Yukio Mishima Yukio Mishima Mishima was active as a nationalist and founded his own right-wing militia, the Tatenokai. In 1970, he and four other members of his militia attempted a "coup d'état" when they seized control of a Japanese military base and took the commander hostage, then tried and failed to inspire a coup to restore the Emperor's pre-war powers, in accordance with Mishima's conceptualization of the Kokutai. Mishima then committed ritual suicide by "seppuku". The coup attempt became known as the "Mishima Incident". The Mishima Prize was established in 1988 to honor his life and works. Mishima was born in the
Rokumeikan (play) Rokumeikan (play) Rokumeikan is a four-act costume drama by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. It was commissioned by the Bungakuza group for its 20th anniversary, and its first run was from 27 November to 9 December 1956 at the Daiichi Seimei Hall, with Haruko Sugimura playing Asako and Nobuo Nakamura playing Kageyama. The text was published in the December 1956 issue of "Bungakukai". The play was enormously successful, and toured the country. By many accounts, it was the most successful play by Mishima and has been revived on several occasions. An English translation by Hiroaki Sato was published in 2002.