Large Mishima Plant Care Indoors? Quick Answer

Japanese author (1925–1970)

Mishima Yukio. This article uses the native form of this personal name. This article uses Western naming order when mentioning individuals.

Yukio Mishima [a] (三島 由紀夫, Mishima Yukio, January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), born Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威, Hiraoka Kimitake), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist , nationalist, and founder of the Tatenokai (楯の会, “Shield Society”), an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered for the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, but the prize went to his compatriot and benefactor Yasunari Kawabata.[6] His works include the novels Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白, Kamen no kokuhaku) and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺, Kinkaku-ji), as well as the autobiographical essay Sun and Steel (太陽と鉄, Taiyō to tetsu). Mishima’s work, according to author Andrew Rankin, is notable for “its luxurious vocabulary and decadent metaphors, its fusion of traditional Japanese and modern Western literary styles, and its obsessive assertion of the unity of beauty, eroticism, and death”.

Mishima’s political activities made him a controversial figure, which he remains in modern Japan. From his mid-30s, Mishima’s right-wing ideology became increasingly evident. Proud of the traditional culture and spirit of Japan, he opposed what he saw as Western-style materialism, along with post-war Japanese democracy, globalism and communism, and feared that by adopting these ideas, the Japanese people would harm his “national essence” would lose. (Kokutai) and their distinctive cultural heritage (Shinto and Yamato-damashii) to become a “rootless” people.[12][13][14][15] Mishima founded the Tatenokai with the stated goal of restoring sanctity and dignity to the Emperor of Japan.[13][14][15] On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of his militia entered a military base in central Tokyo, took its commander hostage, and unsuccessfully attempted to inspire the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to rise up and rewrite the 1947 Constitution of Japan (which he called “a constitution of the Defeat”).[15][12] After his speech and cry “Long live the Emperor!” he committed seppuku.

Life and work[edit]

Early life[edit]

Mishima in his childhood (April 1931, aged 6)

Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威, Hiraoka Kimitake), later known as Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫, Mishima Yukio), was born in Nagazumi-cho, Yotsuya-ku in Tokyo City (now part of Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo). He chose his pseudonym at the age of 16.[16] His father was Azusa Hiraoka (平岡梓), a government official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Trade,[17] and his mother Shizue (倭文重) was the daughter of the 5th Principal of Kaisei Academy. Shizue’s father, Kenzō Hashi (橋健三), was a scholar of Chinese classics, and the Hashi family served the Maeda clan in the Kaga domain for generations. Mishima’s paternal grandparents were Sadatarō Hiraoka (平岡定太郎), the third governor-general of Karafuto Prefecture, and Natsuko (family registry name: Natsu) (平岡なつ). Mishima received his birth name Kimitake (公威, also read Kōi in on-yomi) in honor of Furuichi Kōi (古市公威), who was a benefactor of Sadatarō.[18] He had a younger sister, Mitsuko (美津子), who died of typhus in 1945 at the age of 17, and a younger brother, Chiyuki (千之).[19][1]

Mishima’s childhood home was a rented house, albeit a fairly large two-story house that was the largest in the neighborhood. He lived with his parents, siblings and paternal grandparents, as well as six maids, a house boy and a servant. His grandfather was in debt, so there were no household items worth mentioning on the first floor.[20]

Mishima’s early childhood was marked by the presence of his grandmother Natsuko, who took the boy and separated him from his immediate family for several years.[21] She was the granddaughter of Matsudaira Yoritaka (松平頼位), the daimyō of Shishido, a branch domain of the Mito domain in Hitachi Province;[b] therefore, Mishima was a direct descendant of the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康), through his grandmother.[22][23][24] Natsuko’s father, Nagai Iwanojō (永井岩之丞), had been a Supreme Court justice, and Iwanojō’s adoptive father, Nagai Naoyuki (永井尚志), had been a standard-bearer of the Tokugawa house during the Bakumatsu.[22] Natsuko had grown up in the household of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, and she retained considerable aristocratic claims on Sakhalin Island even after her marriage to Sadatarō, a bureaucrat who had made his fortune on the newly opened colonial frontier to the north and eventually became Governor-General of Karafuto Prefecture .[25] Sadatarō’s father, Takichi Hiraoka (平岡太吉) and grandfather, Tazaemon Hiraoka (平岡太左衛門), had been farmers.[22][c] Natsuko was prone to violent outbursts, which are occasionally alluded to in Mishima’s work,[27] and that of some of Mishima’s biographers fascination with death.[28] She didn’t allow Mishima to venture out into the sunlight, play sports, or play with other boys. He spent a lot of time either alone or with cousins ​​and their dolls.[29][27]

Mishima returned to his immediate family when he was 12. His father, Azusa, had a penchant for military discipline and feared that Natsuko’s way of raising children was too gentle. When Mishima was a toddler, Azusa employed parenting tactics such as keeping Mishima on the side of a speeding train. He also searched his son’s room for evidence of a “female” interest in literature and often tore up his son’s manuscripts.[30] Although Azusa forbade him from writing any more stories, Mishima continued to write in secret, supported and protected by his mother, who was always the first to read a new story.[30]

When Mishima was 13 years old, Natsuko took him to his first kabuki play: Kanadehon Chūshingura, an allegory of the story of the 47 ronin. He was later taken to his first Noh play (Miwa, a story with Amano-Iwato) by his maternal grandmother Tomi Hashi (橋トミ). Because of these early experiences, Mishima became addicted to both Kabuki and Noh. He began attending performances every month and took an intense interest in these traditional Japanese dramatic art forms.[31]

School and early works[edit]

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.[32] At 12, Mishima began writing his first stories. He read myths (Kojiki, Greek mythology etc.) and the works of numerous classical Japanese authors as well as Raymond Radiguet, Jean Cocteau, Oscar Wilde, Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Baudelaire, l’Isle-Adam , and other European ones Authors in translation. At the same time he studied German. After six years at school he became the youngest member of the editorial board of his Literary Society. Mishima was attracted to the works of Japanese poet Shizuo Itō (伊東静雄, Itō Shizuo), poet and novelist Haruo Satō (佐藤春夫), and poet Michizō Tachihara (立原道造), which inspired Mishima’s appreciation of classic Japanese waka poetry . Mishima’s early contributions to the gakushūin literary magazine Hojinkai-zasshi (輔仁会雑誌) included haiku and waka poetry before turning his attention to prose.[33]

In 1941, at the age of 16, Mishima was invited to write a short story for the Hojinkai-zasshi and he submitted Forest in Full Bloom (花ざかりの森, Hanazakari no Mori), a story in which the narrator felt describes that his ancestors somehow still live in him. The story uses the sort of metaphors and aphorisms that became Mishima’s trademark.[d] He sent a copy of the manuscript to his Japanese teacher Fumio Shimizu (清水文雄) for constructive criticism. Shimizu was so impressed that he took the manuscript to an editorial board meeting of the prestigious literary magazine Bungei Bunka (文藝文化), of which he was a member. At the editorial meeting, the other board members read the story and were very impressed; They congratulated themselves on discovering a genius and published it in the magazine. The story was later published as a limited book edition (4,000 copies) in 1944 due to a wartime paper shortage. Mishima had it posted as a souvenir to remember him as he assumed he would die in the war.

To protect him from possible backlash from Azusa, Shimizu and the other editors coined the alias Yukio Mishima.[37] They took “Mishima” from the Mishima Station, which Shimizu and his colleague Hasuda Zenmei, board member of Bungei Bunka, passed on their way to the editorial meeting, which was held in Izu, Shizuoka. The name “Yukio” came from yuki (雪), the Japanese word for “snow,” because of the snow they saw on Mount Fuji as the train passed.[37] In the magazine, Hasuda praised Mishima’s genius as follows:

This teenage author is a heaven-sent child of eternal Japanese history. He’s a lot younger than us, but has arrived on the scene quite a bit.[38]

Hasuda, who became something of a mentor to Mishima, was an ardent nationalist and a fan of Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801), an Edo-period scholar of the Kokugaku who preached traditional Japanese values ​​and devotion to the emperor.[ 39] Hasuda had previously fought for the Imperial Japanese Army in China in 1938 and was recalled to active duty in 1943 to serve as a first lieutenant in the Southeast Asian theater.[40] At a farewell party thrown for Hasuda by the Bungei Bunka group, Hasuda addressed the following parting words to Mishima:

I entrusted you with the future of Japan.

According to Mishima, these words held great meaning for him and had a profound impact on the rest of his life.[41][42][43]

Later in 1941, Mishima wrote in his notebook an essay about his deep devotion to Shinto entitled The Way of the Gods (惟神之道, Kannagara no michi).[44] Mishima’s story The Cigarette (煙草, Tabako), published in 1946, describes a homosexual love he felt at school and was teased by members of the school’s rugby union club for belonging to the literary society. Another 1954 story, The Boy Who Wrote Poetry (詩を書く少年, Shi o kaku shōnen), was also based on Mishima’s recollections of his time at Gakushūin Junior High School.[45]

On September 9, 1944, Mishima graduated from Gakushūin High School at the top of his class and became a graduate representative. Emperor Hirohito was present at the closing ceremony and Mishima later received a silver watch from the Emperor at the Imperial Household Ministry.[46][47][48][49]

On April 27, 1944, in the closing years of World War II, Mishima received a draft into the Imperial Japanese Army and barely passed his draft examination on May 16, 1944, with a less than desirable rating of a “second class” draftee. During his medical examination on enlistment day (February 10, 1945) he had a cold and the young army doctor misdiagnosed Mishima with tuberculosis, declared him unfit for duty and sent him home.[50][30] Scholars have argued that Mishima’s failure to get a “first class” rating on his draft exam (reserved only for the most physically fit recruits), combined with the illness that led to him being falsely declared unfit for service, contributed to an inferiority complex about his frail constitution, which later led to his obsession with physical fitness and bodybuilding.[51]

The day before his failed medical exam, Mishima wrote a farewell message to his family, ending with the words “Long live the Emperor!” (天皇陛下万歳, Tennō heika banzai) and prepared cuttings of his hair and nails to be kept by his parents as souvenirs.[30][52] The troops of the unit that Mishima should have joined were sent to the Philippines, where most of them were killed.[50] Mishima’s parents were thrilled that he didn’t have to go to war, but Mishima’s mood was harder to read; Mishima’s mother heard him say he wished he could have joined a “special assault” (特攻, tokkō) unit.[30] Around this time, Mishima admired kamikaze pilots and other “special attack” units in letters to friends and private notes.[46][53][54]

Mishima was deeply affected by Emperor Hirohito’s radio broadcast announcing Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945, and vowed to protect Japanese cultural traditions and help rebuild Japanese culture after the devastation of war.[55] He wrote in his diary:

Only by preserving Japanese irrationality will we be able to contribute to world culture in 100 years.[56]

(on September 9, 1944) Mishima at age 19, with his sister at age 16 (on September 9, 1944)

On August 19, four days after Japan’s surrender, Mishima’s mentor, Zenmei Hasuda, who had been drafted and deployed to Peninsular Malaysia, shot dead a senior officer for criticizing the Emperor before turning his pistol on himself. Mishima learned of the incident a year later and contributed poetry in Hasuda’s honor at a memorial service in November 1946. On October 23, 1945 (Showa 20), Mishima’s beloved younger sister Mitsuko died suddenly at the age of 17 from typhus after drinking untreated water.[30][58] Around the same time, he also learned that Kuniko Mitani (三谷邦子), a classmate’s sister whom he had hoped to marry, was engaged to another man.[59][60][e] These tragic incidents in 1945 became a powerful motif in inspiring Mishima’s future literary work.[62]

At the end of the war, his father “allowed” Azusa Mishima to become a novelist. He was concerned that his son might actually become a professional writer, and instead hoped his son would be a bureaucrat like himself and Mishima’s grandfather Sadatarō. He advised his son to enroll in the law school instead of the literature department.[30] Attending lectures by day and writing by night, Mishima graduated from Tokyo University in 1947. He got a job at the Treasury and seemed poised for a promising career as a government official. But after only a year of employment, Mishima was so exhausted that his father allowed him to resign from his post and devote himself full-time to writing.[30]

In 1945, Mishima began the short story A Story at the Cape (岬にての物語, Misaki nite no Monogatari) and continued to work on it until the end of World War II. After the war, it was praised by Shizuo Itō, whom Mishima respected.

Post-war literature[ edit ]

(”

He was known as a cat lover. Mishima with his cat (“Asahi Graph,” May 12, 1948 issue) He was known as a cat lover.

After Japan’s defeat in World War II, the country was occupied by the US-led Allies. At the urging of the occupation authorities, many people who held important positions in various fields were removed from public office. The media and publishing industries were also censored and prohibited from engaging in expressions reminiscent of wartime Japanese nationalism.[f] In addition, literary figures, including many of those close to Mishima before the end of the war, were portrayed as “literary figures of the war criminal ” branded. Some people denounced them and converted to left-wing politics, which Mishima criticized as “opportunists” in his letters to friends.[66][67][68] Some prominent literary figures turned left and joined the Communist Party in response to wartime militarism and wrote socialist realist literature that could support the cause of socialist revolution.[69] Her influence in the Japanese literary world had increased after the end of the war, which Mishima found difficult to accept. Although Mishima was only 20 at the time, he worried that his style of literature, based on the 1930s Japanese Romantic School (日本浪曼派, “Nihon Rōman Ha”), was already out of date.[31 ]

Mishima had heard that the famous writer Yasunari Kawabata had praised his work before the end of the war. Unsure of who else to turn to, Mishima took the manuscripts for The Middle Ages (中世, Chūsei) and The Cigarette (煙草, Tabako) and visited Kawabata in Kamakura, asking him for advice and help in January 1946.[31] Kawabata was impressed, and in June 1946, on Kawabata’s recommendation, The Cigarette was published in the new literary journal Ningen (人間, “Humanity”), followed by The Middle Ages in December 1946.[70] Set in Japan’s historical Muromachi period, The Middle Ages explores the motif of Shudō (衆道, man-boy love) against the backdrop of the death of the ninth Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa (足利義尚), in battle at the age of 25 , and the resulting sadness of his father, Ashikaga Yoshimasa (足利義政). The story features the fictional character Kikuwaka, a beautiful teenager loved by both Yoshihisa and Yoshimasa, who in an attempt to follow Yoshihisa to his death fails by committing suicide. Afterwards, Kikuwaka turns to spiritualism to heal Yoshimasa’s sadness by allowing Yoshihisa’s spirit to possess his body, and eventually dies in a double suicide with a miko (巫女, shrine maiden) falling in love with him. Mishima wrote the story in an elegant style, drawing on medieval Japanese literature and the Ryōjin Hisho, a collection of medieval Imayō songs. This elevated style of writing and homosexual motif suggest the seeds of Mishima’s later aesthetic.[70] Later in 1948, Kawabata, praising this work, published an essay describing his experience of falling in love for the first time with a boy two years his junior.[71]

(in January 1953) Mishima at the age of 28 (in January 1953)

In 1946, Mishima began his first novel, Thieves (盗賊, Tōzoku), a story about two young members of the aristocracy who felt drawn to suicide. Published in 1948, it placed Mishima in the ranks of the second generation of post-war writers. The following year he published Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白, Kamen no kokuhaku), a semi-autobiographical account of a young gay man who hides behind a mask to blend in with society. The novel was extremely successful and made Mishima a celebrity by the age of 24. Around 1949, Mishima also published a literary essay on Kawabata in Kindai Bungaku (近代文学), which he had always treasured.[72]

Mishima enjoyed international travel. In 1952 he undertook a world tour and published his travelogue as The Cup of Apollo (アポロの杯, Aporo no Sakazuki). During his travels he visited Greece, a place that has fascinated him since childhood. His visit to Greece became the basis for his 1954 novel The Sound of Waves (潮騒, Shiosai), which was inspired by the Greek legend of Daphnis and Chloe. Set on the small island of Kami-shima, where a traditional Japanese lifestyle has continued to be practiced, The Sound of Waves depicts a pure, simple love between a fisherman and a female pearl and abalone (海女, ama) diver. Although the novel became a bestseller, leftists criticized it for “glorifying old-fashioned Japanese values”, and some people began to call Mishima a “fascist”. Looking back on these attacks in later years, Mishima wrote: “The old community ethic portrayed in this novel was attacked by progressives at the time, but no matter how much the Japanese people have changed, that old ethic lurks at the bottom of their hearts. We have gradually seen that this is the case.”[76]

(On the roof of the Yukio Mishima (below) with Shintaro Ishihara in 1956 (On the roof of the Bungeishunjū Building in Ginza 6-chome)

Mishima used contemporary events in many of his works. Temple of the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺, Kinkaku-ji), published in 1956, is a fictionalization of the 1950 burning of the Kinkaku-ji Buddhist temple in Kyoto by a deranged monk.[77]

In 1959, Mishima published the artistically ambitious novel Kyōko no Ie (Kyōko’s House) (鏡子の家, Kyōko no Ie). The novel tells the interconnected stories of four young men who represented four different facets of Mishima’s personality. His athletic side is evident as a boxer, his artistic side as a painter, his narcissistic, performative side as an actor, and his secretive, nihilistic side as a businessman living a normal life while practicing “absolute contempt for reality”. According to Mishima, he tried in to describe in the novel the period around 1955 when Japan entered its era of high economic growth and the phrase “the post-war is over” was widely used.[g] Mishima explained: “Kyōko no Ie is, so to speak, my exploration of the nihilism within me. “[79][80] Although the novel was well received by a small number of critics of the same generation as Mishima and sold 150,000 copies in one month, it was panned widely in wider literary circles[81][82] and became fast branded as Mishima’s first “failed work”.[83][82] It was Mishima’s first major setback as an author, and the book’s disastrous reception wa r a hard psychological hit.

Many of Mishima’s most famous and respected works were written before 1960. Up until that year, however, he had not written any works that were considered particularly political.[86] In the summer of 1960, Mishima became interested in the massive Anpo protests against an attempt by US-backed Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi to revise the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (known as “Anpo” in Japanese) in order to do so strengthen the military alliance between the USA and Japan.[87] Although he did not take part directly in the protests, he often took to the streets to observe the actions of the protesters and produced extensive newspaper clippings covering the protests.[86] In June 1960, at the height of the protest movement, Mishima wrote an op-ed in the Mainichi Shinbun newspaper entitled “A Political Opinion.”[88] In the critical essay, he argued that left-wing groups such as the Zengakuren Students’ Union, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party falsely wrapped themselves in the banner of “defence of democracy” and used the protest movement for their own purposes. Mishima warned of the dangers of the Japanese people following ideologues who spread lies with honeyed words. Although Mishima criticized Kishi as a “nihilist” who had submitted to the United States, Mishima concluded that he would rather vote for a strong-willed realist “without dreams and despair” than a mendacious but eloquent ideologue.[89]

Shortly after the Anpo protests ended, Mishima began writing one of his most famous short stories, Patriotism (憂国, Yūkoku), in which he glorifies the exploits of a young far-right, ultra-nationalist Japanese army officer who commits suicide after a failed anti-government revolt incident of February 26.[88] The following year he published the first two parts of his three-part play Chrysanthemum of the Tenth Day (十日の菊, Tōka no kiku), celebrating the February 26 revolutionaries’ actions.[88]

Mishima’s newfound interest in contemporary politics informed his novel After the Banquet (宴のあと, Utage no ato), also published in 1960, which followed events surrounding politician Hachirō Arita’s campaign to become governor of Tokyo so closely that Mishima because of invasion was sued for privacy.[90] The next year, Mishima released The Frolic of the Beasts (獣の戯れ, Kemono no tawamure), a parody of the classic Noh play Motomezuka written by the 14th-century playwright Kiyotsugu Kan’ami. In 1962, Mishima produced his most artistically avant-garde work, A Beautiful Star (美しい星, Utsukushii hoshi), which at times verges on science fiction. Though the novel received mixed reviews from the literary world, prominent critic Takeo Okuno hailed it as part of a new breed of novels that toppled longstanding literary conventions in the tumultuous aftermath of the Anpo protests. Alongside Kōbō Abe’s Woman of the Dunes (砂の女, Suna no onna), which was published the same year, Okuno viewed A Beautiful Star as an “epoch-making work” that breaks with literary taboos and existing notions of what constitutes literature in order should be free to explore the author’s personal creativity.[91]

In 1965, Mishima wrote the play Madame de Sade (サド侯爵夫人, Sado kōshaku fujin), which explores the complex figure of the Marquis de Sade, traditionally held up as a paragon of vice, through a series of debates between six female characters, including Die The Marquis’s wife, Madame de Sade. At the end of the play, Mishima offers his own interpretation of what he believed to be one of the central mysteries of the de Sade story – Madame de Sade’s unwavering support for her husband while he was in prison and her sudden decision to turn on him to renounce after his release.[92][93] Mishima’s play was inspired in part by his friend Tatsuhiko Shibusawa’s 1960 Japanese translation of the Marquis de Sade’s novel Juliette and a 1964 biography Shibusawa wrote of de Sade. Shibusawa’s sexually explicit translation became the focus of a sensational obscenity trial remembered in Japan as “Sade Case” (サド裁判, Sado saiban) that was still ongoing when Mishima wrote the play.[92] In 1994, Madame de Sade was rated as the “greatest drama in the history of post-war theater” by the Japanese theater criticism magazine Theater Arts.

Mishima was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963, 1964, and 1965[97] and was a favorite of many foreign publications.[98] However, in 1968 his early mentor Kawabata won the Nobel Prize, and Mishima realized that the chances of awarding it to another Japanese author in the near future were slim.[99] In a work published in 1970, Mishima wrote that the writers he paid most attention to in modern Western literature were Georges Bataille, Pierre Klossowski, and Witold Gombrowicz.[100]

Acting and modeling[ edit ]

Mishima was also an actor, starring in Yasuzo Masumura’s 1960 film Afraid to Die (からっ風野郎, Karakkaze yarō), for which he also sang the theme song (lyrics by himself; music by Shichirō Fukazawa). He appeared in films such as Patriotism or the Rite of Love and Death (憂国, Yūkoku, directed by himself, 1966), Black Lizard (黒蜥蜴, Kurotokage, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, 1968) and Hitokiri (人斬り, directed by Hideo Gosha) on , 1969).

Mishima was featured as a model in photographer Eikoh Hosoe’s book Bara-kei (薔薇刑, Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses) and in Tamotsu Yatō’s photo books Young Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan (体道～日本のボディビルダーたち, Taidō : Nihon no bodybuilder tachi) and Otoko: Photo Studies of the Young Japanese Male (男, Otoko). American author Donald Richie gave an eyewitness account in which he saw Mishima dressed in a loincloth and armed with a sword posing in the snow for one of Tamotsu Yatō’s photo shoots.

In the men’s magazine Heibon Punch, to which Mishima had contributed various essays and reviews, he won first place in the 1967 reader popularity poll “Mr. Dandy” with 19,590 votes, beating out runner-up Toshiro Mifune with 720 votes.[104] In the next reader popularity poll, “Mr. International,” Mishima ranked second behind French President Charles de Gaulle.[104] Damals, in den späten 1960er Jahren, war Mishima die erste Berühmtheit, die von den japanischen Medien als „Superstar“ (sūpāsutā) bezeichnet wurde.[105]

Personal life[edit]

(Ein Herbsttag 1955) Mishima im Alter von 30 Jahren in seinem Garten (Ein Herbsttag 1955)

1955 begann Mishima mit dem Krafttraining, um einen Minderwertigkeitskomplex wegen seiner schwachen Konstitution zu überwinden, und sein streng eingehaltenes Trainingsprogramm von drei Sitzungen pro Woche wurde in den letzten 15 Jahren seines Lebens nicht unterbrochen. In seinem 1968 erschienenen Aufsatz Sun and Steel (太陽と鉄, Taiyō to tetsu)[106] beklagte Mishima die Betonung, die Intellektuelle dem Geist gegenüber dem Körper beimessen. Später wurde er sehr geschickt (5. Dan) im Kendo (traditionelle japanische Schwertkunst) und wurde 2. Dan im Battōjutsu und 1. Dan im Karate. 1956 versuchte er sich für kurze Zeit im Boxen. Im selben Jahr entwickelte er ein Interesse an UFOs und wurde Mitglied der Japan Flying Saucer Research Association (日本空飛ぶ円盤研究会, Nihon soratobu enban kenkyukai).[107] 1954 verliebte er sich in Sadako Toyoda (豊田貞子), die zum Vorbild für die Hauptfiguren in The Sunken Waterfall (沈める滝, Shizumeru taki) und The Seven Bridges (橋づくし, Hashi zukushi) wurde.[108][109]. ] Mishima hoffte, sie heiraten zu können, aber sie trennten sich 1957.[58][110]

Nachdem Mishima kurz über eine Heirat mit Michiko Shōda (正田美智子) nachgedacht hatte, die später Kronprinz Akihito heiratete und Kaiserin Michiko wurde,[111] heiratete Mishima Yōko (瑤子, geb. Sugiyama), die Tochter des japanischen Malers Yasushi Sugiyama (杉山寧). am 1. Juni 1958. Das Paar hatte zwei Kinder: eine Tochter namens Noriko (紀子) (geboren am 2. Juni 1959) und einen Sohn namens Iichirō (威一郎) (geboren am 2. Mai 1962). Noriko heiratete schließlich den Diplomaten Koji Tomita (冨田浩司).[113]

Während der Arbeit an seinem Roman Forbidden Colors (禁色, Kinjiki) besuchte Mishima Schwulenbars in Japan.[114] Mishimas sexuelle Orientierung war ein Problem, das seine Frau beschäftigte, und sie leugnete nach seinem Tod immer seine Homosexualität.[115] 1998 veröffentlichte der Schriftsteller Jirō Fukushima (福島次郎) einen Bericht über seine Beziehung zu Mishima im Jahr 1951, darunter fünfzehn Briefe (keine Liebesbriefe) des berühmten Schriftstellers.[116] Mishimas Kinder verklagten Fukushima und den Verlag erfolgreich wegen Urheberrechtsverletzung wegen der Verwendung von Mishimas Briefen. Der Herausgeber Bungeishunjū hatte argumentiert, dass der Inhalt der Briefe eher “praktische Korrespondenz” als urheberrechtlich geschützte Werke seien. Das Urteil für die Kläger erklärte jedoch: “Zusätzlich zum geistlichen Inhalt beschreiben diese Briefe Mishimas eigene Gefühle, seine Bestrebungen und seine Ansichten über das Leben in anderen Worten als in seinen literarischen Werken.”[119][h]

Im Februar 1961 wurde Mishima in die Nachwirkungen des Shimanaka-Vorfalls (嶋中事件, Shimanaka Jiken) verwickelt. 1960 hatte der Autor Shichirō Fukazawa (深沢七郎) die satirische Kurzgeschichte Die Geschichte eines eleganten Traums (風流夢譚, Fūryū Mutan) im Mainstream-Magazin Chūō Kōron veröffentlicht. Es enthielt eine Traumsequenz (in der der Kaiser und die Kaiserin von einer Guillotine enthauptet werden), die zu Empörung rechter ultranationalistischer Gruppen und zahlreicher Morddrohungen gegen Fukazawa, alle Schriftsteller, von denen angenommen wird, dass sie mit ihm in Verbindung gebracht wurden, und Chūō führte Kōron magazine itself.[122] On 1 February 1961, Kazutaka Komori (小森一孝), a seventeen-year-old rightist, broke into the home of Hōji Shimanaka (嶋中鵬二), the president of Chūō Kōron, killed his maid with a knife and severely wounded his wife.[123] In the aftermath, Fukazawa went into hiding, and dozens of writers and literary critics, including Mishima, were provided with round-the-clock police protection for several months;[124] Mishima was included because a rumor that Mishima had personally recommended “The Tale of an Elegant Dream” for publication became widespread, and even though he repeatedly denied the claim, he received hundreds of death threats.[124] In later years, Mishima harshly criticized Komori, arguing that those who harm women and children are neither patriots nor traditional right-wingers, and that an assassination attempt should be a one-on-one confrontation with the victim at the risk of the assassin’s life. Mishima also argued that it was the custom of traditional Japanese patriots to immediately commit suicide after committing an assassination.[125]

In 1963, the Harp of Joy Incident occurred within the theatrical troupe Bungakuza (文学座), to which Mishima belonged. He wrote a play titled The Harp of Joy (喜びの琴, Yorokobi no koto), but star actress Haruko Sugimura (杉村春子) and other Communist Party-affiliated actors refused to perform because the protagonist held anti-communist views and mentioned criticism about a conspiracy of world communism in his lines. As a result of this ideological conflict, Mishima quit Bungakuza and later formed the troupe Neo Littérature Théâtre (劇団NLT, Gekidan NLT) with playwrights and actors who had quit Bungakuza along with him, including Seiichi Yashio (矢代静一), Takeo Matsuura (松浦竹夫), and Nobuo Nakamura (中村伸郎). When Neo Littérature Théâtre experienced a schism in 1968, Mishima formed another troupe, the Roman Theatre (浪曼劇場, Rōman Gekijō), and worked with Matsuura and Nakamura again.[126][127][128]

During the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, Mishima interviewed various athletes every day and wrote articles as a newspaper correspondent.[129][130] He had eagerly anticipated the long-awaited return of the Olympics to Japan after the 1940 Tokyo Olympics were cancelled due to Japan’s war in China. Mishima expressed his excitement in his report on the opening ceremonies: “It can be said that ever since Lafcadio Hearn called the Japanese “the Greeks of the Orient,” the Olympics were destined to be hosted by Japan someday.”[131]

Mishima hated Ryokichi Minobe, who was a communist and the governor of Tokyo beginning in 1967.[132] Influential persons in the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), including Takeo Fukuda and Kiichi Aichi, had been Mishima’s superiors during his time at the Ministry of the Treasury, and Prime Minister Eisaku Satō came to know Mishima because his wife, Hiroko, was a fan of Mishima’s work. Based on these connections LDP officials solicited Mishima to run for the LDP as governor of Tokyo against Minobe, but Mishima had no intention of becoming a politician.[132]

Mishima was fond of manga and gekiga, especially the drawing style of Hiroshi Hirata (平田弘史), a mangaka best known for his samurai gekiga; the slapstick, absurdist comedy in Fujio Akatsuka’s Mōretsu Atarō (もーれつア太郎), and the imaginativeness of Shigeru Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitarō (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎).[133][134] Mishima especially loved reading the boxing manga Ashita no Joe (あしたのジョー, “Tomorrow’s Joe”) in Weekly Shōnen Magazine every week.[135][i] Ultraman and Godzilla were his favorite kaiju fantasies, and he once compared himself to “Godzilla’s egg” in 1955.[136][137] On the other hand, he disliked story manga with humanist or cosmopolitan themes, such as Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix (火の鳥, Hi no tori).[133][134]

Mishima was a fan of science fiction, contending that “science fiction will be the first literature to completely overcome modern humanism”.[138] He praised Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End in particular. While acknowledging “inexpressible unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings after reading it,” he declared, “I’m not afraid to call it a masterpiece.”[139]

Mishima traveled to Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula with his wife and children every summer from 1964 onwards.[140][141] In Shimoda, Mishima often enjoyed eating local seafood with his friend Henry Scott-Stokes.[141] Mishima never showed any hostility towards the US in front of foreign friends like Scott-Stokes, until Mishima heard that the name of the inn where Scott-Stokes was staying was Kurofune ( lit. ‘black ship’), at which point his voice suddenly became low and he said in a sullen manner, “Why? Why do you stay at a place with such a name?”. Mishima liked ordinary American people after the war, and he and his wife had even visited Disneyland as newlyweds.[j] However, he clearly retained a strong sense of hostility toward the “black ships” of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who forcibly opened Japan up to unequal international relations at the end of the Edo period, and had destroyed the peace of Edo, where vivid chōnin culture was flourishing.[141]

Harmony of Pen and Sword [ edit ]

Mishima’s nationalism grew towards the end of his life. In 1966, he published his short story The Voices of the Heroic Dead (英霊の聲, Eirei no koe), in which he denounced Emperor Hirohito for renouncing his own divinity after World War II. He argued that the soldiers who had died in the February 26 Incident (二・二六事件, Ni-Ni-Roku Jiken) and the Japanese Special Attack Units (特攻隊, Tokkōtai) 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. Mishima said that His Majesty had become a human when he should be a God.[143][144]

In February 1967, Mishima joined fellow authors Yasunari Kawabata, Kōbō Abe, and Jun Ishikawa in issuing a statement condemning China’s Cultural Revolution for suppressing academic and artistic freedom.[145][146] However, only one Japanese newspaper carried the full text of their statement.[147]

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 Hussain.[148] He left extremely impressed by Indian culture, and what he felt was the Indian people’s determination to resist Westernization and protect traditional ways.[149] Mishima feared that his fellow Japanese were too enamored with modernization and western-style materialism to protect traditional Japanese culture.[148] While in New Delhi, he spoke at length with an unnamed colonel in the Indian Army who had experienced skirmishes with Chinese troops on the Sino-Indian border. The colonel warned Mishima of the strength and fighting spirit of the Chinese troops. Mishima later spoke of his sense of danger regarding what he perceived to be a lack of concern in Japan about the need to bolster Japan’s national defense against the threat from Communist China.[150][151][k] 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 (暁の寺, Akatsuki no tera), the third in his tetralogy The Sea of Fertility (豊饒の海, Hōjō no Umi).[153]

In 1968, Mishima wrote a play titled My Friend Hitler (わが友ヒットラー, Waga tomo Hittorā), 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.[86] Mishima explained that after writing the all-female play Madame de Sade, he wanted to write a counterpart play with an all-male cast.[154] 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).[155]

That same year, he wrote Life for Sale (命売ります, Inochi Urimasu), a humorous story about a man who, after failing to commit suicide, advertises his life for sale.[156] In a review of the English translation, novelist 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.”[157]

Mishima was hated by leftists who said Hirohito should have abdicated to take responsibility for the loss of life in the war. They also hated him for his outspoken commitment to bushido, the code of the samurai in The way of the samurai (葉隠入門, Hagakure Nyūmon), his support for the abolition of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and for his contention in his critique The Defense of Culture (文化防衛論, Bunka Bōeiron) that preached the importance of the Emperor in Japanese cultures. Mishima regarded the postwar era of Japan, where no poetic culture and supreme artist was born, as an era of fake prosperity, and stated in The Defense of Culture:

In the postwar prosperity called Shōwa Genroku, where there are no Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Ihara Saikaku, Matsuo Bashō, only infestation of flashy manners and customs in there. Passion is dried up, strong realism dispels the ground, and the deepening of poetry is neglected. That is, there are no Chikamatsu, Saikaku, or Basho now.[158]

In other critical essays,[l] Mishima argued that the national spirit which cultivated in Japan’s long history is the key to national defense, and he had apprehensions about the insidious “indirect aggression” of the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.[13][14] In critical essays in 1969, Mishima explained Japan’s difficult and delicate position and peculiarities between China, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

To put it simply, support for the Security Treaty means agreeing with the United States, and to oppose it means agreeing with the Soviet Union or the Chinese Communist Party, so after all, it’s only just a matter of which foreign country to rely on, and therein the question of “what is Japan” is completely lacking. If you ask the Japanese, “Hey you, do you choose America, Soviet Union, or Chinese Communist Party?”, if he is a true Japanese, he will withhold his attitude.[159][160]

In regards to those who strongly opposed the US military base in Okinawa and the Security Treaty:

They may appear to be nationalists and right-wingers in the foreign common sense, but in Japan, most of them are in fact left-wingers and communists.[161][160]

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.[162] 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.[163] 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.[163] Mishima hoped to express in literary terms something akin to pantheism.[164] 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”.[165]

Coup attempt and ritual suicide [ edit ]

In August 1966, Mishima visited Ōmiwa Shrine in Nara Prefecture, thought to be one of the oldest Shintō shrines in Japan, as well as the hometown of his mentor Zenmei Hasuda and the areas associated with the Shinpūren Rebellion (神風連の乱, Shinpūren no ran), an uprising against the Meiji government by samurai in 1876. This trip would become the inspiration for portions of Runaway Horses (奔馬, Honba), the second novel in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy. While in Kumamoto, Mishima purchased a Japanese sword for 100,000 yen. Mishima envisioned the reincarnation of Kiyoaki, the protagonist of the first novel Spring Snow, as a man named Isao who put his life on the line to bring about a restoration of direct rule by the Emperor against the backdrop of the League of Blood Incident (血盟団事件, Ketsumeidan jiken) in 1932.

From 12 April to 27 May 1967, Mishima underwent basic training with the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF).[166] Mishima had originally lobbied to train with the GSDF for six months, but was met with resistance from the Defense Agency.[166] Mishima’s training period was finalized to 46 days, which required using some of his connections.[166] His participation in GSDF training was kept secret, both because the Defense Agency did not want to give the impression that anyone was receiving special treatment, and because Mishima wanted to experience “real” military life.[166][167] As such, Mishima trained under his birth name, Kimitake Hiraoka, and most of his fellow soldiers did not recognize him.[166]

From June 1967, Mishima became a leading figure in a plan to create a 10,000-man “Japan National Guard” (祖国防衛隊, Sokoku Bōeitai) as a civilian complement to Japan’s Self Defense Forces. He began leading groups of right-wing college students to undergo basic training with the GDSF in the hope of training 100 officers to lead the National Guard.[168][169][167]

Like many other right-wingers, Mishima was especially alarmed by the riots and revolutionary actions undertaken by radical “New Left” university students, who took over dozens of college campuses in Japan in 1968 and 1969. On 26 February 1968, the 32nd anniversary of the February 26 Incident, he and several other right-wingers met at the editorial offices of the recently founded right-wing magazine Controversy Journal (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.[170][171] Mishima showed his sincerity by signing his birth name, Kimitake Hiraoka, in his own blood.[170][171]

When Mishima found that his plan for a large-scale Japan National Guard with broad public and private support failed to catch on,[172] he formed the Tatenokai (楯の会, “Shield Society”) on 5 October 1968, a private militia composed primarily of right-wing college students who swore to protect the Emperor of Japan. The activities of the Tatenokai primarily focused on martial training and physical fitness, including traditional kendo sword-fighting and long-distance running.[173][174] Mishima personally oversaw this training himself. Initial membership was around 50, and was drawn primarily from students from Waseda University and individuals affiliated with Controversy Journal. The number of Tatenokai members later increased to 100.[175][168] Some of the members had graduated from university and were employed, while some were already working adults when they enlisted.[176]

Mishima delivering his speech on the balcony

On 25 November 1970, Mishima and four members of the Tatenokai—Masakatsu Morita (森田必勝), Masahiro Ogawa (小川正洋), Masayoshi Koga (小賀正義), and Hiroyasu Koga (古賀浩靖)—used a pretext to visit the commandant Kanetoshi Mashita (益田兼利) of Camp Ichigaya, a military base in central Tokyo and the headquarters of the Eastern Command of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.[115] Inside, they barricaded the office and tied the commandant to his chair. Mishima wore a white hachimaki headband with a red hinomaru circle in the center bearing the kanji for “To be reborn seven times to serve the country” (七生報國, Shichishō hōkoku), which was a reference to the last words of Kusunoki Masasue, the younger brother of the 14th century imperial loyalist samurai Kusunoki Masashige (楠木正成), as the two brothers died fighting to defend the Emperor.[177] With a prepared manifesto and a banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped out onto the balcony to address the soldiers gathered below. His speech was intended to inspire a coup d’état to restore the power of the emperor. He succeeded only in irritating the soldiers, and was heckled, with jeers and the noise of helicopters drowning out some parts of his speech. In his speech Mishima rebuked the JSDF for their passive acceptance of a constitution that “denies (their) own existence” and shouted to rouse them, “Where has the spirit of the samurai gone?” In his final written appeal that Morita and Ogawa scattered copies of from the balcony, Mishima expressed his dissatisfaction with the half-baked nature of the JSDF:

It is self-evident that the United States would not be pleased with a true Japanese volunteer army protecting the land of Japan.[178][179]

After he finished reading his prepared speech in a few minutes’ time, Mishima cried out “Long live the Emperor!” (天皇陛下万歳, Tenno-heika banzai) three times. He then retreated into the commandant’s office and apologized to the commandant, saying,

“We did it to return the JSDF to the Emperor. I had no choice but to do this.”[182]

Mishima then committed seppuku, a form of ritual suicide by disembowelment associated with the samurai. Morita had been assigned to serve as Mishima’s second (kaishakunin), cutting off his head with a sword at the end of the ritual to spare him unnecessary pain. However, Morita proved unable to complete his task, and after three failed attempts to sever Mishima’s head, Koga had to step in and complete the task.[182]

According to the testimony of the surviving coup members, originally all four Tatenokai members had planned to commit seppuku along with Mishima. However Mishima attempted to dissuade them and three of the members acquiesced to his wishes. Only Morita persisted, saying, “I can’t let Mr. Mishima die alone.” But Mishima knew that Morita had a girlfriend and still hoped he might live. Just before his seppuku, Mishima tried one more time to dissuade him, saying “Morita, you must live, not die.”[183][184][m] Nevertheless, after Mishima’s seppuku, Morita knelt and stabbed himself in the abdomen and Koga acted as kaishakunin again.[185]

This coup attempt is called The Mishima Incident (三島事件, Mishima jiken) in Japan.[n]

Another traditional element of the suicide ritual was the composition of so-called death poems by the Tatenokai members before their entry into the headquarters.[187] Having been enlisted in the Ground Self-Defense Force for about four years, Mishima and other Tatenokai members, alongside several officials, were secretly researching coup plans for a constitutional amendment. They thought there was a chance when security dispatch (治安出動, Chian Shutsudo) was dispatched to subjugate the Zenkyoto revolt. However, Zenkyoto was suppressed easily by the Riot Police Unit in October 1969. These officials gave up the coup of constitutional amendment, and Mishima was disappointed in them and the actual circumstances in Japan after World War II.[188] Officer Kiyokatsu Yamamoto (山本舜勝), Mishima’s training teacher, explained further:

The officers had a trusty connection with the U.S.A.F. (includes U.S.F.J), and with the approval of the U.S. army side, they were supposed to carry out a security dispatch toward the Armed Forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. However, due to the policy change (reversal) of U.S. by Henry Kissinger who prepared for visiting China in secret (changing relations between U.S. and China), it became a situation where the Japanese military was not allowed legally.[188]

Mishima planned his suicide meticulously for at least a year and no one outside the group of hand-picked Tatenokai members knew what he was planning.[189][190] His biographer, translator John Nathan, suggests that the coup attempt was only a pretext for the ritual suicide of which Mishima had long dreamed.[191] His friend Scott-Stokes, another biographer, says that “Mishima is the most important person in postwar Japan”, and described the shackles of the constitution of Japan:

Mishima cautioned against the lack of reality in the basic political controversy in Japan and the particularity of Japan’s democratic principles.[192]

Scott-Stokes noted a meeting with Mishima in his diary entry for 3 September 1970, at which Mishima, with a dark expression on his face, said:

Japan lost its spiritual tradition, and materialism infested instead. Japan is under the curse of a Green Snake now. The Green Snake bites on Japanese chest. There is no way to escape this curse.[193]

Scott-Stokes told Takao Tokuoka in 1990 that he took the Green Snake to mean the U.S. dollar.[194] Between 1968 and 1970, Mishima also said words about Japan’s future. Mishima’s senior friend and father heard from Mishima:

Japan will be hit hard. One day, the United States suddenly contacts China over Japan’s head, Japan will only be able to look up from the bottom of the valley and eavesdrop on the conversation slightly. Our friend Taiwan will say that “it will no longer be able to count on Japan”, and Taiwan will go somewhere. Japan may become an orphan in the Orient, and may eventually fall into the product of slave dealers.[195]

Mishima’s corpse was returned home the day after his death. His father Azusa had been afraid to see his son whose appearance had completely changed. However, when he looked into the casket fearfully, Mishima’s head and body had been sutured neatly, and his dead face, to which makeup had been beautifully applied, looked as if he were alive due to the police officers. They said: “We applied funeral makeup carefully with special feelings, because it is the body of Dr. Mishima, whom we have always respected secretly.”[196] Mishima’s body was dressed in the Tatenokai uniform, and the guntō was firmly clasped at the chest according to the will that Mishima entrusted to his friend Kinemaro Izawa (伊沢甲子麿).[196][197] Azusa put the manuscript papers and fountain pen that his son cherished in the casket together.[196][o] Mishima had made sure his affairs were in order and left money for the legal defence of the three surviving Tatenokai members—Masahiro Ogawa (小川正洋), Masayoshi Koga (小賀正義), and Hiroyasu Koga.[190][p] After the incident, there were exaggerated media commentaries that “it was a fear of the revival of militarism”.[194] The commandant who was made a hostage said in the trial,

I didn’t feel hate towards the defendants at that time. Thinking about the country of Japan, thinking about the JSDF, the pure hearts of thinking about our country that did that kind of thing, I want to buy it as an individual.

The day of the Mishima Incident (25 November) was the date when Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa) became regent and the Emperor Shōwa made the Humanity Declaration at the age of 45. Researchers believe that Mishima chose that day to revive the “God” by dying as a scapegoat, at the same age as when the Emperor became a human.[202][203] There are also views that the day corresponds to the date of execution (after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar) of Yoshida Shōin (吉田松陰), whom Mishima respected,[196] or that Mishima had set his period of bardo (中有, Chuu) for reincarnation because the 49th day after his death was his birthday, 14 January.[204] On his birthday, Mishima’s remains were buried in the grave of the Hiraoka Family at Tama Cemetery.[196] In addition, 25 November is the day he began writing Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白, Kamen no kokuhaku), and this work was announced as “Techniques of Life Recovery”, “Suicide inside out”. Mishima also wrote down in notes for this work,

This book is a will for leave in the Realm of Death where I used to live. If you take a movie of a suicide jumped, and rotate the film in reverse, the suicide person jumps up from the valley bottom to the top of the cliff at a furious speed and he revives.[205][206]

Writer Takashi Inoue believes he wrote Confessions of a Mask to live in postwar Japan, and to get away from his “Realm of Death”; by dying on the same date that he began to write Confessions of a Mask, Mishima intended to dismantle all of his postwar creative activities and return to the “Realm of Death” where he used to live.[206]

legacy [edit]

Much speculation has surrounded Mishima’s suicide. At the time of his death he had just completed the final book in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy.[115] He was recognized as one of the most important post-war stylists of the Japanese language. Mishima wrote 34 novels, about 50 plays, about 25 books of short stories, at least 35 books of essays, one libretto, and one film.[207]

Grave of Yukio Mishima in Tama Cemetery. The inscription reads, “Grave of Hiraoka family”

Mishima’s grave is located at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchū, Tokyo. The Mishima Prize was established in 1988 to honor his life and works. On 3 July 1999, “Yukio Mishima Literary Museum” (三島由紀夫文学館, Mishima Yukio Bungaku-kan) was opened in Yamanakako, Yamanashi Prefecture.[208]

The Mishima Incident helped inspire the formation of New Right (新右翼, shin uyoku) groups in Japan, such as the “Issuikai” (一水会), founded by Tsutomu Abe (阿部勉), who was Mishima’s follower. Compared to older groups such as Bin Akao’s Greater Japan Patriotic Party that took a pro-American, anti-communist stance, New Right groups such as the Issuikai tended to emphasize ethnic nationalism and anti-Americanism.[209]

A memorial service deathday for Mishima, called “Patriotism Memorial” (憂国忌, Yūkoku-ki), is held every year in Japan on 25 November by the “Yukio Mishima Study Group” (三島由紀夫研究会, Mishima Yukio Kenkyūkai) and former members of the “Japan Student Alliance” (日本学生同盟, Nihon Gakusei Dōmei).[210] Apart from this, a memorial service is held every year by former Tatenokai members, which began in 1975, the year after Masahiro Ogawa, Masayoshi Koga, and Hiroyasu Koga were released on parole.[211]

A variety of cenotaphs and memorial stones have been erected in honor of Mishima’s memory in various places around Japan. For example, stones have been erected at Hachiman Shrine in Kakogawa City, Hyogo Prefecture, where his grandfather’s permanent domicile was;[212] in front of the 2nd company corps at JGSDF Camp Takigahara;[213] and in one of Mishima’s acquaintance’s home garden.[214] There is also a “Monument of Honor Yukio Mishima & Masakatsu Morita” in front of the Rissho University Shonan High school in Shimane Prefecture.[215]

The Mishima Yukio Shrine was built in the suburb of Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, on 9 January 1983.[216][217]

A 1985 biographical film by Paul Schrader titled Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters depicts his life and work; however, it has never been given a theatrical presentation in Japan. A 2012 Japanese film titled 11:25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate also looks at Mishima’s last day. The 1983 gay pornographic film Beautiful Mystery satirised the homosexual undertones of Mishima’s career.[218][219]

In 2014, Mishima was one of the inaugural honourees in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco’s Castro neighbourhood noting LGBTQ people who have “made significant contributions in their fields”.[220][221][222]

David Bowie painted a large expressionist portrait of Mishima, which he hung at his Berlin residence.[223]

Awards[edit]

Major works [ edit ]

literature [edit]

Critical essay [ edit ]

Plays for classical Japanese theatre [ edit ]

In addition to contemporary-style plays such as Madame de Sade, Mishima wrote for two of the three genres of classical Japanese theatre: Noh and Kabuki (as a proud Tokyoite, he would not even attend the Bunraku puppet theatre, always associated with Osaka and the provinces).[230]

Though Mishima took themes, titles and characters from the Noh canon, his twists and modern settings, such as hospitals and ballrooms, startled audiences accustomed to the long-settled originals.

Donald Keene translated Kindai Nogaku-shū (近代能楽集, Five Modern Noh Plays) (Tuttle, 1981; ISBN 0-8048-1380-9). Most others remain untranslated and so lack an “official” English title; in such cases it is therefore preferable to use the rōmaji title.

Movies [edit]

Mishima starred in multiple films. Patriotism was written and funded by himself, and he directed it in close cooperation with Masaki Domoto. Mishima also wrote a detailed account of the whole process, in which the particulars regarding costume, shooting expenses and the film’s reception are delved into. Patriotism won the second prize at the Tours International Short Film Festival in January 1966.[231][232]

Works about Mishima [ edit ]

Collection of Photographs

A book

Film, TV

music

String Quartet No.3, “Mishima” , by Philip Glass. A reworking of parts of his soundtrack for the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters it has a duration of 18 minutes.

, by Philip Glass. A reworking of parts of his soundtrack for the film it has a duration of 18 minutes. Death and Night and Blood (Yukio) , a song by the Stranglers from the Black and White album (1978) ( Death and Night and Blood is the phrase from Mishima’s novel Confessions of a Mask ) [263]

, a song by the Stranglers from the album (1978) ( is the phrase from Mishima’s novel ) Forbidden Colours, a song on Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian (1983). (Inspired by Mishima’s novel Forbidden Colors)[264]

To play

Yukio Mishima , a play by Adam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik, first performed at Holloway Prison, London, in 1991, and later in Finland, Slovenia and Portugal.

, a play by Adam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik, first performed at Holloway Prison, London, in 1991, and later in Finland, Slovenia and Portugal. M, a ballet spectacle work homage to Mishima by Maurice Béjart in 1993[265]

Manga, Game

Shin Megami Tensei by Atlus (1992) – A character Gotou who started a coup in Ichigaya, modeled on Mishima.

by Atlus (1992) – A character Gotou who started a coup in Ichigaya, modeled on Mishima. Tekken by Namco (1994) – Mishima surname comes from Yukio Mishima, and a main character Kazuya Mishima’s way of thinking was based on Mishima.

by Namco (1994) – Mishima surname comes from Yukio Mishima, and a main character Kazuya Mishima’s way of thinking was based on Mishima. Jakomo Fosukari(Jakomo Fosukari ( ジャコモ・フォスカリ ) ) by Mari Yamazaki (2012) – The characters modeled on Mishima and Kōbō Abe appears in.[266]

poem

Grave of Mishima (Yukio Mishima no haka ( ユキオ・ミシマの墓 ) ) by Pierre Pascal (1970) – 12 Haiku poems and three Tanka poems. Appendix of Shinsho Hanayama 花山信勝 [267]

art

Kou ( Kou ( 恒 ) ) by Junji Wakebe 分部順治 [268]

( ) by Season of fiery fire / Requiem for someone: Number 1, Mishima ( Rekka no kisetsu/Nanimonoka eno rekuiemu: Sono ichi Mishima ( 烈火の季節／なにものかへのレクイエム・その壱 ミシマ ) ) and Classroom of beauty, listen quietly: bi-class, be quiet” ( Bi no kyositsu, seicho seyo ( 美の教室、清聴せよ ) ) by Yasumasa Morimura (2006, 2007) – Disguise performance as Mishima [269]

( ) and Bi no kyositsu, seicho seyo Objectglass 12 and The Death of a Man (Otoko no shi ( 男の死 ) ) by Kimiski Ishizuka ( 石塚公昭 ) (2007, 2011) – Mishima dolls[270]

See also[edit]

Notes [edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Birthday: January 3rd

Age: ~30

Gender Male

Height: 188.1 cm 62 Weight: 73 kg 161 lbs Kazumi Mishima is a high school teacher and one of the chosen 20 to participate in the Death Game.

irrigation

While watering may seem like a simple task, this is where many people can go wrong when caring for houseplants, either overwatering or letting them become dehydrated. In general, potting soil for indoor plants should be kept moist but not wet. Usually they need to be watered once or twice a week in the spring and summer, but less so in the fall and winter. However, depending on the type of houseplant, this is not always the case.

Below are the houseplants that require special care when watering.

Orchids: water only once a week with little water.

Cacti and Succulents: require very little water. Only water when the potting soil has dried.

Citrus Plants: Water frequently and much more regularly than other houseplants.

Knowing when to water becomes easier with the Westland watering indicator. You can use this watering wand all year round and it’s really easy to use. Simply insert the stick into the soil in the pot. This indicator will then show you when the plant needs more water by changing its color to red. The indicator turns blue when no water needs to be added. After you water the plant, the indicator should change color from red to blue within 2 hours.

The type of water used for houseplants is also very important. This is because many plants are sensitive to chemicals and salts found in tap water. It is therefore best to water your plants with rainwater.

feeding

Feeding houseplants during their growth phase is crucial to promoting lush and healthy growth. Houseplants should only be fed when they are actively growing and not when they are dormant.

In general, most houseplants should be fertilized every other watering during the growing season (spring and summer), which is probably every 10 to 14 days. Fertilize every fourth watering in autumn and winter, as indoor plants require fewer nutrients.

A good way to feed houseplants is with a liquid concentrate feed. This is a great way to fertilize and water your plant at the same time. However, they are only successful if the mixture is not made too strong or too weak. Westland Houseplant Feed is a great plant feed for houseplants as it is enriched with the essential nutrients. It also has an easy-to-measure doser, meaning all you have to do is squeeze the bottle to fill the dosing chamber. The doser removes excess plant food, leaving a 5ml dose that you simply add to 1 liter of water. This means you get the right mix strength to feed your plants.

Below is a list of specialty fertilizers for specific types of houseplants that provide the right amount of nutrients that those specific plants need to thrive.

Cactus and Succulent Food: contains nutrients that help them bloom better.

Citrus feed: contains nutrients that promote fruit set and fruit development.

Orchid food: contains nutrients that prolong flowering.

Bonsai food: contains nutrients for lush green leaves and strong roots.

By following this guide to feeding and watering, caring for houseplants will be easy and simple. It means your home will be full of life with all the stunning plants.

We’ve all seen it: a plant that looked so lush and beautiful in the store curls up and dies as soon as it enters your home.

Maybe that fear makes you suspicious, or you’ve committed enough houseplant murders that you never want to try again, let alone get your mom one this Mother’s Day. But here’s the truth: houseplants don’t have to be tough.

Most problems fall into two categories: benign neglect or death by kindness, say houseplant specialists Annette Goliti Gutierrez, co-owner of Potted, an Atwater Village shop dedicated to houseplants and pots, and Jessica Lawrence, gardener and houseplant care instructor at Fig Earth supply in Mount Washington.

The biggest problem with benign neglecters is that they forget — or maybe never knew — that houseplants need steady water, light, and a little love to thrive, Gutierrez said.

Air plants, for example, are colorful and popular because they can live in a pot without soil, “but I wish I had a dollar for every time people say, ‘So we don’t have to water them, right?'” Gutiérrez said . “And I have to say, ‘Well, no, like all living things, air plants need watering.'”

advertisement

(Sound familiar? Check out these simple tips in Sunset for keeping air plants alive.)

However, according to Lawrence and Gutierrez, houseplants mostly die because they are loved to death. The biggest culprits? Improper planting, overwatering, and the wrong type of light.

Keeping them alive isn’t difficult, they say, if you follow the simple instructions below:

Don’t move them too fast

Most houseplants were raised in a greenhouse and then ripped out of their perfect environment to sit in a store until you came by, Lawrence said, “so when you bring them home, they’re stressed out, like a baby that’s out of the woods.” house was torn from the womb.”

Transplanting them into your new decorative pot will only stress them out more and make it harder to give them the care they need. The solution: keep your houseplants in their plastic pots for at least the first year.

You can still use your pretty pot, say Lawrence and Gutierrez. Simply slide the new plant, plastic pot and everything into the decorative pot and cover the top with Spanish moss or rocks to fill in any gaps.

In contrast to many decorative pots, the growing pots have excellent drainage. And if you’re watering, you can simply place the plant in the sink or tub, give it a good watering, and then let it drain before replacing, eliminating the need for drain trays (which look pretty tacky under your decorative pots anyway) .

Most houseplants are slow growers and like to fit snugly in their pots, Lawrence said, but when the pot has more roots than soil, it’s time to transplant. At this point, simply increase a pot size or at most two. “The size of the pot doesn’t make the plant grow any faster, and with all that extra soil it becomes harder for the roots to get the water and nutrients they need.”

Final note: when transplanting, add potting soil (not garden soil) to the bottom of the pot to get the plant to the desired height. Never place the plant on the bottom of the pot and cover it with soil as this can suffocate the plant.

water, don’t drown

Improper watering is the leading cause of plant death, Lawrence and Gutierrez said, usually because well-intentioned people drown their plants.

When Lawrence had a business that tended houseplants, she couldn’t understand why so many were dying until she discovered that employees dumped their leftover coffee or bottled water in the ground every day.

They thought they were helping, she said, but instead the plants suffocated in standing water or rotted from constantly soaked roots.

This is a serious problem for people who water on a weekly schedule and never notice if their plants are wet or dry.

“Instead of putting your plants on a watering schedule, I encourage people to put them on a control schedule,” Lawrence said, “because not all plants need to be watered at the same time.”

Poke your finger an inch or two into the soil to see if it’s dry before deciding to add water. If you don’t trust your finger, buy an inexpensive moisture tester (like Amazon’s $12 Moisture pH Light Meter).

Sometimes plant owners are just stingy and water the surface of the soil but never get water to the roots. The plant is essentially parched, Gutierrez said, and the salt and minerals in our water tend to build up unhealthily in the soil.

So when it comes time to water, take the plant to the sink or bath (preferably in its original grow pot) and let it soak well so the water will wash out any debris and thoroughly wet the root ball.

When soil is really dry, it can actually repel water, Lawrence said, like a new sponge that won’t absorb moisture until it’s submerged. Putting the plant in a few inches of water for 20 or 30 minutes will help it absorb moisture at the roots where it needs it most.

Let there be light

Short news: Houseplants need light to thrive, but “unless it’s a cactus you’re growing indoors, you don’t want a plant near a window with bright, hot sun,” Lawrence said.

Look for indirect light from north- or east-facing windows, and keep plants away from the harsh, hot rays from the south and west, which are only amplified when they come through the glass.

However, avoid putting your plants in corners or under stairwells where they get little or no natural light. Plants need some kind of consistent light to photosynthesize and get the energy they need to thrive.

“There are some dark-leaved plants that can handle low light, but they will never bloom or grow tall,” said Gutierrez, whose houseplant care tips are available online. If you must place a plant in a dark area, install a small grow light or even an LED light above it that’s regularly lit for at least eight hours a day, she said.

A timer is helpful, but Gutierrez recalls being amazed by a trailing pothos plant blooming in a windowless doctor’s office.

“Then I realized that the lights were on from the second people entered the building until they left at night, giving this plant enough light to photosynthesize,” she said. “Not all plants will respond that well, but for it to work you have to keep the light on constantly, so you’re mimicking daylight.”

[email protected]

@jmarantos

Related Articles

Whether you’re just starting out, waiting or troubleshooting, you’ll find advice and answers for all your gardening needs right here.

Sharing is caring!

0 Shares Share

tweet

Pen

With well over 1000 different Peperomia varieties, there are many answers to the question “How big does Peperomia get?”.

Depending on the variety of your Peperomia, you can expect it to either stay very small and only grow a few inches tall, or you can have a really big plant, reaching 30-60cm. The really big ones are super hard to find.

How big will Peperomia get?

Although there are well over 1000 varieties of Peperomia, almost all of them are generally small plants. The majority of Peperomia plants grow up to 30cm – either in length or in height. Growing a Peperomia above this size is rare.

Keeping the plant small can be achieved by pruning the plant, especially with trailing varieties.

Many peperomias sold under the same name also come in many varieties and they can vary in size.

Mini (or dwarf) strains that are a few inches smaller than a regular plant are quite popular with some specimens, so keep that in mind if you’re looking for a taller plant. Different nurseries can also have different sizes.

Here are a few examples of more popular specimens that can grow to around 12 inches.

Peperomia Polybotria

One of the most popular plants in this group usually grows to 30 cm. Larger specimens can also be found.

Peperomia Argyreia

The watermelon peperomia is another one that can easily grow to 12 inches tall (and beyond). The mini version of this plant is very popular, so keep that in mind.

Peperomia asperula

This is another strain that can easily grow to 12 inches.

Trailing Varieties

While these don’t grow much in height, trailing cultivars can also produce vines that are 12 inches long.

Sharing is caring!

needs repotting

The plant can live happily in the included pot for up to a year. Check if the plant is ready for repotting by touching the soil and seeing if it has loosened or if the roots are overgrown. Repot in any rich, well-drained soil. When your plant is ready to be transplanted, you can follow our simple guide.

Succulents may be praised as low-maintenance plants, but don’t count out tropical plants. Loved for their lush foliage and beautiful variegation, tropical houseplants have a reputation for being finicky. While it’s true that some require extra moisture and water, many are beginner-friendly. Most common houseplants are actually classified as tropical plants that thrive in indirect light rather than the full sun that succulents crave. Let’s look at the basics of tropical houseplant care and check out some of the easiest ones to grow.

Basics of tropical plant care

Many houseplants come from tropical regions around the world. In nature, they typically grow under tree canopies in warm, humid environments. Because of their natural growth, these plants appreciate bright indirect light indoors or partial shade outdoors. Natural light will suffice, but plant lights can also supplement their needs. As long as the temperature is comfortable for you, it should be fine for a tropical plant. If it’s raining, snowing, or getting too cold, bring your plants inside. If it’s warm during the growing season, feed them regularly with a balanced fertilizer and transplant into well-drained soil as needed.

When you bring them home, tropical houseplants usually share their needs. Yellow leaves often indicate overwatering or uneven watering. Soft, wilted leaves usually mean a plant is thirsty or has root problems. Do you have any crispy tips? It might be time to invest in a humidifier or use filtered water. Either way, a tropical plant will let you know when it needs extra attention.

For pet owners: Maranta prayer plant

Prayer plants have a reputation for demanding high humidity and attracting pests. As a genus, maranta plants tend to be less finicky while still displaying the fascinating folding and unfolding movements that prayer plants flaunt. Maranta leuconeura, or herringbone plant, is an attractive prayer plant with silky green leaves and red ribbed veins. It is completely non-toxic to dogs and cats, making it ideal for pet owners.

Marantas like medium, indirect light and room temperature. They appreciate moist soil and humid air, but are rather hardy in dry periods. Feed them twice a month during active growing seasons with diluted liquid houseplant food – a cheerful Maranta shoots out small white flowers in spring and summer. If you notice faded, crusty leaves, move your plant to a more shaded area and increase the humidity.

For cactus lovers: Christmas cactus

Yes, the Christmas cactus, or Schlumbergera truncata, is technically one of many tropical flowering plants native to Brazilian forests. Unlike most succulents and cacti that are native to arid deserts, the Schlumbergera appreciates moisture and moisture. It has bristly, waxy leaves that trail and is nicknamed the Christmas cactus for its bright flowers during the holiday season. The Christmas cactus blooms in winter when temperatures are cold and darkness is long. It appreciates moderate watering, room temperature and partial shade.

Cactus lovers can also enjoy hoyas and snake plants. Although these are not succulents, they are hardy and don’t have heavy watering needs. They appreciate bright, indirect light, but also get along well in medium light conditions. Hoyas, in particular, develop waxy, fragrant flowers.

For busy people: ZZ plans

Zamioculcas zamiifolia is a tropical perennial native to East Africa. She thrives on being ignored, so she’s the perfect plant for people who don’t have much time. ZZ plants are notoriously low-maintenance houseplants. They tolerate little light and only need to be watered once a month. Its glossy, dark green leaves grow on stalks connected to bulbous rhizomes that could sprout if overwatered. ZZ plants generally do not need to be fertilized. They grow in spurts and occasionally develop white spatula flowers.

For minimalists: rubber tree

From monstera to snake plants, many tropical houseplants could work for a minimalist aesthetic. Ficus elastica burgundy, or the rubber plant, is our top choice for its glossy, dark green leaves that make an elegant statement. She only needs a moderate watering every two to three weeks and thrives well in medium light. Feed balanced and diluted liquid fertilizer every month during the growing season. If you like variegation, check out the Ficus Elastica ‘Tineke’ with cream fringes or the Ficus Elastica Ruby with pink foliage. Rubber plants tolerate a range of temperatures, but conditions below 50°F will cause leaves to drop.

For budget travellers: Pothos

Pothos are common, low-maintenance tropical plants that can usually be found at garden centers and supermarkets for under $15. Find Pothos in many varieties: Golden, Marble Queen and Neon are just a few. They have waxy, heart-shaped leaves that can trail and climb. Pothos plants are easy to care for and appreciate indirect bright light, but they also tolerate low light. You only need to water them when the soil dries up – the leaves then curl. Give them diluted fertilizer every two weeks during the spring and summer. They should stay happy as long as you keep them at room temperature.

With a little research and care, you will find a tropical plant that will thrive in your home. While they may seem intimidating to houseplant novices, these plants will reward you with lush and vibrant foliage once you get used to their needs.

Editor’s Recommendations

The leaves on your Fittonia Verschaffeltii are brown and brittle and will not grow back.

What’s happening?

“Some plants thrive in moisture,” explains Hank Jenkins of Plant Provocateur in Silver Lake. “If you don’t give them moisture, their leaves will dry out. If you want new foliage and growth you need to spray them.”

Many houseplants come from subtropical and tropical regions and need “at least 40 percent relative humidity,” according to Reader’s Digest Success With House Plants.

“LA is a coastal desert,” explains Jenkins. “The humidity here is different than in South America or Mexico or Central America.”

So if a moisture-loving philodendron is placed in too dry air – or next to a heating or air conditioning vent – its leaves can shrivel and turn brown.

“A lot of people don’t understand the importance of fogging,” adds Jenkins. “Misting is one of the best things you can do for your houseplants. I advise my clients to spray their houseplants once or twice a week.”

advertisement

Lifestyle Your Frequently Asked Questions About Houseplants, Thirsty Answered? lack of light? get rid of mosquitoes? Here you will find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about indoor plants.

In general, thinning leaves are an indication that a plant needs extra moisture. But be careful not to mist over succulents, or Zamioculcas zamiifolia, affectionately known as the ZZ plant, as excessive moisture will quickly rot them.

Because Los Angeles tap water contains calcium carbonate, Rhiannon Cramm of Mickey Hargitay Plants advises spraying houseplants with filtered water to prevent calcium deposits from forming on the leaves.”

Along with misting, Cramm suggests placing the plants on gravel trays for extra moisture. Fill a tray or saucer with pebbles and add water. Placing your plant on the pebbles will help it stand above the water and create a humid environment.

Humidifiers are common at local plant stores and can be used to stimulate plants at home. “Humidifiers are fun and useful because they create a cloud-like cloud that can set the mood for your tropical plant friends,” says Cramm. “More advanced models can set a humidity percentage and turn on and off automatically when the desired setting is reached.”

advertisement

But you don’t need to buy a machine to add moisture to the air. “Another way to keep plants hydrated without spending money or effort is to simply group plants together,” says Mickey Hargitay Jr. “Moisture occurs naturally through their transpiration—water loss through the pores in the surface of the leaves developed. Therefore, moisture-loving plants thrive better together.”

Moving a distressed plant to a wetter spot, like the bathroom or near the kitchen sink, can also help. When I moved my dying nerve plant from my sun-drenched living room to the bathroom, it rebounded. Once I put it on a pebble tray and started misting it regularly, it thrived.

“Misting is basically the secret weapon to having perfect plants,” says Jenkins. “It’s not a hassle. And this is how you can fertilize your plants.”

The Moon Arcana is the eighteenth (XVIII) Tarot Arcana and fifth familiar that you automatically unlock shortly after defeating the first palace. Moon’s social connection confidante is Yuuki Mishima.

The lunar arcana represents creativity, dreams, inspiration and the subconscious. Throughout your journey, the rise of lunar arcana will equip the Phantom Thieves with a range of passive support abilities that will help keep everyone on the same level.

advertisement

The progression of the lunar familiar is done by completing requests before spending time with Mishima. Almost every time you spend time with Mishima, you automatically rank up, so the choices you make in the conversation won’t affect the results. Because of this, you don’t need a Moon Arcana Persona either.

Mishima can be found at night, first in Shibuya, then in Shinjuku, and then in Akihabara. It’s not available when it’s raining, but is usually available otherwise. However, his availability seems dependent on the Phantom Thieves completing requests he sends you, so make sure you get those done.

If you haven’t completed Mishima by mid-November, you’ll need to complete the Seventh Palace before you can level up again.

ranks

Dialogue options in this social connection affect how efficiently it progresses. All of the dialogue options below show the answers that award points and how many points they award when you are carrying a Persona of the same arcana. If you don’t have a Persona with the same arcana, subtract a point to get the total of what you would get from each answer in most cases.

Rank 1

Auto Start: 5/6 Granted Ability: Mishima’s Assistance

You can choose any dialog options for this rank.

advertisement

rank 2

Automatic rank: 5/8

You can choose any dialog options for this rank.

rank 3

Available At: 5/10 Ability Granted: Unlocked Mishima’s Enthusiasm Request

One who bullies bullies

Choice 1:

Great idea. (3)

I’m already taken. (2)

Choice 2:

advertisement

We are part of… the phandom? (2)

Let’s tell the truth. (2)

Choice 3:

It’s not your fault. (2)

rank 4

Choice 1:

Steak sounds good. (3)

i love desserts (2)

Choice 2:

advertisement

You are awesome. (2)

Choice 3:

Any

rank 5

Ability Granted: Mishima’s Desperate Request Unlocked:

Call for justice for cats

Choice 1:

Why was it so expensive? (2)

Is this for me? (3)

Choice 2:

advertisement

That’s a good idea. (2)

rank 6

For this rank, go to Inokashira Park and unlock the location if you haven’t already.

Choice 1:

just tell me already (2)

You are on fire… (2)

Choice 2:

Rumors are wrong all the time… (2)

It’s none of our business. (2)

Choice 3:

advertisement

Either

Choice 4:

Absolutely. Well done. (2)

rank 7

Choice 1:

And what exactly will we win? (2)

you are so reliable (3)

Choice 2:

Sounds pretty twisted. (2)

You really need to chill. (2)

advertisement

Choice 3:

Any

Choice 4:

Either

Choice 5:

Either

You need to talk to your team about this. Go and meet Shadow Mishima and talk to him. There are two dialog options and you can choose either one to get the same results. Mishima will contact you at a later date if he wishes to speak.

Ability Granted: Phanboy

advertisement

Choice 1:

Either

Choice 2:

Either

Choice 3:

I’m sure there is. (2)

Maybe the phansite? (3)

rank 8

Claim the unlocked man of many faces and debts

advertisement

Choice 1:

I do not go. (3)

You should run too. (2)

Choice 2:

Either

Choice 3:

Total. (2)

you were super cool (3)

Wait, was that all played? (3)

rank 9

Choice 1:

advertisement

You really showed courage. (3)

I’m glad you’re still alive. (2)

Choice 2:

Either

Choice 3:

Any

Choice 4:

Any

Rank 10 – MAX

advertisement

Ability Granted: Wish for Redemption

Since this is the last social link rank, you can choose any dialogue option for the same effect. However, there are options that, as shown below, give you relationship points even though they don’t count for anything.

Choice 1:

Either

Choice 2:

That was brave. (3)

But you were afraid. (2)

Choice 3:

Any

advertisement

Choice 4:

Any

Completing this social link will unlock the ability to fuse Persona of the Moon’s ultimate arcana: Sandalphon.

capabilities

Ability Description Mishima’s Support Allows backup members to earn EXP. Mishima’s Enthusiasm Increases EXP earned in battle. Mishima’s Despair Increases EXP earned for backup members. Phanboy Significantly increases EXP earned in battle. Salvation Wish Allows backup members to earn the same EXP as current party members.

Next up: Sun Star Sun

Was this guide helpful? leave feedback