Yukio Mishima's sports experience and the problem of his body and mind

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  • Mori Misaki
    Nara Women's University, Graduate School of Human Culture

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  • 三島由紀夫のスポーツ体験の変遷と心身問題
  • ミシマ ユキオ ノ スポーツ タイケン ノ ヘンセン ト シンシン モンダイ

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The present paper deals with the work of Yukio Mishima, who exercised most eagerly among Japanese writers. His sports experience is examined in connection with his work as one example of the strong influence of sports experience on individuals. We also consider how he was changed by sports experience and what sports meant to him. Mishima never participated in sports until he was 30 years old. He then began sports to build up his body because he felt the loss of his own body. First he did body-building, boxing, and then kendo. At first the dualism of body and mind which Mishima felt was intensified by body-building, but this was gradually mitigated by kendo, which allowed him to experience the ideal harmony of body and mind. It is evident that he became keenly aware of his own existence and the fullness of life through sports experience, which could not be felt as a writer and a thinker. However, sports were ultimately the source of a dilemma for him, because if he hadn't build up his body he wouldn't have killed himself.

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