The life of japanese writer Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) was short but intense, and he ended it controversially at the age of 45 by committing suicide under the samurai ritual of ‘harakiri’. left behind a controversial work and that is still an object of study and inspiration.
He was a prolific author: 34 soap operas25 books of short stories, fifty plays and several films. He included phrases that still make you think, such as «True beauty is something that attacks and dominates.» In his work he constantly explored questions related to the passage of time, aging and the search for meaning.
Critical of the human desire to live forever, Mishima considered that mortality was precisely one of the elements that They gave value to existenceto. Much of his thinking was precisely this: what makes an experience valuable is that it cannot last forever.
The controversial author maintained that authentic beauty has the power to transform to whoever contemplates it. That phrase reflects one of the most characteristic ideas of his thought, since for him beauty was something active and that impacted those who experienced it. It could even alter your perception of the world.
Throughout his work (which in addition to novels included plays), Mishima explored this relationship between beauty, desire and death. The quote in question is attributed to the author and is in line with his thoughts.
By stating that beauty is something that «attacks and dominates,» he distances aesthetic experience from peaceful contemplation. In fact, many quotes end that sentence with «…and destroy«: means that beauty ultimately has a violent and overwhelming force. Then, what is truly beautiful has such a profound intensity that it disrupts the daily life of those who experience it. Destroys because it demands total surrender.
This is related to the fascination with death that Mishima had. For this it was not a tragic ending, but rather the maximum aesthetic expression and the supreme act of vital reaffirmation. Influenced by bushido (the samurai code of ethics) for him a life without honor was worthless.
Mishima’s ending was also radical. On November 25, 1970, he delivered the manuscript of his novel «The Corruption of an Angel», the fourth part of his tetralogy «The Sea of Fertility». Hours later, together with four members of his militia – the so-called Tatenokai – he took over a military base in Tokyo with the intention of inciting a rebellion in order to revoke the 1947 Constitution.
As the initiative failed, he carried out the traditional ritual suicide known as seppuku (harakiri) in the base general’s office.
Some analysts find points of contact between that conception of beauty and the way in which Mishima chose to construct his own public image and his end. His death under samurai standards brings with it this idea that beauty «attacks and dominates.»
Of course, the author’s entire life must be contextualized under the laws of the Japanese aesthetic tradition, where cconcepts difficult for the West to understand. For Mishima, beauty, like life, is ephemeral at its finest.
