At a bookstore I stumbled upon, a new edition of Yukio Mishima’s Revival (by Naoki Komuro, Mainichi Ones) caught my eye and I couldn’t help but buy it. When I was a student, I often read literary works of all ages and countries, not just those of Mishima. I was a lazy student and didn’t study like I was studying, but at least I decided to devote these four years to the time of random reading and read only books. Among them, there was no writer as mysterious as Mishima. Starting with the work, every time I come in contact with the person’s image, I ask, “What kind of thought process did you have?” “What did you want to do?” “What did you want to do with Japan?” “What did that shocking death mean?” and various thoughts were stirred up in me. I still don’t understand Mishima very well. I don’t know much, so I’m interested, and I’m going to know a little bit. That’s why I still read a lot of Mishima-related books.
Mishima, who has many contradictions and tends to be viewed as taboo, has had various opinions on it, but how does AI view it?

Why did Mishima decide to commit suicide?

AI’s view: The reason for the self-cutting is complex and a combination of factors.
One of the most important factors is his patriotism and strong worship of the imperial family. Mishima emphasized maintaining Japan’s traditional values and moral norms, and advocated the need for reforms to the Self-Defense Forces and Japan’s constitution. He made a public speech at the Self-Defense Forces base and tried to initiate a coup, but failed. This event greatly influenced his outlook on life and political beliefs.

His novel The Sea of Fertility was also relevant. The novel took a critical view of traditional Japanese virtues and morality, and was criticized by some conservatives. Mishima may have felt that his work was misunderstood and felt the need to express his message through his own death.
In addition, he feared physical limitations and aging. He devoted himself to bodybuilding and martial arts, and pursued youth and beauty, but seemed to despair of losing them as he got older. He thought that self-determination was the ideal way to stay young and beautiful.

The above factors are part of the reason why he decided to commit suicide, but there are several interpretations of his death, which may include personal feelings and internal factors.

My view: The AI’s take is just a tree-nosed answer. Crested and obsolete. As a test answer, it’s just barely passing. It just lacks depth and isn’t interesting.
Of particular concern to me is that when Mishima committed suicide, he took his student with him. Masakatsu Morita, a student at Waseda University and president of Tatenokai(the Shield meeting), committed suicide with Mishima.Whatever the reason, it is unacceptable to sacrifice promising students. This point alone does not affirm Mishima’s actions. It can’t be helped if it is criticized as cheap heroism.
During his lifetime, Mishima severely criticized Osamu Dazai, who died of love, but what Mishima did was even more shameful than Dazai.

In this way, Mishima’s self-blade has many contradictions, including small details. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult to understand, and the interest is aroused. Yukio Mishima is a mysterious person, for better or worse.

By the way, this corner is about to get into a rut, so I would like to summarize it once and give it a new look. I would like to create content that highlights another aspect of AI. (Kei Kitajima)