Name: Yukio Mishima: The Last Samurai | Tooky History
Uploaded: 2020-06-01T04:22:16.000Z
Duration: 3 min 25 s
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Yukio Mishima was one of the most influential Japanese writers of the 20th century

Basic passive voice

And was considered for the Nobel Prize three times

Mishima didn't allow the political views he expressed in his books to remain in his books

He led and lost his life trying to establish what he believed in

Mishima was separated from his family at a very young age and lived with his grandmother

His grandma wasn't the kind of grandma that would give you cookies all the time

She was the kind of grandma that was often violent, didn't let you leave the house

And made you play only with your female cousins and their dolls

Fair to say he didn't know much about football

But who cares when you can make a perfect French braid on a Barbie doll

At the age of 12, Mishima returned to his original family and had already started writing

He was mostly writing poems at this time. Meanwhile his dad, a man with a soft spot for military discipline

Belonged to the infamous "poetry is gay" artistic school of thought. So he tried to put some masculinity into Mishima

By destroying his writing and holding him up against a speeding train

Mishima was drafted for the Japanese army at the beginning of WWII

But had a cold when he went for a medical checkup

The army called Doctor Drama and he claimed it was not a cold but tuberculosis

So Mishima wasn't able to take part in the war

After the war, Japan really wanted the others to forget that they were allied with the Nazis

And wanted to convince everyone Japan was just a country of fun-loving people

Who make origami and water bonsai trees all day

This was strongly against Mishima's patriotism and his pride of Japan's tradition

You know, the samurai and shoguns, not flashing billboards in English

Mishima had an option to marry Michiko Shoda, who later married another guy and is now known as Empress Michiko

Well, I guess she's not crying herself to sleep because Mishima swiped left

Instead, he got married with another lady and had two children, which didn't succeed in stopping the rumors

That he was visiting gay bars and was indeed a homosexual

It would be cynical of us to go back now to his father's views on poetry, but, thankfully, we won't do it

Having been let down by the westernization of Japan, Mishima formed Tatenokai, or the Shield Society

A private militia consistent of around 100 students who were devoted to returning Japan to its former ways

Mishima followed Bushido, the code of the samurai, and was hated by both the left and the right

In 1970, at the age of 45, Mishima, with four other members of the Tatenokai

Went to the office of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and tied down the commander

Mishima went to the balcony and held a speech in front of the soldiers, wanting to initiate a coup

Disappointingly, the soldiers mocked Mishima and booed him off the stage

Mishima then went back, wrote his death poem and prepared himself for hara-kiri

He sat down, stabbed himself in the stomach and waited for the second part of the ritual - a decapitation

Now, to nicely cut off someone's head you need a sharp blade, a steady arm and one swift blow

Morita, who was Mishima's designated head cutter had only one

So, yeah, things got really awkward and messy

Now after more than a few tries, another guy, Koga, took the sword from Morita

And managed to kill Mishima in his first try

Embarrassed with his performance, Morita kneeled down next to Mishima and committed hara-kiri as well

With Koga now decapitating two of his friends

On the day he was just supposed to be an uncredited member of the audience