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  • Yukio Mishima was one of the most influential Japanese writers of the 20th century

  • 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

  • And make more food than you really need

  • 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

Yukio Mishima was one of the most influential Japanese writers of the 20th century

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