Christopher Ross (1)

Famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima was beheaded with his own old sword in 1970 after stabbing himself in the stomach. Many have questioned a great deal about this remarkable suicide in the decades that have passed. Christopher Ross wondered, What on earth happened to Mishima’s sword? And so Ross sets off for Tokyo on a journey into the heart of the Mishima legend — the very heart of Japan. It was a country Ross knew well after nearly five years of living there, but nothing could have prepared him for this. While searching for the fabled sword, Ross encounters the rather startling range of those who knew Mishima—a world, or perhaps more accurately, a demimonde, of craftsmen and critics, soldiers and swordsmen, boyfriends and biographers (even the man who taught Mishima hara-kiri). The trail Ross follows inspires a travelogue of the most eye-opening—and occasionally bizarre — sort, a window into the real Japan that is never seen by tourists and the occasion for digressions on, among other things, socks and the code of the samurai, nosebleeds and metallurgy, and even how to dress for suicide. A captivating read, Mishima's Sword is ideal for anyone with an interest in anything Japanese, including gangsters, Genji, manga, and Mishima.… (más)

I enjoyed this - it's very much the kind of book that tickles my fancy. Not quite a memoir, nor a travel book, nor a biography - it's a kind of mixture of the lot. The author's search for the sword with which Mishima Yukio famously committed sappuku after a failed coup in 1970 leads him (literally) down alleyways and into cafes, encountering terribly polite yakuza gangsters, and ultimately realising that his quest was for something more than just a physical object.

What didn't quite hold up for me, unfortunately, were the points where it did sort of break into a memoir. I have no interest in the author's interest in martial arts. Nor do I really need pages of explanation as to how a sword is made. Maybe that's my bad, but I was drawn to the book because it was 'about' Mishima, and those were the parts which interested me more.

Nonetheless, it turns into an interesting and well-written meditation on his search, becoming more a philosophical musing as it meanders along. Having recently read Anna Sherman's 'The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City' I could not but compare the two, similar in approach as they are. This was published earlier, but I much preferred the Sherman book, so if this book on Mishima appeals to you I wholeheartedly recommend the other.

3.5 stars for an overall engaging read.… (más)

Surpassingly rich and delicate. Rather than a book about a person or his writing, this is a book about Japanese character and it's expression in life and in death. An essential adjunct to any biography of Mishima, but it is also one of a handful of books that gives some real insight into Japanese culture and history. Like Tal Streeter's 'The Art of the Japanese Kite', or Sherrill's 'Dog Man' this book focuses on one very small aspect of Japan, but in doing so illuminates a whole culture. Highly recommended.… (más)