Why The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea

“Only through the group, I realized — through sharing the suffering of the group — could the body reach that height of existence that the individual alone could never attain. The group must be open to death — which meant, of course, that it must be a community of warriors” (Mishima). Yukio Mishima strived to create a community of warriors, samurais, to fight for the preservation of Japan’s Eastern culture. Mishima was constantly told he was “special” and based his life on the Samurai Code: “Bushido” meaning “the way of the warrior”. Yukio Mishima stresses Bushido’s virtues, loyalty and honor, in his novel The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea through the group of boys’ hierarchy and actions in order to rally the Japanese audience to
fight the post World War II westernization of Japan. Yukio Mishima’s novel is written in a post- war perspective that is influenced by Japanese ideals during World War II and what actually happened. Emperor Hirohito was portrayed as a divine god to the Japanese people and was the Commander in Chief of the imperialist Japanese armed forces during World War II. As a member of the Axis powers, Emperor Hirohito militarized and ultra-nationalized Japan in an attempt to take over the continent of Asia. In 1945, Emperor Hirohito was one of the few Japanese military leaders that were not prosecuted for any military crimes, howerver, it is believed he played a major role in the deaths of millions of civilian lives. The United States occupied Japan for a few years replacing the monarchy political system with a democratic political system. With the United States occupation, Japan became heavily influenced by Western cultures losing their tradition and culture (Hirohito).

Loyalty (“Chugi” - 忠義) is one of the seven virtues of the Bushido code: the Samurai must be unconditionally trustful and loyal to their masters (Bushido Code: 7 Virtues). Loyalty is portrayed in Yukio Mishima’s book as a fundamental aspect of Japanese culture through the Chief, a symbolic representation of Emperor Hirohito. Emperor Hirohito was the “Commander in Chief” of the Japanese military similar to how the Chief is the commander of the boys. Emperor Hirohito went off to school at a young age while, “the Chief’s parents were never home; his house was always hushed” (Mishima 55). Their lack of family ties has influenced them to make unthinkable decisions due to a lack of parental love and nurture. This is construed by their lack of morals and leadership of the army, samurais, and boys. Yukio Mishima portrays the military and the boys as samurais who are always loyal to their chief; both the military and the boys kill for the chief. “[The Chief] said, murder would fill those gaping caves…then they would achieve real power over existence” (Mishima 57). The boys are at an age where they are susceptible to suggestion and live by everything the chief says. Mishima’s intention is to recruit the able bodied younger generation, who has the ability to shape the future of Japan, to fight against westernization and to re-establish Japan as the great country it once was. The younger generation must step up as samurais and be loyal not only to their country, but to their emperor and culture.
Honor (“Meiyo” - 名誉) is the second major virtue stressed by Yukio Mishima, in which the samurai are taught to hold an honorable life and honorable death.
Unlike the Western culture, where youth and life are praised, the samurai holds an honorable death at a higher importance than life (Bushido Code: 7 Virtues). The only way for a samurai to stay honorable even in death is to commit suicide, Seppuku, executed by utilizing a tanto or a wakizashi to stab and slice oneselfs own abdomen from left to right followed by a kaishakunin performing decapitation (May). Mishima states “the scissors were magnificent in their cold, intellectual dignity: Noboru couldn’t imagine a more appropriate weapon for the Chief” (Mishima 60). Sepukku was also utilized as an honorable capital punishment which is depicted by the boys killing of the cat where the scissor’s blades represent the tanto or wakizashi weapon. “The chief pierced the skin at the chest with the point of the blade and scissor a long cut to the throat” (Mishima 60). The act of killing the cat helped the boys understand how to execute an honorable death. After the cat’s death “a distant hand reached into Noboru’s dream and awarded him a snow- white certificate of merit- I can do anything, no matter how awful” (Mishima 61). This reflects Mishima’s own belief that anything and everything should be done to bring back Japan’s old traditions and culture including the future death of
Ryuji.
However, Ryuji was a traditional Eastern cultured Japanese man, who traded his culture for the materialistic world of his Westernized lover and therefore the practice of an honorable death did not necessarily transcribe to Ryuji’s death. Ryuji easily accepted the influence of Western culture causing Noboru and the other boys to no longer look at Ryuji as a hero, but a disgrace; therefore, the Chief thought the only way to restore Ryuji’s heroic characteristics, those that had made him an honorable sailor in the Eastern culture, was to kill him. The boys attempt to right Ryuji’s reputation failed due to a lack of understanding on how to perform an honorable death. Ryuji was killed with poisoned tea therefore “ A vision of death now eternally beyond his reach, majestic, acclaimed, heroic death, unfurled its rapture across his brain” (Mishima 181). As he drinks the tea that will cause his death, he is envisioning the death of an honorable sailor. “Still immersed in his dream,” (Mishima 181) the only thing he notices is the bitterness of his tea because “Glory, as anyone knows, is bitter” (Mishima 181). Due to Ryuji’s choice to leave his life as a sailor in Eastern culture, the boys carry out what they see as a dignified death appropriate for a warrior and at the time of his death Ryuji has a vision of the honorable sailor’s death while at sea. However, Ryuji did not obtain an honorable hero’s death because he was killed with poison, a very Western approach to death, and according to the samurai code the only way to die honorably is to commit seppuku or the similar capital punishment. His death is never actually revealed and is a vital metaphor of the future death of a westernized Japanese culture. Mishima’s intent is to communicate that the Japanese people should be willing to stop the Westernization of Japanese culture at any means, in order to keep tradition and honor to the culture of Japan.
Mishima is a samurai who is not only loyal to his master, but also to the country of Japan and its people’s Eastern culture. The samurai holds Japanese traditional values to an even higher extreme than the Japanese people. However, even the traditional samurais are allowing the characteristics of an honorable death to be tainted by Western influence causing Mishima to question where the samurai’s true loyalties lie. Mishima displays the change in culture of the samurai and the Japanese by revealing how the Western traditions and culture are replacing their own values. Mishima writes this novel to nationalize the younger, more easily influenced, Japanese audience and to promote a barrier against westernization in order to protect Japan’s eastern culture. As a community of loyal samurais, they need to be willing to stop any threats in order to preserve the Japanese culture and help restore honor to their nation, their culture, and their people.