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THE REVIEW
November 25, 1970.
Yukio Mishima bursts into the headquarters of the Japanese armed forces with the men of his paramilitary organization. His declared goal is a coup to restore Japan and the emperor's dignity, authority, and honor lost with the defeat in the Second World War. After a declaration aired by TVs around the world, Mishima locks himself in an office with his two most trusted assistants and commits seppuku, the ritual suicide by disembowelment typical of samurai from the feudal era.
His extreme act, beyond any morally accepted rule, was described in various ways: a wonderful and perverse drama, a political protest, the ultimate act of a mad genius...
But which of these statements is the truest? And what happened to the sword used by Mishima to kill himself? More than thirty years later, Christopher Ross sets out in search of a definitive answer to these questions. He follows the tracks of the witnesses of the suicide, undertaking a journey through modern Japan, its quirks, and its obsessions, a journey that reveals itself over time to be full of surprises.
In his erratic progress, accompanied by the unmistakable voice of Mishima's works and the strict inner discipline of the way of the sword, Ross reconstructs in a new way an enigmatic human and literary affair... A travel book that becomes biography and philosophical narrative, as well as a portrait of a country that still has to come to terms with this death.
Perhaps no one will ever understand the Mishima enigma, and perhaps that's just the way it should be. It fits into the aesthetics of the character, the complex mythology created by himself for himself. Thus, it is no surprise that the considerations expressed in this book, far from being sensationalistic, banal, or limiting, do not offer any revealed truth, but only a body of suggestions based on the collection of news facts, private episodes, and literary successes. All forming a puzzle that resembles a man, but whose true identity remains a mystery.
A mask, concealing a mask, staring at a person from behind, reflected in a mirror...
Mysteries that lie unresolved in a life cut short by a sword stroke.
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Summary by Bot
Christopher Ross's 'La Spada di Mishima' explores the controversial seppuku of Yukio Mishima and its lingering mysteries. Blending travel narrative and biography, Ross investigates Mishima's extreme act and its cultural significance. The book offers no definitive answers but presents thoughtful suggestions through eyewitness accounts and literary insight. It portrays a complex man whose true identity remains elusive, reflecting Japan's ongoing struggle with its past.
