Swaddling Clothes | Gender and Class Oppression
In the following essay, the author discusses
the gender and class oppression inherent in Mishima’s
romanticized desire to return to traditional Japanese
social and political values in
‘‘Swaddling Clothes.’’
‘‘It is neither freedom nor democracy. It is Japan.’’ —Yukio Mishima
In the minutes before his suicide, Yukio Mishima concluded his public address to the Japanese ‘‘Self Defense Force,’’ or the Jieitai, with the following challenge, printed in the 1971 Japan Interpreter as ‘‘An Appeal’’: ‘‘Is it right to protect life only to let the soul die? What kind of an army is it that has no higher value than life? Right now we will show you that there is a value higher than reverence for life . . . let us rise together...
[The entire page is 3520 words long]
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