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Mishima's Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend
In 1970, the world-famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima plunged a knife into his belly and was decapitated using his own antique sword. In the decades since, people have asked endless far-ranging questions about this spectacular suicide. Christopher Ross wondered, What on earth happened to Mishima's sword? And so Ross sets off for Tokyo on a journey into the heart of the Mishima legend -- the very heart of Japan. It was a country Ross knew well after nearly five years of living there -- but nothing could have prepared him for this. While searching for the fabled sword, Ross encounters the rather startling range of those who knew Mishima . . . a world, or perhaps more accurately a demimonde, of craftsmen and critics, soldiers and swordsmen, boyfriends and biographers (even the man who taught Mishima hara-kiri). The trail Ross follows inspires a travelogue of the most eye-opening--and occasionally bizarre -- sort, a window into the real Japan that is never seen by tourists and the occasion for digressions on, among other things, socks and the code of the samurai, nosebleeds and metallurgy . . . even how to dress for suicide. Mishima's Sword is a dazzling read -- the perfect book for all those intrigued by things Japanese, from gangsters to Genji, from manga to Mishima.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2006
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About the author
Christopher Ross
3 booksChristopher Ross travelled to Japan in 1991 and ended up staying for nearly five years. Here he studied Japanese language and contemporary literature, and took up aikido. He also worked as an English teacher, model and television actor, appearing in numerous commercials and in a popular Japanese historical soap opera.
Ross is the author of Tunnel Visions (2002), a bestseller, and Mishima’s Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend (2005). Christopher Ross is now a full-time author and lives in Paris.
Ross is the author of Tunnel Visions (2002), a bestseller, and Mishima’s Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend (2005). Christopher Ross is now a full-time author and lives in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
April 7, 2017
This was an interesting book, and despite not knowing who Yukio Mishima was, I have a minor interest in Samurai, and Japan in general, but no solid knowledge.
The book outlines Mishima's life, his writing, his politics, and his death by Seppuku in 1970. It also outlines (in what was the more interesting aspect for me) information about Samurai swords, their manufacture and use. There is also background on Japanese martial arts and of course some of the authors past and present experiences in Japan.
This book suited my reading (at this time). It is presented in short sections (not even chapters) some a few sentences, some a few pages, most in between. They jump around in the topics noted above, and are not really chronological (although, for example, all the authors present experiences in Japan researching this book are presented in chronological order), so it all makes some sense.
The author travels to Japan with two (three?) goals - to track down Mishima's sword that he used to commit suicide, and to speak to those who knew Mishima and understand him, (and to write this book?). It was interesting that the author threw in (as those short chapters) other interactions he had in Japan which were seemingly quite irrelevant to the principle story. Those interactions and the authors experiences earlier in life, which he shares keep the book interesting.
A solid 3 stars. Can't say I will be seeking out any of Mishima's writing however.
The book outlines Mishima's life, his writing, his politics, and his death by Seppuku in 1970. It also outlines (in what was the more interesting aspect for me) information about Samurai swords, their manufacture and use. There is also background on Japanese martial arts and of course some of the authors past and present experiences in Japan.
This book suited my reading (at this time). It is presented in short sections (not even chapters) some a few sentences, some a few pages, most in between. They jump around in the topics noted above, and are not really chronological (although, for example, all the authors present experiences in Japan researching this book are presented in chronological order), so it all makes some sense.
The author travels to Japan with two (three?) goals - to track down Mishima's sword that he used to commit suicide, and to speak to those who knew Mishima and understand him, (and to write this book?). It was interesting that the author threw in (as those short chapters) other interactions he had in Japan which were seemingly quite irrelevant to the principle story. Those interactions and the authors experiences earlier in life, which he shares keep the book interesting.
A solid 3 stars. Can't say I will be seeking out any of Mishima's writing however.
March 14, 2013
Things learned from this book:
1.Mishima was messed up. Big issues. Raised pretty much as a girl, born a sickly child not expected to live, he had issues not just with his masculinity but with life/death. Teased at school for being effeminate, he decided to become super-masculine, bulking up with muscle, studying martial arts and cultivating a macho image. He married and fathered children, because that's what real men do, but slept with men discreetly but not secretly.
2.Samurai wore rouge! Because, obviously, pale cheeks are a sign of cowardice.
3.If you ever decide to commit seppuku, remember the anal plug. And make sure your kaishaku is up to the job. I had no idea there was usually a second person, a kaishaku, involved in seppuku – their job being to cut the head off to ensure a quick death. Preferably cutting almost through the neck but not quite, so the head falls onto the chest, rather than rolling across the floor in an undignified manner. If you're at all squeamish, skip the part about Mishima's seppuku – it is extremely gory. The stomach-cutting is the least gory part of it all, if you can believe that.
This is a patchwork of a book. The author's life, travels to Japan and search for Mishima's sword and the truth about who Mishima was, interspersed with Mishima's life and death.
1.Mishima was messed up. Big issues. Raised pretty much as a girl, born a sickly child not expected to live, he had issues not just with his masculinity but with life/death. Teased at school for being effeminate, he decided to become super-masculine, bulking up with muscle, studying martial arts and cultivating a macho image. He married and fathered children, because that's what real men do, but slept with men discreetly but not secretly.
2.Samurai wore rouge! Because, obviously, pale cheeks are a sign of cowardice.
3.If you ever decide to commit seppuku, remember the anal plug. And make sure your kaishaku is up to the job. I had no idea there was usually a second person, a kaishaku, involved in seppuku – their job being to cut the head off to ensure a quick death. Preferably cutting almost through the neck but not quite, so the head falls onto the chest, rather than rolling across the floor in an undignified manner. If you're at all squeamish, skip the part about Mishima's seppuku – it is extremely gory. The stomach-cutting is the least gory part of it all, if you can believe that.
This is a patchwork of a book. The author's life, travels to Japan and search for Mishima's sword and the truth about who Mishima was, interspersed with Mishima's life and death.
February 9, 2008
I got this as a present from my friend Chris, who thought it looked cool and that I might be interested in it. Bless his heart, he was right... *grin*
Yukio Mishima is considered one of Japan's greatest modern writers. A repeated contender for the Nobel Prize, and one of those strangest of people, a writer-celebrity. He was an avid bodybuilder, a student of history, and one of the very few people in the modern age able to write a new Noh or Kabuki drama. He was a militarist, a hedonist and a homosexual with a wife and children.
All in all, a very complex man.
On November 25th, 1970 Mishima led his private militia, The Shield Society, onto the grounds of the Ichagaya headquarters of the Self Defense Force. He attempted to incite a coup which, since the soldiers on the base weren't particularly eager for one, was unsuccessful. I doubt he was surprised, because he and his second in command Masakatsu Morita were prepared to commit seppuku, the death by ritual disembowelment so preferred by the samurai of old.
Seppuku is not a pleasant way to die. First you plunge a dagger into your belly, just below the navel. You then move from right to left across your abdomen. Then a cut upwards so your intestines unspool onto the floor. All of this, mind you, without an unseemly display of agony. At the last moment, your second will cut your head off from behind, ideally leaving a small bit of skin intact at the throat so your head doesn't roll around ungracefully. Mishima did a bang-up job on himself, but his second was clumsy. The first cut went into Mishima's shoulder, the second into his jaw. Another man took over, and the third cut took off the writer's head.
As you might expect, this shocked people in Japan, and those worldwide. Seppuku had been outlawed for many years, and was considered an unpleasant remnant of an unnecessary past. Mishima got everybody's attention in a big way, and made people think again about what Japanese culture had become. For good or ill, most people put Mishima in the "brilliant maniac" category, and wrote him off.
Christopher Ross, a longtime student of martial arts and a resident of Japan for five years, wondered where the sword went.
And so he came back to Japan, looking for Mishima's sword. On the way, he ended up learning more about Japanese history, manners, culture, craftsmanship, suicide, gay bathhouses and, of course, Mishima, than he had ever expected.
The book is written like a diary, which has some good points and some not so good. It's very readable, and done in an interesting style. The most readable moments are when he's talking about his actual quest to find Mishima's sword. When he starts getting into history, however, he starts to sound more like a history book. When he tries to get into Mishima's mind, he starts to sound kind of the way that Mishima does in his books. This makes reading the book an inconsistent effort, which rather parallels both his subject, Mishima, and his goal.
The drawback to the diary style is that he includes several events that are only tangentially related to the search for Mishima's sword - an unexplained, chronic stomach pain and nosebleeds, a very polite visit from the local Yakuza and so on - which do not get resolved. I know they're not important to the story, really, and I know that human existence doesn't follow narrative causality, but why was he bleeding from the nose so heavily that he needed to be hospitalized? Why were the yakuza looking for the man who had lent Ross his bar/home while he was away? I know Ross didn't have to answer these questions, but I kind of wish he had.
Someone, I forget who, once remarked that being a storyteller is kind of like being the guy who packs a hiker's backpack. You want to put in only the things that the hiker (reader) will absolutely need, and you have to make sure the hiker will use them in the course of going up the hill. If the hiker gets to the top with, say, a '72 Volkswagen in his pack that he didn't need to lug up the hill, he's gonna be pissed....
All that aside, though, it's an excellent tour through a variety of subjects, all of which shed more light - but never enough, of course - on a very interesting, complex, sad, talented man.
Yukio Mishima is considered one of Japan's greatest modern writers. A repeated contender for the Nobel Prize, and one of those strangest of people, a writer-celebrity. He was an avid bodybuilder, a student of history, and one of the very few people in the modern age able to write a new Noh or Kabuki drama. He was a militarist, a hedonist and a homosexual with a wife and children.
All in all, a very complex man.
On November 25th, 1970 Mishima led his private militia, The Shield Society, onto the grounds of the Ichagaya headquarters of the Self Defense Force. He attempted to incite a coup which, since the soldiers on the base weren't particularly eager for one, was unsuccessful. I doubt he was surprised, because he and his second in command Masakatsu Morita were prepared to commit seppuku, the death by ritual disembowelment so preferred by the samurai of old.
Seppuku is not a pleasant way to die. First you plunge a dagger into your belly, just below the navel. You then move from right to left across your abdomen. Then a cut upwards so your intestines unspool onto the floor. All of this, mind you, without an unseemly display of agony. At the last moment, your second will cut your head off from behind, ideally leaving a small bit of skin intact at the throat so your head doesn't roll around ungracefully. Mishima did a bang-up job on himself, but his second was clumsy. The first cut went into Mishima's shoulder, the second into his jaw. Another man took over, and the third cut took off the writer's head.
As you might expect, this shocked people in Japan, and those worldwide. Seppuku had been outlawed for many years, and was considered an unpleasant remnant of an unnecessary past. Mishima got everybody's attention in a big way, and made people think again about what Japanese culture had become. For good or ill, most people put Mishima in the "brilliant maniac" category, and wrote him off.
Christopher Ross, a longtime student of martial arts and a resident of Japan for five years, wondered where the sword went.
And so he came back to Japan, looking for Mishima's sword. On the way, he ended up learning more about Japanese history, manners, culture, craftsmanship, suicide, gay bathhouses and, of course, Mishima, than he had ever expected.
The book is written like a diary, which has some good points and some not so good. It's very readable, and done in an interesting style. The most readable moments are when he's talking about his actual quest to find Mishima's sword. When he starts getting into history, however, he starts to sound more like a history book. When he tries to get into Mishima's mind, he starts to sound kind of the way that Mishima does in his books. This makes reading the book an inconsistent effort, which rather parallels both his subject, Mishima, and his goal.
The drawback to the diary style is that he includes several events that are only tangentially related to the search for Mishima's sword - an unexplained, chronic stomach pain and nosebleeds, a very polite visit from the local Yakuza and so on - which do not get resolved. I know they're not important to the story, really, and I know that human existence doesn't follow narrative causality, but why was he bleeding from the nose so heavily that he needed to be hospitalized? Why were the yakuza looking for the man who had lent Ross his bar/home while he was away? I know Ross didn't have to answer these questions, but I kind of wish he had.
Someone, I forget who, once remarked that being a storyteller is kind of like being the guy who packs a hiker's backpack. You want to put in only the things that the hiker (reader) will absolutely need, and you have to make sure the hiker will use them in the course of going up the hill. If the hiker gets to the top with, say, a '72 Volkswagen in his pack that he didn't need to lug up the hill, he's gonna be pissed....
All that aside, though, it's an excellent tour through a variety of subjects, all of which shed more light - but never enough, of course - on a very interesting, complex, sad, talented man.
June 14, 2011
It was interesting, and I learnt some new stuff (mainly from the endnotes, and I hate endnotes … especially when they are tucked amongst a bibliography, a glossary, and one of those “issues to talk about in your book group” sections. Bring back footnotes!) but this wasn’t my idea of a “painstaking excavation of Mishima’s motivations”. It was more of a journey around Mishima, pointing out the famous sights.
You can watch “Patriotism” on youtube! If I'd started a book about Mishima and was interviewing his famous gaijin friends, I'd have made sure I'd seen his most famous film. Just saying.
Is Jun Chris's boyfriend? I can't read the kanji in the dedication.
White people can be very annoying about Japan, obviously. New rules:
- No one can ever again write about Mos Burger being better than McDonald's.
- If there is an English word for something, even if it is popular in Japan, you have to use the English word. It’s just “coffee”, even if you are drinking it in Japan.
- Don't willfully disobey "stupid" Japanese rules, and then think you are oh so Japanese just because you can identify swords or do judo or appreciate calligraphy or flower arranging.
You can watch “Patriotism” on youtube! If I'd started a book about Mishima and was interviewing his famous gaijin friends, I'd have made sure I'd seen his most famous film. Just saying.
Is Jun Chris's boyfriend? I can't read the kanji in the dedication.
White people can be very annoying about Japan, obviously. New rules:
- No one can ever again write about Mos Burger being better than McDonald's.
- If there is an English word for something, even if it is popular in Japan, you have to use the English word. It’s just “coffee”, even if you are drinking it in Japan.
- Don't willfully disobey "stupid" Japanese rules, and then think you are oh so Japanese just because you can identify swords or do judo or appreciate calligraphy or flower arranging.
December 31, 2021
I have to admit I am a fan of those non-fiction memoir/unclassifiliable books that must be hard to market. Christopher Ross' Mishima's Sword (2006) is exactly one of those kinds of books. Ross decides to track down the sword celebrated writer Yukio Mishima used to commit seppuku in 1970. But to say that is what the book is about is too reductive. It is a sort of memoir, Ross explains his attraction long time interest in martial arts as well as provides a sort of contemporary travelogue of mid 2000 Japan as well as some lessons in the history of Japan, martial arts, sword making, philosophy, and the life of Mishima. I was first attracted to this book because I had seen Paul Schrader's fascinating biographical film on Mishima, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters as well as having read Henry Scott Stokes' and John Nathan's biographies of Mishima. Additionally, I have read several of his major works-he remains an enigma to me and modern Japan. Furthermore, it seems that he belonged to the dojo that also produced another writer in Japan, Robert Twigger whose Angry White Pajamas in another unclassifiable memoir book on Japan and the martial arts. The book is divided into three sections, "Death in Tokyo," "Primary: WORD(S)," and "Secondary: (S)WORD." In the first section he explains Mishima's suicide attempt, and in the subsequent sections he tries to track down people close to Mishima and the sword that he used all of which is extremely elusive, but along the way he explains his history and attraction to martial arts and iaido (the Japanese art of drawing a sword quickly), the elusive nature of Mishima, aspects of his writing, Japanese history, sword making, and interspersed are apt quotes from Mishima and other various authors and philosophers. Ross opens the book with a particularly fitting quote, Oscar Wilde's famous quip: "In fact the whole of Japan is pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people." It might be appropriate to say that this book is probably only for those with an interest in Mishima or martial arts, which is a shame, because I think Ross has a lot more to offer the general reader.
July 25, 2015
This book was hard to put down, even though I'm not a particular fan of Mishima's and right-wing ideologies make me sick. The author, who himself practices martial arts and knows his Japanese stuff, went to Japan to find out what happened to the sword with which Mishima committed seppuku. Most of people connected to Mishima didn't want to talk to him (those more politically inclined), but some did and said quite interesting things.
The book is actually a collection of loosely linked episodes which happened during the author's quest, and in some cases even before it. Some of them seem to have nothing to do with the main theme, like the ESL teaching experiences or the nosebleeds and abdominal pains the author started to have (it's implied that it might have been some sort of physical sympathy with Mishima's obsessions), but I didn't mind it. Actually the loose structure of the book, with its constantly changing reflections and musings on whatever arrested the author's fancy, sword making, bushido, literature, food, Tokyo, Oxford and all kinds of things, made for light and refreshing reading, even though the subject is gruesome and depressing.
There were things I didn't really like, for example the compulsive Japanese equivalents of simple everyday words, or words which have no specific cultural meaning but are presented as such, for example jigai as a ritual suicide committed by women, when it's just another word for suicide. But that's a minor quibble.
I ended up with a feeling of pity for Mishima. He tried so hard, but I don't know if he was ever truly happy, and his last moments must have been horrible. My friend said "I wonder whether he thought 'OH F*CK' at the moment he made that first cut". Maybe he did. The cut was about 4 inches deep which is actually twice as deep as it should be when one intends to follow with another one (which Mishima did) and he nearly bit his tongue off.
To be honest I think people who encourage nationalism and fanaticism should do the same.
The book is actually a collection of loosely linked episodes which happened during the author's quest, and in some cases even before it. Some of them seem to have nothing to do with the main theme, like the ESL teaching experiences or the nosebleeds and abdominal pains the author started to have (it's implied that it might have been some sort of physical sympathy with Mishima's obsessions), but I didn't mind it. Actually the loose structure of the book, with its constantly changing reflections and musings on whatever arrested the author's fancy, sword making, bushido, literature, food, Tokyo, Oxford and all kinds of things, made for light and refreshing reading, even though the subject is gruesome and depressing.
There were things I didn't really like, for example the compulsive Japanese equivalents of simple everyday words, or words which have no specific cultural meaning but are presented as such, for example jigai as a ritual suicide committed by women, when it's just another word for suicide. But that's a minor quibble.
I ended up with a feeling of pity for Mishima. He tried so hard, but I don't know if he was ever truly happy, and his last moments must have been horrible. My friend said "I wonder whether he thought 'OH F*CK' at the moment he made that first cut". Maybe he did. The cut was about 4 inches deep which is actually twice as deep as it should be when one intends to follow with another one (which Mishima did) and he nearly bit his tongue off.
To be honest I think people who encourage nationalism and fanaticism should do the same.
May 1, 2020
Interessante libro per conoscere meglio il Mishima persona e personaggio, il Giappone in cui viveva e la "scienza" delle spade. Ross, appassionato conoscitore delle arti marziali e del Giappone, offre un diverso punto di vista per conoscere uno dei più grandi scrittori giapponesi moderni, le cui opere prima e poi il suo suicidio rituale tramite seppuku dopo, lo hanno reso indelebile nella memoria storica.
Il presupposto del libro è la ricerca della spada di Mishima, intrecciando le spiegazioni sul complesso mondo ritualistico dei giapponesi, le loro tradizioni, il bushido, le arti marziali, i principi dell'hagakure e ovviamente tutto ciò che sta dietro la creazione delle spade, del loro fodero, e coloro che tutt'oggi ancora le creano e mantengono: ho apprezzato soprattutto la parte dedicata al seppuku, pratica molto lontana dalla mentalità occidentale, e quivi spiegata.
Scritto da un occidentale, il libro è un po' biografia un po' saggio un po' diario, Mishima è raccontato senza la lente caleidoscopica del disincanto, senza l'ammirazione di chi lo venera e senza l'odio di chi lo detesta: Ross è riuscito a dipingere un ritratto a tutto tondo su Mishima, sulle sue idiosincrasie, la sua fissazione per la morte, la sua omosessualità nascosta (ma neanche più di tanto), cosa i detrattori gli hanno sempre rimproverato, e per quali ideali si è tolto la vita.
E' un diario, sì, il che rende la narrazione fluida e semplice, purtroppo un approccio di questo tipo è anche uno svantaggio, perché certe volte Ross si perde nella sua vita privata senza dare risposte e lasciando l'argomento a mezz'aria, al punto che ci si chiede del perché di una tale digressione, se non vuole approfondirla.
Il presupposto del libro è la ricerca della spada di Mishima, intrecciando le spiegazioni sul complesso mondo ritualistico dei giapponesi, le loro tradizioni, il bushido, le arti marziali, i principi dell'hagakure e ovviamente tutto ciò che sta dietro la creazione delle spade, del loro fodero, e coloro che tutt'oggi ancora le creano e mantengono: ho apprezzato soprattutto la parte dedicata al seppuku, pratica molto lontana dalla mentalità occidentale, e quivi spiegata.
Scritto da un occidentale, il libro è un po' biografia un po' saggio un po' diario, Mishima è raccontato senza la lente caleidoscopica del disincanto, senza l'ammirazione di chi lo venera e senza l'odio di chi lo detesta: Ross è riuscito a dipingere un ritratto a tutto tondo su Mishima, sulle sue idiosincrasie, la sua fissazione per la morte, la sua omosessualità nascosta (ma neanche più di tanto), cosa i detrattori gli hanno sempre rimproverato, e per quali ideali si è tolto la vita.
E' un diario, sì, il che rende la narrazione fluida e semplice, purtroppo un approccio di questo tipo è anche uno svantaggio, perché certe volte Ross si perde nella sua vita privata senza dare risposte e lasciando l'argomento a mezz'aria, al punto che ci si chiede del perché di una tale digressione, se non vuole approfondirla.
January 28, 2010
Author is a bit "brilliant" for me, and I'm not into Mishima or swords, but it made a decent piece of travel narrative nevertheless.
March 10, 2020
I enjoyed this - it's very much the kind of book that tickles my fancy. Not quite a memoir, nor a travel book, nor a biography - it's a kind of mixture of the lot. The author's search for the sword with which Mishima Yukio famously committed seppuku after a failed coup in 1970 leads him (literally) down alleyways and into cafes, encountering terribly polite yakuza gangsters, and ultimately realising that his quest was for something more than just a physical object.
What didn't quite hold up for me, unfortunately, were the points where it did sort of break into a memoir. I have no interest in the author's interest in martial arts. Nor do I really need pages of explanation as to how a sword is made. Maybe that's my bad, but I was drawn to the book because it was 'about' Mishima, and those were the parts which interested me more.
Nonetheless, it turns into an interesting and well-written meditation on his search, becoming more a philosophical musing as it meanders along. Having recently read Anna Sherman's The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City I could not but compare the two, similar in approach as they are. This was published earlier, but I much preferred the Sherman book, so if this book on Mishima appeals to you I wholeheartedly recommend the other.
3.5 stars for an overall engaging read.
What didn't quite hold up for me, unfortunately, were the points where it did sort of break into a memoir. I have no interest in the author's interest in martial arts. Nor do I really need pages of explanation as to how a sword is made. Maybe that's my bad, but I was drawn to the book because it was 'about' Mishima, and those were the parts which interested me more.
Nonetheless, it turns into an interesting and well-written meditation on his search, becoming more a philosophical musing as it meanders along. Having recently read Anna Sherman's The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City I could not but compare the two, similar in approach as they are. This was published earlier, but I much preferred the Sherman book, so if this book on Mishima appeals to you I wholeheartedly recommend the other.
3.5 stars for an overall engaging read.
January 24, 2025
Mishima's Sword turned out to be quite different than what I had initially expected. What you would have thought to be either a biography or travelogue turns out to be both but also a memoir and philosophical reflection on culture.
Ross is able to weave all of these pretty well and not once feel overbearing; perfectly balanced like a good sword (which, coincidentall, Mishima's wasn't necessarily.) My only niggles with the book is that the time skips between the separate stories is hard to keep track of and the underlying slightly-holier-than-thou tone Ross sometimes displays.
All in all, this was a great read to add a little context to Mishima and I think I can safely say that I, indeed, am more interested in the man than his writing. It also made me interested in Ross's other works, although it doesn't seem he has much else to offer.
Ross is able to weave all of these pretty well and not once feel overbearing; perfectly balanced like a good sword (which, coincidentall, Mishima's wasn't necessarily.) My only niggles with the book is that the time skips between the separate stories is hard to keep track of and the underlying slightly-holier-than-thou tone Ross sometimes displays.
All in all, this was a great read to add a little context to Mishima and I think I can safely say that I, indeed, am more interested in the man than his writing. It also made me interested in Ross's other works, although it doesn't seem he has much else to offer.
July 18, 2017
This is truly a difficult to categorise because it doesn't quite fit into any one category that comfortably. Part travelogue, part biography (both of its writer and of its subject) and part philosophical reflection.
One of Japan's most prolific writers (having written, Plays (contemporary, No and Kabuki), essays and novels) Mishima is a difficult and complex writer to understand because his work will always be coloured by his attempted coup and suicide in 1970. I will not profess to fully understand that complexity but this book helps to understand some of who he was and of what Japan of his time was too.
One of Japan's most prolific writers (having written, Plays (contemporary, No and Kabuki), essays and novels) Mishima is a difficult and complex writer to understand because his work will always be coloured by his attempted coup and suicide in 1970. I will not profess to fully understand that complexity but this book helps to understand some of who he was and of what Japan of his time was too.
May 8, 2020
Stumbled upon this book at a used book store and I'm glad I did. A good travelogue, introduced me to the author Yukia Mishima and everything about him was supremely fascinating the book also provides a history on Japanese sword making and what it means to live as an expat in Japan. The author provides some good food for those individuals considering moving to a new country and accepting a foreign culture as a new way of living, the book meanders a bit on philosophical questions but for anyone who is drawn to Japanese culture I reccomend reading this book
June 12, 2018
An entertaining, quick read; chock full of fascinating tidbits concerning Japan, Martial Arts, WWII, and Mishima's relation to all of that. My favorite oddball fact: there is apparently a martial art called Hojojutsu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoj%C5%...) which focuses on the art of tying up prisoners. In the late 20th century, this evolved into Kinbaku, or Japanese bondage. Go figure.
July 28, 2024
A friend recommended this book, in which Ross wanders Japan, researches the legendary novelist Mishima and his suicide, and then tries to find the sword he committed suicide with. The stuff about Mishima is interesting and another time I might have enjoyed Ross's experiences in Japan ... but this is not that time, so I DNFed.
December 30, 2018
I really enjoyed this - learnt a lot about Mishima, the man and the myth. Also an interesting insight into Japanese cultural values around the samurai, and the art of sword making. I wan to read deeper
June 15, 2017
A fascinating look at one of Japan's stranger authors
February 2, 2022
Fascinating read, but very detailed and gory.
December 14, 2014
This documentary written novel gives you an good insight in a writer and his almost hung up on Samurai life. The writer is Mishima and he lived most of his grown up life in post second world war in Japan. The author Christopher Ross has studied Yokio Mishimas life and all the short chapters with quite close to spoken language are edge wrecking. The narrators auto-biografic style is highly applicable, and circles around the Japanese suicide called Haru-kiri or seppuku as well as revealing a lot of details about Mishimas life. The book is rich in historical preferences, vivid descriptions of swords and the different kind and the making of them. The book explains the way to preform a seppuku, yes for it is a performance. It also include different infamous seppukus up through history. Quote "Fushi is seppuku to express indignation, a protest, as at injustice. This is perhaps the team that best describes the action of Mishima. He was indignat at the social direction of Japan, its emasculated state under the peace constitution and the illegal status of the self Defence Forces." The book is also detailed and rich in Japanese words, the book comes with a rich glossary to develop your Japanese vocabulary. It even gives you a crash course in smith making, explaining how to adjust the different cooling temperature when hardening the blade. the author is also concerned a lot with Mishimas private life and his sexuality, it might be a little hard to understand this but it is a book about a "sub culture", nowadays speaking and so it explores these themes vividly.
The topic of the book makes it function on three different levels, and maybe the author wants to portray the person behind the counter norm of sexual behaviour, as well as the political and public person and also the authors own fascination over some aspects of Japanese culture, the samurai, martial art and sword smith making. Quote "Life is chaos, a conglomeration of falsehoods, Stefan Zweig is qouted to support the idea that what we call evil is just a portion of the original chaos out of which man was born." And this quote;" An insignificant death is one of the characteristics of an insignificant life. Death is not merely something that happens, like battery running out of power, a gradual fading and then nothing. Rather it is an event itself. And the ambitious man, the nature of his own death should equal his ambitions for his life. We remember beginnings and endings. Endings are so often epitaph."
The topic of the book makes it function on three different levels, and maybe the author wants to portray the person behind the counter norm of sexual behaviour, as well as the political and public person and also the authors own fascination over some aspects of Japanese culture, the samurai, martial art and sword smith making. Quote "Life is chaos, a conglomeration of falsehoods, Stefan Zweig is qouted to support the idea that what we call evil is just a portion of the original chaos out of which man was born." And this quote;" An insignificant death is one of the characteristics of an insignificant life. Death is not merely something that happens, like battery running out of power, a gradual fading and then nothing. Rather it is an event itself. And the ambitious man, the nature of his own death should equal his ambitions for his life. We remember beginnings and endings. Endings are so often epitaph."
October 5, 2007
In 1970, famous Japanese novelist and playwright Yukio Mishima committed hara-kiri and was decapitated with his own (possibly famous)antique sword. The unusual death (as well as the life) of this militantly right wing writer captured the interest of Christopher Ross.
This book may be an odd choice for my "journeys" bookshelf. But it fits, because Ross has assigned a quest for himself (at first to gain firsthand knowledge of Mishima, then later to find out more about his sword). Although Ross travels many miles, much of the book is wryly written introspection (masterfully, as only a Brit could do), interspersed with nuggets of Japanese history and culture. It's still a great journey book, though, because the travel and quest act as catalyst for the author's introspection.
This book may be an odd choice for my "journeys" bookshelf. But it fits, because Ross has assigned a quest for himself (at first to gain firsthand knowledge of Mishima, then later to find out more about his sword). Although Ross travels many miles, much of the book is wryly written introspection (masterfully, as only a Brit could do), interspersed with nuggets of Japanese history and culture. It's still a great journey book, though, because the travel and quest act as catalyst for the author's introspection.
May 10, 2009
My review published 1.11.07 in Reno News & Review:
"This book is concerned with the author’s circuitous search for the sword used by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima to commit seppuku (ritual suicide by belly-slicing) in 1970. Choppy organization and meandering historical sketches hurt the book’s overall continuity and cause it to fall just short of scholarly. The book does work as a travel narrative, however, full of the author’s accounts of interesting and often humorous,experiences while living and working in Japan for several years. The book is mildly skeptical about the value of Mishima’s work to posterity, and it shows. Despite that uncomfortable ambivalence, Mishima’s Sword is an enjoyable and fast read for those eager to learn about the life--and death--of Yukio Mishima."
"This book is concerned with the author’s circuitous search for the sword used by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima to commit seppuku (ritual suicide by belly-slicing) in 1970. Choppy organization and meandering historical sketches hurt the book’s overall continuity and cause it to fall just short of scholarly. The book does work as a travel narrative, however, full of the author’s accounts of interesting and often humorous,experiences while living and working in Japan for several years. The book is mildly skeptical about the value of Mishima’s work to posterity, and it shows. Despite that uncomfortable ambivalence, Mishima’s Sword is an enjoyable and fast read for those eager to learn about the life--and death--of Yukio Mishima."
September 26, 2012
Read Mishima’s Sword this week. Like my mother, I have become attracted to anything that is about Japan. I used to not give a damn, but I suppose in my old age (23) I’ve become more interested in that side of me. I liked the format of the book because it’s exactly the way I’d see myself writing one. It’s disorganized and there isn’t a steady plot line or anything. One section will tell a story about the author running into an old friend and the next would be a summary of one of Mishima’s stories. The book made me want to read some of Mishima’s work. He sounded like a pretty odd man.
May 8, 2017
Don’t pick up Mishima's Sword expecting a rollicking cross-Japan travel tour. The search for the sword really ends up being more intellectual than physical search for the sword the Japanese writer and ultra-nationalist used to commit seppuku.
The book brings together a short biography of Mishima, combined with quick histories of swordmaking, Japanese martial arts, samurai culture, and just a hint of life in Tokyo.
The narrative is compelling and the book is loaded with amazing factoids - some of which you may want to unlearn.
The book brings together a short biography of Mishima, combined with quick histories of swordmaking, Japanese martial arts, samurai culture, and just a hint of life in Tokyo.
The narrative is compelling and the book is loaded with amazing factoids - some of which you may want to unlearn.
June 2, 2014
I tend to prefer narrative-style non-fiction over anecdotal, and this book was much too anecdotal for my taste. I had no knowledge of Yukio Mishima before acquiring and reading this book, and based on what I read herein, I have no desire whatsoever to read any of Mishima's works or learn anything more about him. I did appreciate the bits of Japanese history and culture that found their way in from time to time, though.
November 2, 2008
Starts out very interesting, gets bogged down at times, like the super-long plot summary of Confessions of a Mask. OK, we get it, autobiographical. Strongest part is the interaction with the swordmasters and others who fill in the back story of Mishima's life and suicide, and the interesting flavor of life in Japan that permeates, including the various philosophical questions that Japan faces in today's world (male vs female culture, samurai vs flower-arranging).
March 17, 2013
Interesting exploration oF the life and works of Yukio Mishima against the author's search for the sword that was used in his ritual suicide. Along the way it provides an outsiders view of post WWIi and modern Japan and the art of Japanese swordmaking, samurai philosophy and a number of interesting and interrelated topics. My only isuue was that it did get a tad repetitive in parts but
Recommended
Recommended
August 14, 2008
I liked this much more than I thought I would--and I was looking forward to reading it. The sword of the title is little more than a MacGuffin for Ross to explore a wide variety of topics--Japan, Mishima, himself, masculinity, lots more. Really worthwhile, even if you're not on a nine-hour flight.
July 27, 2011
Yukio Mishima was the last person to be recorded as having committed hara-kiri. 'Mishima's Sword' is part biography, part travelogue and part cultural history as Ross covers everything from Mishima's novels to the way in which Samurai swords are made. It's an incredible book that takes a good look at the culture as well as the writer and of Ross' s impressive personal history with the country.
October 26, 2016
Прочитал книгу Меч Мисимы... Автор потрясающе описал свои исследования творчества Мисимы, поиски меча, которым Мисима сделал сэппуку. Он нашел меч, но тот был важен больше как идея, нежели как предмет.
Тяжелое чувство каждый раз когда я касаюсь творчества Юкио Мисимы, но я все равно, словно герой его романа - жаждущий смерть, возвращаюсь к этому потрясающему писателю и великому человеку.
Тяжелое чувство каждый раз когда я касаюсь творчества Юкио Мисимы, но я все равно, словно герой его романа - жаждущий смерть, возвращаюсь к этому потрясающему писателю и великому человеку.
October 9, 2007
I read this book on the way back from Tokyo, and it is quite interesting. Basically the author tracks down the sword that Mishima killed himself with. And saying that he meets a slew of interesting people. Fascinating!
May 12, 2008
This book was particularly enjoyable for me because much of it occurs in a Yakitori shop near Hachiko in Shibuya where I spent a lot of time. It is part travel book, part history lesson, part philosophy. Interesting perspective on Mishima.
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