Mishima's Death Scene, Time Magazine (1970)
Note on this Thanksgiving feast day, as you carve at your turkeys and hams, that on November 25th, 1970, Yukio Mishima cut his stomach open.
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the day he embraced the Octopus of Death.
He sacrificed himself for strength and beauty, for Tradition, for art.
He opened his belly to show the world that his indomitable soul would not be conquered by life.
He asked, “Would you live and let the spirit die?”
And boldly, he answered. He spilled his guts.
Sincerity. He meant what he said. He lived what he wrote.
He took a stand against time and registered his protest against an emasculated, vanquished future.
Thank you, Mishima, for rejecting hollow, materialistic technocracy.
Thank you, Mishima, for making poetry with a splash of blood.