Yukio Mishima - The Philosophy of Sun and Steel

Ecstasy, to be thrust out of the corporeal, has long been associated with mystical states of consciousness and beyond. Yukio Mishima, among the most important post-war Japanese writers, would argue near the end of his life that the desire for out-of-body ecstatic experience is profoundly misguided. For him, the Absolute could only truly be experienced in radical embodiment, developing muscle into a classically beautiful physique only to plunge it, at its aesthetic height, into complete destruction through Heroic Death. Mishima would lay out his mysticism of muscle and annihilation, in his 1968 essay Sun and Steel, a work that would explain and pre-figure his own public, ritual death by Seppuku only two years later. A mystical text like virtually no other, Mishima's Sun and Steel remains as controversial as it does challenging now over 50 years since it first appeared.

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Mishima - Sun and Steel - 978-6159424645

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[dianabriggs]

I had a "Mishima Moment" in grad school, considering the people in my seminar class and thinking "Everyone here looks sick. We're all neurotic, asthmatic, anemic- everyone is so pale! We're all talking about how stressed we are and how we stayed up till 3am writing. We're all so young, and we look so old. There's something deeply wrong here." I literally went down to Frat Row to watch some guys play football- I felt this powerful need to see people in their prime who actually looked like they were, who seemed healthy and strong, and like they were enjoying their youth and health. Everyone I knew seemed to crawl from desk to desk all day, and I was suddenly struck by how claustrophobic this made me feel. I didn't start lifting or start a right-wing militia, but I did vow to get out more often.

[TheEsotericaChannel]

Comments focusing on Mishima's politics without reference to Sun and Steel will be moderated. This isn't the place for either endorsing romantic reactionism nor virtue signaling how anti-fascist you are.

[rufust.firefly]

I rejoiced when I found Sun and Steel. The gym is my Temple. The Cathedral of Iron...the sweat, holy water. The various exercises, the Stations of the Cross. I make my living in intellectual pursuits, but I find the divine in the gym, in the Glorious Sun. Yukio Mishima, my Sensei.

[thetruth]

As someone who has struggled with overthinking for just about my entire life, the first moment i got a true escape from this suffering, was through training martial arts. I can have the worst day possible, and after i train my mind has left all of the concerns or fears behind, and all that is left is peace, silence and an almost immeditate rebirth.
Mishima`s reflections on the philosophy of the body reminds me of Nietzsche`s vitalism.

[Karrenola]

Yukio Mishima is treated as an extremely sensitive topic here in Japan, where I have lived for many years. But no one here denies the genius of his writing, and all in my circle have read at least two of his works, including Sun and Steel. My favorites, which I read with the help of my university professors, are Haru no Yuki and Kinkakuji. Thanks Justin! All other controversies aside, genius is genius. ❤

[MisterCynic]

As someone who's gotten into fitness in recent years I can certainly relate to Mishima's descriptions of encountering the absolute as your body is pushed to it's limits. Even your sight being fixed upon the blue sky was eeriely relatable.

The pursuit of physical perfection as a mystical experience is definitely a perspective I was eager to hear about, thanks for putting a spotlight on this.

[jackpayne]

On his own last day, Mishima left the final pages of 'The Sea of Fertility' for his publisher. Therein, we find Honda - an elderly judge who has served as an observer figure throughout the last three novels, with all their physical and emotional action. Unlike Mishima, Honda has lived a long, conventionally successful life. He decides to make a last visit to a respected Buddhist abbess who was once the lover of his best friend. And there, his whole life is brought into question. In a sunny Japanese garden, he is left wondering what his life meant - and if he ever existed at all. For me, this is the perfect expression of Mishima's aesthetic nihilism.

[ozymandiasramesses]

I was literally just reading excerpts from from 'Confessions of the Mask'. "What I wanted was to die among strangers, untroubled, beneath a cloudless sky. And yet my desire differed from the sentiments of that ancient Greek who wanted to die under the brilliant sun. What I wanted was some natural, spontaneous suicide. I wanted a death like that of a fox, not yet well versed in cunning, that walks carelessly along a mountain path and is shot by a hunter because of its own stupidity…"
-Yukio Mishima

[GildaLee]

I had to read something by Mishima for a college class and I recall the sense of feeling tricked by the beauty of the prose and imagery into entertaining a cold mind of cruelty, a worldview without mercy.
Thank you for another fascinating and well-presented episode Dr Sledge.

[theCommentDevil]

More recent subscriber here, and i gotta say this has quickly become my favorite channel. Its not easy to find intelligent serious looks into anything esoteric. An added plus is the humor, i laugh all the time

[artkoenig]

This presentation was an intense and most eloquent dive into the mind of Yukio Mishima. Thank you for your successful efforts!

[peterpedersen]

16:19 "muscles were no longer needed" - that reminds me very much of Ernst Jünger. Especially with regards to his position that technology has ruined everything, especially warefare and the possibility for heroism.

Btw. I very much anticipated this video as soon as I saw it. Thank you very much for doing this!

[randyminish]

I have read several of his works, watched his film, read Sun and Steel, watched the available youtube vids on him. I got to say this is the best essay/comment on Mishima i have read. Very nice work.

[malcolmarchibald]

Love that you have done your work on Mishima. He is one of my favourite writers, and I won't say he gave me a 'life-changing moment' he reinvigorated me and turned me back to how I had been before. Wonderful writer and a very deep thinker. I wish I had 1/100th of the talent.

[Squirrelmind]

The only YouTube channel that makes me feel like a am still a student, discovering worlds I never knew existed.

[jacobvandam]

The fact that you don't skip leg day has me even more convinced that you need to embrace the badassery of the name "Dr. Sledge"

[TheModernHermeticist]

It would be interesting to compare and contrast this sort of embodied mysticism with the kind described in Caroline W. Bynum regarding women and food (or the lack thereof), and how the body and its suffering becomes a way to participate in the embodiment of Christ.

[Bildgesmythe]

I love this channel! It's wonderful to be introduced to concepts and history I never knew existed.

[GiordanoBruno]

Your channel is simply excellent.
I learn a lot and find inspiration for my own creative endeavors 🎉

[HamsterPants]

Thanks for making this. Sun and Steel is a very profound work to me and - although I have different conclusions about what in life is important - Mishima's ideas have been very interesting and given me valuable tools to find more romance in the world and my existence. I share Mishima's admiration of Nietzsche and Bataille, so I've found his life and works to be very interesting with that in mind.