- The book is a commentary on Hagakure; a compilation of opinions and teachings from Yamamoto Tsunetomo, retired samurai, during the early 1700s. It focuses on defining what is the ideal behavior for a samurai. It was a critical cultural totem for Japan during WWII.
- Fashion is not new. Attention to aesthetic presence and detail was a big thing in Japan during peaceful eras. This can be appreciated in the models used in ukiyo-e art.
- For Mishima, Hagakure is not a political book but a divagation on the essence of human behavior.
- I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. That is the most popular quote from Hagakure. The original idea seems to be rooted in the samurai aspiration to preserve honor over everything else, including life. On Mishima’s eyes, the quote is more about freedom.
- Mishima proposes that youth posses the impulse of rebellion and of submissiveness.
- Tsunetomo considered homosexual love to be a more elevated and truthful feeling, and proposed its evolution to be loyalty and devotion for your boss.
- I feel Mishima tends to stretch vague sentences to find in them the ideology he reflects on Hagakure. As an example: entiende de"Adopta un talante ligero en los asuntos graves" que siempre debemos tomarnos en serio las cosas, por pequeñas o insignificantes que sean. He also finishes this argument with what I think is a clear flag that he is imprinting his ideology on the quote: “Es una buena lección en esta época nuestra de valores invertidos en la cual se aprecian las ideologías y se descuidan los pequeños actos banales de la vida cotidiana.”
- The ideas of being aware and prepared for your day (giving it thought space the night before, and planning it during the morning) are present in Tsunetomo ideals, although coming from the central piece of being prepared to die. I can see a clear stoic vibe here.
- Hagakure talks about educating children in a surprisingly mature and understanding way. It advocates for treating the kid with respect, avoiding threatening and lying. It focuses on the relationship between the kid and the father (the mother is a weak figure whose character mistakes can make the kid stupid or weak), which I could read as a try to imprint strength and the rest of masculine characteristics (all the positive ones at the time) over anything else. This reflects education was treated with the upmost seriousness.
- ⭐ “Como la fidelidad y el amor filial se ponen a un lado, solamente queda la locura por la muerte. Es en este estado de locura cuando la fidelidad y la piedad filial reaparecen y se integran en el corazón del samurái.” A really interesting notion of the human psyche hangs here: suppressed emotions reemerge as apparently new ones, while preserving its essence.
- “A samurai must never complain.” Although the goal here is to protect the samurai’s honor, rejecting and overcoming the desire to complain is an interesting notion.
Review
El expresarse de Mishima no es tan cautivador aquí como en sus novelas, lo que cede al contenido el valor central. Lo desconocido de dicho contenido valida la lectura, que además parece central para explicar a Mishima mismo. El análisis literario en crudo, que puede pretender ser la intención formal de la obra, es correcto pero continuamente atropellado por las inyecciones de significado y valor que impuestas por el autor a frases vagas y conceptos abiertos. Esto hace continua la sensación de estar Mishima imprimiendo sus conclusiones e ideales sobre la obra analizada. Finalmente diría que la lectura solo alcanza un estado de relevancia como contenido educativo sobre Mishima, no sobre Hagakure ni sobre la sociedad japonesa. En este sentido, como guía para Mishima, se arroja luz sobre la posición de defensa y romantización de la muerte y el suicidio, y se esboza también un comienzo de ideario de las razones y motivos que movieron sus posiciones política y en las que basó su entendimiento y ser social.