|website=The Japan Times|language=en-US}}</ref> The four completed novels were ''[[Spring Snow]]'' (1969), ''[[Runaway Horses]]'' (1969), ''[[The Temple of Dawn]]'' (1970), and ''[[The Decay of the Angel]]'' (published posthumously in 1971). Mishima aimed for a very long novel with a completely different ''raison d'être'' from Western chronicle novels of the 19th and 20th centuries; rather than telling the story of a single individual or family, Mishima boldly set his goal as interpreting the entire human world.<ref name="hojo">{{cite journal |last=Mishima |first=Yukio |date=1969 |script-title=ja:「豊饒の海」について |trans-title=About ''The Sea of Fertility'' |language=ja |journal=Mainichi Shinbun  }} collected in {{Harvnb|complete35|2003|pp=410–412}}</ref> In ''The Decay of the Angel'', four stories convey the transmigration of the human soul as the main character goes through a series of reincarnations.<ref name="hojo"/> Mishima hoped to express in literary terms something akin to [[pantheism]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mishima |first1=Yukio |last2=Mitsuo |first2=Nakamura  |script-title=ja:対談・人間と文学 |publisher=Kodansha |year=1968 |id={{NCID|BN04404448}} |language=ja|trans-title=Dialogue: Human being and Literatures}} collected in {{Harvnb|complete40|2004|pp=43–175}} (dialogue with [[Mitsuo Nakamura]])</ref> The novelist [[Paul Theroux]] blurbed the first edition of the English translation of ''The Sea of Fertility'' as "the most complete vision we have of Japan in the twentieth century" and critic Charles Solomon wrote in 1990 that "the four novels remain one of the outstanding works of 20th-Century literature and a summary of the author's life and work".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Solomon|first=Charles|date=13 May 1990|title=Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, The Decay of the Angel, by Yukio Mishima|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-13-bk-118-story.html|access-date=25 November 2020|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref>