Yasunari Kawabata had Parkinson's disease), a possible illicit love affair, or the shock caused by the suicide of his friend Yukio Mishima in 1970. Unlike Mishima, Kawabata left no note, and since (again unlike Mishima) he had not discussed significantly in his writings the topic of taking his own life, his motives remain unclear. However, his Japanese biographer, Takeo Okuno, has related how he had nightmares about Mishima for two or three hundred nights in a row, and was incessantly haunted by the specter of Mishima. In a persistently depressed state of mind, he would tell friends during his last years that
Mishima Taisha Mishima Taisha The is a Shinto shrine in the city of Mishima in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the "ichinomiya" of former Izu Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on August 16, and features "yabusame" performances. The primary "kami" of Mishima Taisha is the , an amalgamation of and his consort Mishima Taisha also has numerous small subsidiary shrines dedicated to various "kami" within its precincts. The date of Mishima Taisha’s foundation is unknown. Per shrine tradition and Nara period records, the predecessor of the shrine was originally located on Miyakej-ima but was transferred later from