7 posts tagged “mishima”
Spring Snow arrived and I am suitably awed. Its scary how very like Kiyoaki I am XDD Possibly because I am currently painting the Queen of Cups, and so living out the wateriness of water. Every card I paint reflects into my life and into my moods like that.
That scene in The Beams photobook where Kiyoharu and Hitoki are rowing in a boat on a lake is so reminiscent of a scene in Spring Snow with Kiyoaki and Honda. It's funny how everything to do with Mishima is like ripples in a pond, an ever expanding concentric pattern of synchronicities and deja vu. He is one of those magical people.
I was thinking the other day about the power of books to change your life. They do it absolutely and dramatically, in a way television or movies never do. Is that something to do with the corrosive power of words that Mishima is always on about?
Runaway Horses
Fire Angel
The War of the Lillies
A perfectly constructed parable.
There is such a poetic inevitability about how it all unfolds.
While at the same time never ceasing to surprise me.
The contrast of the pure idealism and raw energy of youth, to whom everything is black and white, with the muddy and compromised realities of the older characters is masterly.Mishima can place himself inside every conceivable view point, including that of our young hero so bent on a glorious death.
Bah I don't want to say any more.
Still waiting for my Ebay Spring Snow :(
May be forced to go book hunting.
And what has Kenji Ohtsuki got to do with it? Other than the outfit?
Well, he's a writer for a a start. And he's a Fire Horse...
hmmm
Scan by Morgianasama.
I think?
Oh and while I'm at it I might as well post the other one though this is more Ying Chan than Isao :D
The denouement is as shocking and thought provoking as I've come to expect of him. But it has left me feeling a little gloomy. As I knew it would. I was actually quite fond of Honda, so to see him suffer so much is a bit depressing. Like everything I've read of his though, it's a perfect manifestation. He's wrung every last drop of juice from himself.
From Boy to Man:
"The bud of one especially long stemmed lily seemed as pale as a tense young man on the verge of fainting."
And his description of the Kendo match is fascinating. You can tell he had a very deep understanding of that Art.
Jeez though the bit where they are all seppukuing madly is gruelling ._. It's really horrible to think of Mishima doing that to himself.
It just all seems I dunno...a bit crazy? Us Barbarians must have been a real pain in the ass back then, but I don't think purity is something worth trying to hold onto, for any race. One thing is constant and that is change. Trying to bring back the past is a doomed enterprise, no matter how glorious.
I am obsessively working my way through Mishimas' entire bibliography. Just finished The Temple of the Dawn, because it was the first of the Sea of Tranquillity books I managed to find. Starting a tetraology at book number three is not ideal, but I am still totally enchanted by his great final masterpiece. What a fantastic premise for a series of novels. There's something unforgettable about the way he writes, or is it his whole personality shining through his writing?... Whatever it is his words and the scenes he describes seem to burn their way indelibly into my mind. Like I am remembering something important I once knew but had forgotten. Not many authors are special like this.
Artists and writers are despicable characters to him, but they still get to say great things:
"Art is a colossal evening glow", he repeated. "It's the burnt offering of all the best things of an era. Even the clearest logic that has long thrived in daylight is completely destroyed by the meaningless lavish explosion of colour in the evening sky; even history, apparently destined to endure forever, is abruptly made aware of its own end. Beauty stands before everyone; it renders human endeavour completely futile. Before the brilliance of the evening, before the surging evening clouds, all rot about some 'better future' immediately fades away. The present moment is all; the air is filled with the poison of colour. What beginning? Nothing. Everything is ending."
The only truly great love is a secret undeclared love. Due of course to the eternal paradox of existence. As soon as something manifests it begins to cease to be.
There can be no escaping the inevitability of death on every level. Modern humanity is in deep denial about the psychological importance of acknowledging and accepting death. "Calculating Man" (hahaha I love that term) does not understand the value of anything which does not appear to directly benefit him on a material superficial level.
To really be the ideal man as espoused in the Hagakure is a hard road indeed. Nonetheless I can agree whole heartedly on all of the basic premises of this excellent Samurai manual, as presented by the astoundingly intelligent Mishima.
Though I would never disembowel myself (yikes!)...I would exercise my right to die if needs be. I don't want to cling to life at any cost as seems to be expected in this chronically sick society. I like to think I am more familiar and comfortable with death than most people, but maybe that is spiritual vanity.
Words and deeds maketh us. That is to be taken deeply to heart. How else can what you truly are be defined?
It's most fascinating how Mishima describes the Hagakure as a guide to freedom. He is perfectly and utterly correct. This is exactly what it is. Freedom is not what the cauterised modern mind thinks it is. This is where everything has gone terribly wrong. The fact that he understands and articulates this so lucidly has impressed me hugely, and I now plan to read all his novels. It is so rare to find someone who understands the meaning of Passion.
Freedom is the ability to follow ones Passion, ones True Will. This does not mean pandering to petty whims and desires. It is something much deeper and more profound that that.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from the Hagakure (written by Jocho Yamamoto 1659-1719)...
"Human Life lasts but an instant. One should spend it doing what one pleases. In this world as fleeting as a dream, to live in misery doing only what one dislikes is foolishness. Since this may prove harmful if misinterpreted, it is a trade secret I have decided not to pass on to young people. I like to sleep. In response to conditions in the present world, I think I shall stay at home and sleep."
