Misima Yukio

Yukio Mishima (real name Kimitake Hiraoka) was a distinguished Japanese writer and playwright. He was a prominent representative of the second wave of postwar Japanese literature and a continuation of the traditions of Japanese aestheticism.

He was born on 14 January 1925 into the family of a senior government official, Azusa Hiraoka, and his wife Shizue. Mishima’s father, who graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, brilliantly passed the state examination required for service as a high-ranking official; however, due to personal bias and intrigue in the corridors of the bureaucracy, he was appointed not to the Ministry of Finance but to the ministry now known as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Mishima’s father’s colleague was the future Prime Minister of Japan, Nobusuke Kishi. After Kimitake, the eldest son, the family had a daughter, Mitsuko (b. 1928), and a son, Chiyuki (b. 1930). Mishima’s grandfather, Sadataro, was governor of South Sakhalin from 1908 to 1914. He resigned after a scandal connected with speculation in Sakhalin timber.

Until the age of 12, when he entered the first grade of middle school, Kimitake lived in and was raised in the home of his grandmother Natsuko. Even his mother could see him only with Natsuko’s permission. Life with Natsuko, who took the frail Kimitake from his parents and, shielding him from the outside world, raised him in strict and refined aristocratic traditions, had a tremendous influence on the formation of the future writer. Kimitake’s isolation from his male peers led him to adopt a manner of speaking characteristic of women. Natsuko, prone to hysteria, despite the psychological stress her behavior caused Kimitake, was a subtle connoisseur of kabuki and noh, as well as the works of Kyoka Izumi, and instilled in Kimitake a love of prose and theater.

Severe illnesses and constant ailments, because of which Mishima did not take part in games with his peers and often missed school, also left an indelible mark on the personality of the future writer. Mishima grew up as a sensitive and gifted child who