The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima (4 page)

“Loosen your collars and tie on the
hachimaki
,” Mishima said to the students.

The movements of the men were watched by soldiers posted outside, by the broken window. Mishima did not care. He took a cigarette from a pack he had brought in his case and puffed away cheerfully.

The loudspeaker announcement summoning the garrison to parade would be made at any moment. In the meantime, Mishima and his group had nothing to do but wait.

At 11:38 there was the sound of police sirens. At first it was faint, coming from the main road which ran below the hill at the top of which stood the Eastern Army HQ. The sirens came closer; the cars must be coming up the hill, inside the base.

A cavalcade of vehicles came to a halt in front of the HQ building on the parade ground. Helmeted men in white jumped out of ambulances and ran into the building, under the portico. Armed police accompanied them.

“What a lot of people for the party!” Mishima said.

A moment later an announcement was made on the camp loudspeakers. All troops were to assemble in front of Eastern Army HQ. Men ran to the parade ground from all over the base. In a short time, nearly the whole garrison had assembled.

Within the building, the police were taking charge. Men in dark blue uniforms appeared at the broken window and peered in at Mishima.

“What weapons do they have?” the police wanted to know.

“A sword. Mishima has it. And a dagger—the student next to Mashita has it.”

The police calmly accepted the truce.

They posted men on the stairs, in the corridor, and at the doors leading into Mashita's office. They had no thought of using their weapons. Mishima was trapped.

Police cameramen were posted at the broken window; their photos would be useful in court. Mishima and Morita were both in full view.

Reports were made to the Jieitai headquarters at Roppongi and to Metropolitan Police Headquarters at Sakuradamon near the Imperial Palace, also two miles away.

At 11:45 the first helicopters arrived. They flew northward from the direction of the palace. Some were police helicopters and landed on a pad at the back of Eastern Army HQ. Others were newspaper and TV helicopters and circled above the building; they began to film the crowd of soldiers standing around on the parade ground. They filmed the HQ building and the large balcony in front of it and also the ambulances into which injured men were being carried on stretchers

The Tatenokai party of forty students, however, was not in sight. Their leaders had refused to obey Jieitai orders to assemble on the parade ground at Ichigaya; they had not understood that the orders came from their leader.

Shortly before midday, Morita, a squat figure, appeared on the balcony, followed by Ogawa. The two students came out of one of the windows of Mashita's office and walked toward the front of the balcony carrying papers and cloths in their hands.

The balcony was large. It was thirty feet from the windows of the general's office to the front of the balcony.

The students, with the ends of their
hachimaki
trailing over their yellow-brown uniforms, came up to the parapet. Leaning over the edge of the balcony, they threw out long cotton streamers, facing the crowd. They fastened the banners to the parapet so that they dangled over the parade ground; on them were written conditions under which General Mashita's safety was guaranteed.

One of the conditions was that Mishima's speech would be
heard in silence. However, the noise at that moment was tremendous. Soldiers shouted excitedly at one another. Police bikes, cars, and ambulances were all running their engines on the parade ground. And more cars were arriving all the time, including press vehicles flying company pennants. The helicopters made the most noise as they came in close to film the scene.

The two Tatenokai students were dropping papers over the edge of the balcony on the crowd below. Some of the papers were caught by the light breeze and drifted out over the parade ground.

The papers were copies of Mishima's
gekibun
, his last manifesto, a document modeled on statements made by rebel army officers in the numerous abortive coup d'états of the 1930's in Japan.

The
gekibun
read (as I have condensed it from two thousand words):

We, members of the Tatenokai, have been handsomely treated by the Jieitai. Why are we biting the hand that fed us?

It is simply because we revere the Jieitai. The Armed Forces are the soul of Nippon.

We have seen the Jieitai treated like a toy by the nation's leaders. And thus the Jieitai protects the very instrument which denies its right to exist: the Peace Constitution [the Constitution of 1947, drafted by the Allied Powers].

Opportunities to rectify this dreadful error have been missed. On October 21, 1969, the Jieitai should have been mobilized and thrown into the battle against anti-war demonstrators. The Jieitai should then have taken power and demanded revision of the Constitution.

The chance was missed. The honor of the nation is at stake. The Jieitai is unconstitutional; and no steps are being taken to save it. [Mishima was referring to Article 9 of the Constitution, according to which Japan will “never maintain” armed forces.]

Our fundamental values, as Japanese, are threatened. The Emperor is not being given his rightful place in Japan.

We have waited in vain for the Jieitai to rebel. If no action is taken, the Western powers will control Japan for the next century!

The manifesto ended with this appeal:

Let us restore Nippon to its true state and let us die. Will you value only life and let the spirit die? . . . We will show you a value which is greater than respect for life. Not liberty, not democracy. It is Nippon! Nippon, the land of history and tradition. The Japan we love.

The soldiers on the parade ground picked up copies of the
gekibun
. Some read the document. Others stuffed the papers into their pockets. The men were puzzled. Most of them were young and had had no experience of the war. For twenty-five years Japan had been at peace, and the alliance with America, the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy, had been challenged only by the left. Nothing in the experience of these young men had prepared them for this assault from the right. Many of them knew of the existence of the Tatenokai, but they had no notion of its purpose. Nor did they understand why Mishima—a famous novelist—had involved himself in this enterprise. Adding to their bafflement was the spectacle of wounded men being carried from the building. Why had Mishima attacked and injured their officers?

At midday precisely, Mishima himself appeared on the balcony. He strode forward to the front of the balcony, a small figure in the yellow-brown uniform of the Tatenokai.

The men below saw only his head, with a
hachimaki
bound around it, the symbol of the Rising Sun in the center of the forehead.

He leapt up onto the parapet. His small, wiry frame came entirely into view. The buttons of his uniform shone brightly in the November sun. He wore white gloves on which bloodstains were visible.

He braced himself, shoulders back, his hands on his hips.

3

Tennō Heika Banzai!

“It is a wretched affair,” Mishima began, “to have to speak to Jieitai men in circumstances like these.”

The helicopters were making a great noise. Many in the crowd could not hear Mishima's words.

“I thought,” Mishima continued, “that the Jieitai was the last hope of Nippon, the last stronghold of the Japanese soul.”

His words were blotted out by the helicopters.

“But . . . . . . . . . Japanese people today think of money, just money. Where is our national spirit today? The politicians care nothing for Japan. They are greedy for power.

“The Jieitai,” Mishima continued, “must be the soul of Nippon. The soldiers! The army!

“But . . . . . . . . . we were betrayed by the Jieitai!”

There were shouts from the crowd.

“Cut it out now!”

“Bakayarō!
” (An untranslatable swear word.)

“Arse-hole!”

Mishima grew excited. “Listen! Listen! Hear me out! Listen! Listen! Listen to me!”

He resumed. “We thought that the Jieitai was the soul of national honor!”

There were shouts.

“Come down from there!”

“We don't agree with you!”

Mishima went on. “The nation has no spiritual foundation. That is why you don't agree with me! You don't understand Japan. The Jieitai must put things right!”

There was violent hooting.

“Listen!” shouted Mishima. “Be quiet, will you! Listen!”

“
Bakayarō!
”

Mishima tried to go on.

“Kiss your arse,” shouted a soldier below.

“Don't you hear!” Mishima shouted back. “I ask you to be quiet! Listen! Hear me out!”

“Stop playing the hero!” another heckler shouted.

“Just listen to me!” Mishima hurled back. “What happened last year? On October 21? There was a demonstration, an anti-war demonstration. On October 21 last year. In Shinjuku. And the police put it down. The police! After that there was, and there will be, no chance to amend the Constitution.”

“So what?”

“So the Jimintō [the Liberal Democratic Party], the politicians, decided that they could just use the police. The police would deal with the demonstrations. Don't you see?”

“Hooray. Call the police. Dial 110, somebody!”

Mishima fought on. “Look! The government did not use the Jieitai. The Armed Forces stayed in their barracks. The Constitution is fixed forever. There will be no chance to amend it. Do you understand?”

“No, no. Absolutely not!”

“No, we don't follow you.”

“No!”

“All right,” Mishima said. “Listen! Since last October 21, since that time, it is you who protect the Constitution. The Jieitai defends the Constitution. There will be no chance to amend it. Not for twenty years! The Jieitai waited for that chance, with tears in their eyes. Too late!”

“Japan is at peace!”

Mishima looked at his watch. He had been speaking for less than five minutes.

“Why don't you understand? Think about October 21 last year! Since that time I have waited for the Jieitai to act! When would the Jieitai come to its senses? I waited. There will be no further chance to revise the Constitution! The Jieitai will never become an army! It has no foundation, no center!

“The Jieitai must rise. Why?” he went on.

“Come down! Come down!”

“To protect Japan! You must protect Japan! To protect Japan! Yes, to protect Japan! Japanese tradition! Our history! Our culture! The Emperor!”

His audience exploded with shouts and jeers.

“Listen! Listen! Listen! Listen!

“A man appeals to you! A man! I am staking my life on this! Do you hear? Do you follow me? If you do not rise with me, if the Jieitai will not rise, the Constitution will never be amended!” He paused. “You will be just American mercenaries. American troops!”

“
Bakayarō!
”

“Stop talking!”

“Come down!”

Mishima could scarcely make himself heard above the din.

“I have waited for four years! Yes, four years! I wanted the Jieitai to rise! Four years!

“I have come to the last thirty minutes,” he said. “Yes, the last thirty minutes. I am waiting. I want . . .”

His words were lost in the noise of helicopter engines.

“Are you
bushi
? Are you men? You
are
soldiers! Then why do you stand by the Constitution? You back the Constitution that denies your very existence!”

There were mock cries of alarm from the crowd.

“Then you have no future!” roared Mishima. “You will never be saved! It is the end. The Constitution will remain forever. You are finished!”

He hammered the point. “You are unconstitutional! Listen! You are unconstitutional! The Jieitai is unconstitutional! You are all unconstitutional!”

There was no reaction from the crowd.

“Don't you understand? Don't you see what is happening? Don't you understand that it is you who defend the Constitution? Why not? Why don't you understand? I have been waiting for you. Why don't you wake up? There you are in your tiny world. You do nothing for Nippon!”

“Is that why you injured our men?”

“They put up a resistance.”

“Don't be stupid! What do you mean, ‘resistance'?”

Once more Mishima appealed to the men. “Will any of you rise with me?” He waited ten seconds.

“
Bakayarō!
”

“Who would rise with
you
?”

“Madman!”

“No one?” Mishima asked.

“Are
you
a man?”

“You say that! Have you studied Bu [the warrior ethic]? Do you understand the way of the sword? What does the sword mean to a Japanese? . . . I ask you. Are
you
men? Are you
bushi
?”

Mishima's voice grew calmer. “I see that you are not. You will not rise. You will do nothing. The Constitution means nothing to you. You are not interested.

“I have lost my dream of the Jieitai!” he added.

“Come down!”

“Drag him down from there!”

“Why does no one stop him?”

“Bakayarō!
”

Most of the crowd looked on in silence as the sporadic heckling continued.

“I salute the Emperor!” cried Mishima.

“Tennō Heika Banzai! Tennō Heika Banzai! Tennō Heika Banzai!
”

As he shouted this traditional salute (“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!”), Morita, who had been standing behind him—only his head visible to the men below—joined in. The two Tatenokai leaders raised their hands thrice as they shouted.

“Shoot him!”