Biography
Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970) was a Japanese writer, actor, model and film director. He was born on January 14th 1925, he had an older sister who died of typhus at the age of 17, and a younger brother. He was brought up until the age of 12 by his grandmother, a strict descendant of feudal lords who kept him almost isolated as she believed that he should not be connected with children of ordinary mortals. When the grandmother got sick, he returned to his father's house, having already begun to write poems and short stories, something his father didn’t like at all. In 1940 he published his first poems and after four years, because of the family pressure, he was enrolled at the Law School. In 1945, he was recruited but pretended to be ill and avoided the war front. In 1948 he published the "Confessions of a Mask" a work with many autobiographical details in which the protagonist talks about his homosexuality.In 1952 he traveled to America and Europe; back to Japan he got married and had two children. He became known all over the world with his writings and at the same time he directed and played in many films. Since 1964 he was learning Japanese martial arts and was photographed as a model. In 1967 he created his own army loyal to the emperor and begun the training in a camp. In that camp he entered on November 25, 1970, gave a speech to the soldiers against the westernization of Japan and in emperor's favor, and then he committed suicide. He is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century with most important works: Confessions of a Mask, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Sun and Steel