I’ll be honest, I find Confessions of a Mask more than a little
disturbing. In fact, I find it ‘a lot’ disturbing… In doing some research on
this book and its author, I was shocked to find that virtually no one who has
written about it mentions insanity. In fact, in googling “Yukio Mishima insane”
the first result to appear is an article on Zimbio the first line of which
reads, “I’m not sure if it’s fair to call the great Yukio Mishima crazy. He was
definitely an intensely charismatic figure who broadened his horizons to
encompass as many facets of cultural literacy as his time allowed”
(Mansuramed). Frankly, I do not think cannibalism or sadism should be justified
as “broadening one’s horizons”. Knowing
this work is largely autobiographical, I find it incredibly tragic that no one
ever seems to offer Kochan (or Mishima) help at any point. For Kochan, I suppose
it’s understandable since he keeps his fetishes a secret for the most part.
However, Mishima publicly writes about his sufferings, maybe as a cry for help,
and no one answers, instead they just regard him as the “suffering genius” and
leave him at that. He’s even given further praise for performing seppuku, a
traditional Japanese suicide by disembowelment. This man died cutting up his
own stomach and people praise it. Instead of offering psychiatric treatment for
this man or any others who might be suffering in the same way, our society
calls it “brilliance” and allows it to continue. I find that more than a little
sad…
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