KUKI AND MISHIMA ON: THE STRUCTURE OF THE JAPANESE SPIRIT

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1 Serrano 1 KUKI AND MISHIMA ON: THE STRUCTURE OF THE JAPANESE SPIRIT Jason Serrano State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, NY jason.antonio.serrano@gmail.com phone:

2 Serrano 2 Cultural spirits are ethereal constructs made malleable by history, personal experiences, and agendas. Yet, it cannot be denied that cultural heritages exist and differ between one another. In fact, it is often when these heritages become "threatened" that the need to define a cultural spirit, or identity, rises to prominence. For Japan, the introduction to the West led to an imprinting of new, foreign values on a culture that had developed (largely) in isolation for years. It is therefore no surprise that despite decades of separation, authors Kuki Shūzō and Yukio Mishima would seek to define the spirit of the Japanese people. The desire to distinguish what belonged to the Japanese and from what was merely thrust upon them was felt as much in Kuki's "The Structure of Iki," as it was three decades later in Mishima's "Patriotism." The fact that they touch on such similar characteristics for a Japanese spirit is, in itself, fascinating. This fascinating similarity is made further intriguing when it is realized that both authors were defining this spirit from behind distorted lenses of history and personal biases. By analyzing these two works, we discover how the past is used to define "Japanese-ness" while simultaneously inhibiting its ability to reveal itself via distorted perspectives and personal agendas. Kuki's definition of the Japanese spirit lies in iki, a phenomena which can be broken down into three parts: "bitai 'coquetry', ikiji 'pride and honor', and akirame 'resignation'" (Kuki 20). Although Kuki exhausts numerous avenues in which iki can be defined, these become the tenets that lay at the heart of his definition of the unique Japanese spirit. Bitai, ikiji, and akirame are most prominently used to define the relationship between men and women -- and the geisha-client relationship of the Edo-period, in particular. The coquetry of bitai

3 Serrano 3 exists in "protecting the possibility as a possibility," and therefore it is meant to be found in "romantic pursuit" (Kuki 20). Ikiji and akirame, which represent values found in the samurai concept of bushidō, are used here to represent an "aggressive range of sentiments directed towards the opposite sex, showing a bit of resistance" and "resignation to fate" as found in this male-female dynamic (Kuki 20-22). In short, love is being defined much in the way the ancient samurai would approach war, yet we are hearing the ethics of the old samurai and the setting of the Edo-period geisha to define what is meant to be a temporally transcendent spirit. Mishima would also make the same jump to the past. Unlike "The Structure of Iki," "Patriotism" is not an essay with the purpose of proving something uniquely Japanese exists. It is a narrative that puts a spin on an historical coup d'état attempt in Japan. In the text and subsequent film adaptation, Mishima places the concepts of ikiji and akirame in the fabric of the plot as an extension of his love for bushidō. The Hagakure being a compilation of Edo-era samurai wisdom was not directly mentioned in "Patriotism," but its themes are evidently connected as revealed by Mishima's writings in The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life. Writing on Hagakure, Mishima said "the practical ethics... might be called a man of action's belief in expediency," while also talking at length about one's need to resign oneself to death or something higher. While he briefly discusses love, calling the truest love the one that is kept a secret till death (and therefore indicating that the purest love is unattained love as Kuki suggested), Mishima revels far more in the "pride and honor" and "resignation" aspects that Kuki has also found as part of the Japanese spirit ("The Way of the Samurai" 7-10, 22). In his depiction of double-

4 Serrano 4 suicide and self-sacrifice, ikiji and akirame become fetishized concepts for Mishima. This love/war dualism is not a leap by any means. In one of Kuki's other articles, he would replace the resignation in the geisha-client dynamic with the subject-emperor relationship of Japan. In short, iki would be co-opted by the bravery and self-sacrifice that would be ideal for a Japanese citizen to strive for with his country (Mostow ). Therefore, when we look back to "The Structure of Iki," we can see Kuki makes no distinction then between the characteristics ideal for love and those ideal for war. "Patriotism" shares this viewpoint as the plot centers around the self-sacrifice of a Lieutenant for his Emperor, and his wife who wishes to end her life with him. Both authors therefore find something within the Japanese spirit that is self-sacrificing and capable of making difficult decisions -- resignation and pride/honor. Yet, each author is inspired to create different narratives because their experiences shared numerous differences, but shared the similarity of living in post-meiji era Japan. As someone versed in Western learning, Kuki turned to an intellectual approach, influenced by European philosophy, to define a cultural phenomena that was unique to Japan (Mostow 391). It has been said that he had turned to the Edo-era geisha as the muse for iki's ideal home, and this is true, but this Edo-era geisha was largely a fictitious account. The works of the major ukiyo-e artists he refers to do not mirror the narrative Kuki tries to spin surrounding them (Mostow 397). They likely looked, acted, and operated differently than he would have his readership believe. Subsequently, he largely ignores the gender and sexual ambiguities of the era he turns to in favor of a

5 Serrano 5 solely heterosexual re-imagining of the era (Mostow 416). While attempting to craft a definition for a Japanese spirit, Kuki was likely more influenced by his own proclivity for European brothels and his experience with non-japanese women (Mostow 384). If this is the case, the veracity of using a fictionalized past and non-japanese philosophy to prove something is essentially Japanese is incredibly difficult and unlikely. However, Kuki is not the only one to attempt to utilize the Japanese body to define the Japanese spirit. For example, while Kuki would say that "iki can be used to describe someone right after bathing," and therefore highlight the allure and suggestiveness of sexuality, Mishima would choose to be less discrete in his depiction of the body (Kuki 36). For the plot of "Patriotism," the destruction of the body becomes the means in which one embodies akirame, resigning oneself to something larger (the Emperor) and achieving ikiji. There is a sense of nationalistic pride imbued in the ink blots of the text, yet is also steeped in Mishima's own abundance of pride. "Patriotism" can be seen as a death fantasy for the author, who would later commit suicide in similar way to the male protagonist, which may suggest Mishima saw himself in the Lieutenant. If so, the scene in which his wife decides that she will follow her husband in death and the Lieutenant is flattered because he "taught her well" might be more indicative of the true message of the short story ("Patriotism"). Mishima's message seems to be that there is a lesson to be learned, and he, as the one embodying bushidō, is the one worthy to teach it. In other words, while Kuki at least states that Japanese citizens can "recall" something that is unique to them, Mishima is subtly disagreeing.

6 Serrano 6 In "The Way of the Samurai," Mishima argues that the life of the artist is frowned upon, and he declares he follows the "Combined Way of the Warrior and Scholar" as "nothing else could offer [him] the excuse to live [his] life as an artist" (10). To Mishima, he is capable of even transcending the criticisms of the ethics he holds dear. From there we can understand the likeliness that Mishima felt the Japanese people of his era were not on his level, particularly because of his dissatisfaction with the growing materialism he saw in Japan (Hutchinson). The samurai were gone, and by being both warrior and scholar he was something that superseded even them. Likely, he did not expect his contemporaries to "recall" a spirit, but merely learn from his example and follow him. This dissatisfaction with his present-era was not solely held by Mishima. The modern women of Kuki's era did not possess the traits he idealized; thus he turned to an exoticized image of the Edo-period geisha (Pincus 48). The "warrior spirit" of the samurai was fading fast from contemporary Japan's values, and as such Mishima attempted to re-promote these values as traditional and embodying the Japanese spirit (Hutchinson). Buell argues that national cultures are invented as part of a historical series of global interactions (43). Despite their thirty year gap and differentiating experiences, they both felt an imprint of the West on Japanese culture and rebuked it. Ironically, Kuki would embrace European philosophy while Mishima would embrace the medium of film imported by the West. Regardless of how much they sought to rediscover the roots of Japan, they could not completely disregard the influences surrounding them. In this way, it would be nearly impossible for either author to accomplish their goal of separating Japanese from Western values on a grand scale when they were

7 Serrano 7 both incapable of doing so on an individual level. A turn to, and reinvention of, the past is therefore foreseeable when we look to the events unfolding in the author's present(s). A value judgment would be difficult to place on if either of them sincerely sought to discover a Japanese spirit for the masses, or were merely concerned with making their own experiences and agendas the new standard for their contemporaries. While Mishima's death fantasy is evident in his work, Kuki's own love/sex fantasy was equally as pervasive in his essay. Therefore, as it could be asked whether Mishima believed in a Japanese spirit for Japan or a Japanese spirit for Mishima, it could be asked whether Kuki merely wanted to mold the Japanese spirit to fit his own romantic ideals. Distortions of history aside, it is still with merit that both authors chose the fundamental of a martial code to define Japanese-ness. There may have been some part of Japanese culture that lies in pride, honor, and resignation (and possibly coquetry). By choosing to view the spirit of the Japanese through a distorted view of the past, both authors have unfortunately left a very important question unanswered: Can a culture claim ownership of individual characteristics? Cultures around the world have borne their share of brave men (and women), many of whom have been willing to resign themselves to a higher cause. Even "the chase" hinted at by bitai is still fantasized about in modern cultures and transcends geographic borders. If these values are not unique to a culture, it does not mean that a people's heritage has not had a history steeped in those values (even if those values are shared elsewhere in the world). Based on Japan's unbalanced encounter with the West, similarities were of little interest,

8 Serrano 8 and a need to discover an exceptionalist Japanese cultural tradition was born (Buell 44). If an immortal Japanese spirit exists, further attempts to uncover it would require an undistorted look at the past and a keen understanding of the present. After all, if an immortal spirit could ever exist, it would belong equally to the present as it would to the past.

9 Serrano 9 Works Cited Buell, Frederick. National Culture and the New Global System. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, Print. Hutchinson, Rachael. "The Samurai in Postwar Japan: Yukio Mishima's "Patriotism"" Microsoft Word - Samurai Hutchinson FINAL PDF.doc - Postwarsamurai.pdf:. Columbia University, n.d. Web. 6 May Kuki, Shūzō. The Structure of Iki. The Structure of Iki. Trans. Hiroshi Nara. N.p.: n.p., n.d Web. Mishima, Yukio. The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life. New York: Basic, Print. Mushima, Yukio. "Patriotism." Patriotism. New York: New Directions, n.d. N. pag. Web. 2 May Mostow, Joshua S. "Utagawa Shunga, Kuki's 'Chic,' and the Construction of a National Erotics in Japan." Performing "nation": Gender Politics in Literature, Theater, and the Visual Arts of China and Japan, By Doris Croissant and Catherine Vance. Yeh. Leiden: Brill, N. pag. Print. Pincus, Leslie. Authenticating Culture in Imperial Japan: Kuki Shu zo and the Rise of National Aesthetics. Berkeley: U of California, Print Jason Serrano