Samurai fihic Modern Japan YUKIO MISHIMA on HAGAKURE translated from the Japanese by Kathryn Sparling Charles E. Tuttle Company Tokyo,Japan Hagakure Is Alive Today "The ultimate love I believe to be secret love. Once shared, love shrinks in stature. T o pine away for love all one's years, to die of love without uttering the beloved's name, this is the true meaning of love." (Book T w o ) (bntemporary Youth Infatuated with the Cardin Look During the twenty years immediately following the war, Japan began to transform herself into exactly the condition that Hagakure had foreseen. There were no longer any samurai in Japan, there was no war, the economy was reviving, all was overflowing with a mood of peace; youth was bored. Hagakure, It) repeat, is basically a paradoxical book. When Hagakure says, "The flower is red," public opinion says, "The flower is white." When Hagakure says, "One must not follow this course," 15 M Y HAGAKURE this course is exactly what the world at large is eagerly pursuing. Everything considered, behind that austere book Hagakure there lie social conditions and public opinions contrary to its contents'. These conditions are the response that in any age the Japanese people have made to peacetime existence. Here is one familiar example of this phenomenon. Certainly^today is not the first time that men's fashions have flourished as though to outshine women's fashions. The sight of today's young men infatuated with the Cardin look is no novelty in Japanese history. I n the Genroku Period (Jocho abandoned his worldly life to live in seclusion during the thirteenth year of Genroku, 1700), not only in clothing but extending even to the design of the swords they carried, their sword guards, and the dagger attached to the scabbard, a fashion for ornateness and dazzling splendor captivated the hearts of men. One look at the showy appurtenances and splendid 16 Hagakure Is Alive Today pastimes depicted in the genre scrolls of Moronobu Hishikawa {ukiyoe artist of the early Edo Period) is enough to imagine I he- luxury of that age, influenced by the sumptuous culture 1 >f the merchants and townsmen. Today, i f you go to a jazz coffeehouse and speak with teen.ij^ers or young people i n their twenties, you will find that lliey talk of absolutely nothing but how to dress smartly and Kit a stylish figure. I once had the following experience. Having walked into a modern jazz cafe, I had no sooner seated myself at a table than a youth at the next table began to crossexamine me: " D i d you have those shoes made? Where did you have them made? And your cuflSinks, where did you buy lliem? Where did you get the material for that suit? Who is your tailor?" He asked me one question after another in quick succession. Another youth, who was with the first, began giving him a hard time: ""Hey, cut it put. You sound like a beggar, .isking questions like that. Why don't you just observe quietly .md then steal his ideas?" A n d the first youth returned, "Don't you think it's more honest to ask questions and learn from him openly?" To learn, for them, meant to learn how to show themselves to their best advantage, to be initiated into the secrets of men's fashion. The following passage from Hagakure is clearly evidence of a similar attitude. Times have changed in the last thirty years. When young samurai get together they talk of money, of profit and loss, how to run a household efficiently, how to judge the value of clothing, and they exchange stories about sex. I f any other topic is mentioned, the atmosphere is spoiled and everyone present feels vaguely uncomfortable. What a distressing pass things have come to! (Book One) 17 M Y HAGAKURE The Feminization of the Male Moreover, we are constantly being told of the feminization of Japanese males today—it is inevitably seen as the result of the influence of American democracy, "ladies first," and so forth—but this phenomenon, too, is not unknown in our past. When, breaking away from the rough-and-tumble masculinity of a nation at war, the Tokugawa bakufu had securely established its hegemony as a peaceful regime, the feminization of Japanese males immediately began. One can see evidence of, this trend in ukiyo prints of the eighteenth-century master Harunobu Suzuki: The couples snuggling together as they sit on the edge of the veranda gazing at plum blossoms so resemble each other in their tiair styles, the cut and pattern of their clothes, the very exp^ssion on their faces that no matter how you exaipine them, no matter from what angle, it is impossible to tell which is the man and which is the woman. During the age in which Hagakure was written, this trend had already begun. Look at this scathing passage, called "Female Pulse": I heard this from an acquaintance of mine. Apparently a Doctor Kyoan once made the following statement: "In, medicine we distinguish between men and women by attributing to them the principles of yin and yang, and medical treatment originally differed accordingly. The pulse is also different. Over the past fifty years, however, the pulse of men has gradually become the same as that of women. Since noticing this phenomenon, I have considered it proper to treat eye diseases of male patients with the method normally appropriate to the pulse of women patients. When I try applying to my male patients the cures appropriate to men, they produce no effect whatever. The world is indeed enter- i8 Hagakure Is Alive Today ing a degenerate stage; men are losing their virility and are becoming just like women. This is an unshakable truth I have learned from firsthand experience. I have decided to keep it a secret from the wodd at large." When with this story in mind I look around me at the men of today, I often think to myself, "Aha. There goes an example of a female pulse." Almost never do I see what I call a true man. . . . (Book One) Expense Account Aristocrats The same thing can fairly be said of the rise of the expense account aristocrat, for which the modern lax system is at least partly responsible. I n J6ch5's day the expense account samurai who had dififtculty telling the difference between his own money and that of his lord had already become conspicuous. Within what was not a company but a daimyo domain, the young samurai, forgetting his objective of participating in the ideal (if a cooperative community, had come to wish only for his own preservation. The idealistic gleam in the eyes of youth faded to a mere glimmer, and their attention was completely absorbed with trivialities. Yoimg samurai with "the furtive glance of pickpockets," who thought only of their own per.sonal interest, had become increasingly numerous. Looking at young samiuai in sei;vice these days, it seems to me they set their sights pitifully low. They have the furtive glance of pickpockets. Most of them are out for their own interests, or to display their cleverness, and even those who seem calm of heart are simply putting up a good front. That attitude will never do. Unless a samurai sets his sights on no less than offering up his life for his ruler, dying swiftly and becoming a spirit, unless he 19 M Y HAGAKURE is constantly anxious aBout the welfare of his daimyo and reports to him immediately whenever he has disposed of a problem, his concern being always to strengthen the foundations of the realm, he cannot be called a true samurai in the service of his lord. (Book One) Lionized Baseball Players and Television Stars While Jocho condemns at great lepgth people who distinguish themselves in a certain skill or art, he relates how his age. is becoming imbued with a new tendency to idolize people who excel at such arts as the greatest stars of the day. Today, baseball players and television stars are lionized. Those who specialize in skills that will fascinate an audience 20 Hagakure Is Alive Today rrikl to abandon their existence as total human personalities fiii.1 be reduced to a kind of skilled puppet. This tendency irllects the ideals of our time. On this point there is no dif(rrcnce between performers and technicians. Tlic present is the age of technocracy (under the leadership 111 technicians); differently expressed, it is the age of performing artists. One who excels at an art can win by means of that ttii tlie enthusiastic applause of society. A t the same time, such people are lowering their life goals, aiming only at appearing as •la'.hing and as important as possible. They forget the ideals loi a total human being;" to degenerate into a single cog, a •single function, becomes their greatest ambition. I n the light >il this phenomenon, Jocho's disdain for technicians and artists irireshes the soul: Ihat an art or skill will help one earn a living is true only of ^•unurai from other domains. For samurai of this nding house, •1 skill or art leads to debasement of status. Anyone who is espeually skilled in a particular art is a technician, not a samurai. (Book One) The Compromise Climate o f Today, W h e n One May Nnther Live Beautifully N o r Die Horribly 'll your name means nothing to the world whether you live or die, it is better to live." (Book One) This way of thinking d i l l exist in the time of Hagakure, of course. The human instinct fiM survival, faced with a decision between life and death, noririally forces us to choose life. But we must recognize, that w h e n a human being tries to live beautifully and die beauti- 21 M Y HAGAKURE fully, strong attachment to life undermines that beauty. It is difficult to live and to die beautifully, but it is eqq^Uy difficult both to live and to die in a thoroughly horrible way. This is the lot of mankind. The compromise climate of the times arises from the fact that thos? who try to live beautifully and die beautifully are actually choosing an unsightly de4th, whereas those who wish to live horribly and die horribly are choosing a beautiful way of life. Hagakure pronounces a delightful verdict on this question of life and death. Here again is the most famous line in Hagakure: "I found that the Way of the Samurai is death." Jocho goes on to say, " I n a life or death crisis, simply settle it by deciding on immediate death. There is nothing complicated about it. Just brace yourself and proceed." (Book One) The Ideal Love Is Undeclared Hagakure also discusses romantic love—in fact, as Bunso Hashi' kawa has pointed out, it is probably the only work in classical Japanese literature to develop a logical theory of romantic love.* The ideal presented in Hagakure may be summed up in one expression, "secret love," and Hagakure maintains flatly that once love has been confessed, it shrinks in stature; true love attains its highest and noblest form when one carries its secret to the grave. The art of romantic love as practiced in America involves declaring oneself, pressing one's suit, and making the catch. The energy generated by love is never allowed to build up 22 Hagakure Is Alive Today wiillin but is constantly radiated outward. But paradoxically, t l i f voltage of love is dissipated the instant it is transmitted. (iiritemporary youth are richly blessed with opportunities for loniantic and sexual adventure that former generations would IK vcr have dreamed of. But at the same time, what lurks in Iht hearts of modern youth is the demise of what we know as i.iinantic love. When romantic love generated in the heart pro.it