From prior understanding, we know
that the author of Sailor, Yukio Mishima, committed suicide at the age
of fourty-five. However, merely reading the inside cover of the novel will not
reveal his reasoning or his intentions behind committing suicide. To start
things off, we should know that Mishima was loyal to the beliefs of a Japanese
Samurai. The form of suicide executed by Mishima is known as seppuku. This is only conducted under
two possible circumstances: a punishment, or killing oneself honourably rather
than being dishonoured at the hands of an enemy. Mishima prepared a speech in
an attempt to convince fellow Samurais to overthrow the government. However, to
no avail, he was booed off the stage on which he spoke. He then decided to
commit seppuku; he would rather die an honourable death than to live
dishonoured by his own members. Thus the life of an actor, poet, model, and
author was ended with the disembowelment of his inner organs, primarily the
stomach area. Hopefully you, the reader, take an emic perspective and not view
this ritual as “stupid,” regardless of your Westernized ideology.
Here is a link of Mishima’s final speech. Nearing the end of
the video is what I assume is the speech that he was booed, causing his
suicide. However, it does not actually show him being booed, rather it shows
soldiers ordering him to get down.
“Human beings are not strong enough to die just for
themselves”
- -
Yukio Mishima
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