Such a message as this often has been seen to carry a right-wing political subtext, and this too disturbs many of his readers. Whether his critics or his supporters are correct about the quality of either Mishima's oeuvre or his political ideology, the fact remains that he is the most internationally renowned of Japan's modern writers, a writer who has helped mold the Western imagination of Japan at the same time as one who continues to haunt the contemporary Japanese mind.
Mishima was born Hiraoka Kimitake on 14 January 1925. His family was of samurai ancestry, but by the time Mishima was born at the family house in Tokyo, his grandfather had dissipated much of the family fortune. His father, Hiraoka Azusa, was the deputy director of the Ministry of Fisheries in the Agriculture Ministry at the time of Mishima's birth. His mother, Hara Shizue, was a cultured and reserved woman from a scholarly family. Mishima remained close to his mother throughout his life, but the dominant influence on his early childhood was undoubtedly his paternal grandmother, Natsu. Natsu forcibly separated Mishima from his mother when he was still a little baby, insisting that he live downstairs with her in her sickroom.
This is a free page. This page contains 179 words. This
biography contains 6,723 words (approx. 22 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Hiraoka Kimitake Access Pass.
