On November 25, 1970, author Yukio Mishima and handful of compatriots took the commandant of a military base hostage and commanded the attention of a nation. His men were armed only with samurai swords. With news helicopters buzzing overhead he asked the assembled soldiers at the base to rise up and proudly reclaim their manly national heritage.
He was rebuffed, as he expected he would be. Mishima left the balcony from which he was speaking and returned to the office where the horrified commandant and his loyal men looked on. Then, according to plan, he committed hara-kiri.
Mishima didn’t disembowel himself because he was depressed, or hopeless, or insane. He killed himself to make a point.
Mishima is a personal hero of mine and in the years since I discovered him I have observed the date of his departure and paused to reflect on the meaning of his artful human sacrifice.
Mishima called the Hagakure—an 18th century collection of reflections on the way of the Samurai— the “womb of his oeuvre.” He believed that post-World War II Japan had abandoned its virile warrior tradition in favor of becoming a commercialized, soulless nation synonymous with “flower arranging.” Given Japan’s current status as the global hub of Hello Kitty cuteness, he’s probably glad he’s dead.
Samurai, the men Mishima respected and probably romanticized, were known to have been fastidious about their appearances, and they sometimes wore makeup in preparation for death. A samurai wanted to leave a good-looking corpse—one that his enemies would respect as a worthy adversary.
This would seem related to contemporary interest in male vanity, but it isn’t. Today’s male vanity isn’t the vanity of strength and virility, but the soulless vanity of social decay. It is a passive-aggressive vanity, a vanity that seeks status and influence through being desired or pretty or pleasant-looking. It is not about being prepared to meet your doom with dignity and honor, but rather a trivial obsession with appearances for the sake of appearance alone. It is a decorative vanity, not a harmonious confluence of form and function.
In 1994, British journalist Mark Simpson coined the term “metrosexual” in a now infamous article titled “Here Come the Mirror Men.” He wrote:
“Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the Eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ, in television advertisements for Levis jeans or in gay bars. In the Nineties, he’s everywhere and he’s going shopping.”
It wasn’t Simpson’s fault. He was describing a change that was already happening. Men were being relieved of their responsibilities, relieved of purpose. No longer expected to bring home the bacon, men were free to busy themselves hunting the most fashionable fall “look” or the best moisturizer.
In hindsight, we know that men were ultimately unable to compete with women as avid consumers. A new generation of men may have embraced AXE and they may even “manscape,” but in most cases they are doing it for the same old reason: to impress chicks and get them in the sack. (We can call it “game” if you like.)
Women still generally get dressed up, as John Cougar Mellencamp noted, “for each other.” And that makes their vanity a full time obsession.
However, even that may be changing. On the heels of Simpson’s metrosexual, the Japanese, always on the bleeding edge, seem to have one-upped us in the worship of Cybele with their “Herbivore” men. The trend was spotted and named by Japanese pop culture columnist Maki Fukasawa in 2006, and it refers to males who are not interested in “the flesh” as more “carnivorous” men would be. They are interested in fashion and cosmetics and appearances, but they are not particularly interested in sex or finding girlfriends—though they are not necessarily homosexuals, either. The herbivores are males of little means, who are nevertheless obsessed with frivolous consumerism and passing fads. They seem to be perpetual teenagers, like many gays who follow celebrity gossip, fashion and pop culture fads well into middle age.
Some blame an economic slowdown and a scarcity of viable career options for young men. Others see an exciting move away from traditional gender roles. Feminists are tickled, of course.
In Manliness, Harvey C. Mansfield wrote that:
“…there is no backlash; there is only inarticulate resistance in the form of reluctance, a residual, bodily, behavioral unwillingness on the part of men to do their share in the upkeep of gender neutrality.”
If you are reading this, you are part of the articulate resistance. (So is Mansfield.) Japan’s herbivores give us a window into the future, and a key to understanding the reluctance of men to completely embrace feminism’s gender neutral ideal. When feminists encourage men to reject traditional notions of masculinity, they speak wistfully of the newfound freedom that lies just beyond the strict constraints of the manly ideal.
The problem is that over there, over the rainbow, is this. THIS is what feminism has to offer men. A gender neutral world offers men the freedom to be “herbivorous.” Feminism offers men the freedom to be weak, to be passive, and to be obsessed with fashion and cosmetics— safe from the cruel disapproval of manlier men. The aim of feminism is spiritual parricide—to purge society of all masculine ideals and do away with manly men altogether. Feminism offers men a set of freedoms they never asked for, never wanted. A gender neutral society offers men freedom to be effeminate and impotent.
What gain is this?
EPILOGUE
Somewhere in Tokyo, there is a loudspeaker barking something militant. As it approaches, we see a black van, and hear…
「諸君の中に一人でも俺と一緒に立つ奴はいないのか。」
“Among you gentlemen is there not one single person who will stand with me?”
The words are Mishima’s.
They are from his very last speech, given 39 years ago this week.
Jack Donovan is the author of Androphilia and the co-author of Blood-Brotherhood and Other Rites of Male Alliance. He lives in Portland, Oregon and works in the fitness industry.
He also runs the Yukio Mishima tribute site, Headlessgod.com
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
You raise some very important points, and I can’t disagree with you on them. I have to oppose the move towards metrosexuality if for no other reason than that I just plain don’t look good in swishy fashions.
You have pointed to a manly, if extreme, example for us as readers, but who will be that manly example for the boys of today? It seems that the feminists you have noted have done an excellent job of removing all of them, or at least hiding them from view. There’s certainly no shortage of good choices in our history.
I think the bigger problem with Japan today is not the effeminate herbivore, but rather the beaten down otaku- a man so demoralized by his interactions with women that he has given up, and retreated into a fantasy of 2d-love. Some of them are poor or dropouts (NEETs and the hikkikomori), but I’ve seen enough pictures of expensive “itasha” (cars decorated with anime characters) to believe that it isn’t just neckbeards living in mom’s basement. It is rather the men who used to stand resolutely not in the battlefield but on the shop floor and sit at office desks- in short, the men who made Japan Inc. work. Now they have nothing.
Danny Choo (son of Jimmy Choo, but don’t let that turn you off his page) had some interesting survey results up about Japanese women- “Japanese Women Compromise”:
“Results of a survey on schooling history and marriage up at Ameba show that only 20% of women don’t care about what education their prospective partner has had but 60% want their future husband to have attended a well known institute.
80% of women said that a salary of 5,000,000 yen generated by their prospective husband was the “compromise” that they would come to but ideally want 7,000,000 yen.
The average salary in Japan is about 3,800,000 yen…
”
Godzilla would be less damaging. Coming soon to a town near you!
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jack,
good write up.
operating on the assumption that japan has even more metrosexuals – “herbivorous men” – than America, i’ve often wondered why this is the case. i wrote a while back about japan’s need for a sense of seduction. the u.s. could be further down the metro line – a pink line for all those DC readers – if american men weren’t so concerned with getting laid. in this sense, our hedonism is a good thing.
the herbivores seem to have dropped out of society all together. i posited that possibly because of their history of arranged relationships and less of a “free market” courtship system, japanese guys don’t know how to relate to and woo japanese women. being scared, they just stay in their rooms and play video games or hang out with other dudes all the time. american men, because of the dearth of open sexuality in this country, are still chasing the carrot. also, i can’t imagine a group of japanese guys calling another guy a pussy for being unable to pick up a chick or follow through on a “lead”. this shaming keeps american men on their game.
again, interesting article, i wonder what you think are the roots of the differences in american and japanese men despite the fact that we’ve both been economically emasculated?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Speaking of samurai, check out this story:
Those swords work!
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
“I think the bigger problem with Japan today is not the effeminate herbivore, but rather the beaten down otaku- a man so demoralized by his interactions with women that he has given up, and retreated into a fantasy of 2d-love. Some of them are poor or dropouts (NEETs and the hikkikomori), but I’ve seen enough pictures of expensive “itasha” (cars decorated with anime characters) to believe that it isn’t just neckbeards living in mom’s basement. It is rather the men who used to stand resolutely not in the battlefield but on the shop floor and sit at office desks- in short, the men who made Japan Inc. work. Now they have nothing.”
I forgot who said it, but one person theorized that game has never really been a part of a lot of asian societies. Their structures for marriage and family formation have been more rigid than even traditional Christian ones prior to feminism. Even in the 1950s, game still had a small presence in America. There was never any need for game or seduction in Japan; I’m guessing in Japanese societies access to game related resources is much scarcer than in our societies. This is probably why they “give up” and drop out of the race at a higher rate.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
So the lip stick that Japanese samurai wore was a *confluence of form and function* and not at all decorative?
Have you ever seen the kind of clothing that the admittedly masculine Japanese warriors dressed in? *Decorative* would be an understatement.
For that matter, have you ever seen the kind of highly decorative clothing that was the norm amongst masculine, aggressive men in Europe until the 19th century – in other words, in the most virile, conquering centuries of Europe?
Is it some kind of coincidence that during Europes most virile and warlike centuries – including, perhaps especially, the Middle Ages – men were obsessed with fashion and male clothing was extremely colorful and decorative and great attention was given to personal appearance, and that the sober, somber, and dark garb that has come to be considered *manly* since the 19th century actually coincides with the advent of European decadence, feminization, and loss of virility?
In point of fact, the kind of non-decorative sober garb mistakenly considered essentially *manly* today began around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and represents a shift in the European mentality in two directions 1- away from imagination and poetry and towards a deification of *sober science*, and people wanted to reflect that in their appearance and 2 – a more egalitarian sensibility where decoration and colorful garb were stigmatized for being representative of an elite sensibility.
And it is this last point that is bears special emphasis – the decline in male interest in fashion, and the movement away from decoration and a desire for beauty and towards sobriety and ugliness in mens fashions, is an expression of the DECLINE of European culture, and more specifically, represents a DECLINE in the aristocratic, virile, hierarchical culture of Europe.
As such it is a hideous and deplorable development! It is a hostility to excellence and standards, not something to be applauded, and certainly not something that is masculine – perhaps the opposite. We should celebrate American vulgarity and declining standards? Its *masculine* to want to be slovenly and ugly?
Peh, not for me, thank you, and not for anyone who knows anything about history.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the metrosexuals appeared on the scene- sure, they commit some excesses, but maybe at least a more aristocratic sensibility is reemerging, and a the notion of standards and excellence is making a come back.
How has the modern world come to the – historically false – point where it is only *manly* to not care about how you dress and to scorn beauty and striving for distinction in personal appearance?
Whence comes this celebration of vulgarity ? This tragic conflation of vulgarity with *masculinity* is a vivid example of the cultural confusion and chaos we find ourselves in at the dawn of the 21st century.
Modern American men are a slovenly and coarsely dressed bunch with no sense of the damage they do to their personal dignity and self-respect by neglecting their personal appearance and neglect of *decoration* – we need to encourage the opposite tendency.
The metrosexual trend – read a return to elegance and refinement, a staple of upper class mans fashion since the dawn of civilization but today maligned as *feminine* by the self-appointed custodians of *masculinity* – is one of the most hopeful signs that our culture can show. Sure, they commit some excesses, but they are just coming out of the wasteland that has been mens clothing for the past few decades and are finding their feet.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Count me out as an “admirer” of the loathesome Mishima. He may have been gay (actually, that is a mark against him given his lack of understanding or interest in male-female dynamics) but his espousing of Japanese Militarism and Bushido is analogous, roughly, of a gay German marching up and down in Swastika regalia, and committing suicide because Germany had decided it had enough of a thousand year reich.
Mishima was indeed a failure. A failure as a suicide, a failure to affect culture, a failure to recognize and realize the total, complete, and absolute failure of Japanese Bushido and Militarism, which directly created the cult of the herbivore and the otaku.
Japanese culture had no alternative to the highly dominant, inherited, Samurai, and the groveling peasants, for men. NOTHING. Mishima’s failure was not recognizing how failed and repellent the samurai tradition was, which at its heart meant futile and stupid charges into American ships as Kamikaze or swords drawn into machine guns, for the “glory of the Emperor” and Hirohito’s desire for Pacific domination and greed.
Mishima had talent, but not a bit of understanding, indeed being gay he was totally irrelevant to the question considered by Japanese men post-War, which was “how do I get a girl (and keep her?)” The answer first was the salaryman, and a fairly rigid structure that kept women’s choices restricted. That fell apart in Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s, still going on by the way, with nothing for most Japanese men.
Westerners love Samurai movies, but the Japanese knew that only a few (who inherited the position) could be dominant, i.e. Samurai, and moreover that Samurai were a failure (their dominance led first to the Black Fleet in Tokyo Bay, unstoppable, and the US Army Air Force a century or so later, nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, unstoppable). [It is no accident that Godzilla movies have often the "scientist" who gadgets up a solution to Godzilla or the monsters as hero, and the military is a joke.]
Japanese men in an industrial society turning post-Industrial won’t (and cannot given the population/space pressures) thug it up, and the Samurai themselves were greatly constrained. Salarymen are out, too, and Herbivores and Otaku are just opting out. The way guys in the US who are gamers, or Game PUA, or MGTOW are (none follow the traditional pattern of marriage).
Mishima, a gay uber-Nationalist and militarist, was doomed from the start to never find any takers for his vision of a “real” militarist Japan. Of course salaryman Japan ignored him, they were busy making things at Honda, at Toyota, at Sony, at Panasonic, at Nintendo! With a system that demanded tremendous work but offered a place and (importantly) a woman of his own, with little danger or violent death.
It is the collapse of THAT model, analogous to the collapse of the “good life” in the US (own house and marriage, kids, for working class White men) that created this crisis.
It is not feminism really, more the economic collapse coupled with women’s freedom to be thug-choosers appropriate to culture/nation/status.
Like or Dislike:
2 
1
Jon,
May I offer you a fan?
Jack,
Heh.
If its *decorative*.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jon,
is it true that men in the Middle Ages – I mean *average* men – wore bright clothing and cared so much about their appearance, or is that the nobles, princes, and such?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Of course.
“Its *masculine* to want to be slovenly and ugly?”
I think wanting to dress-up and be decorative heads a little too far toward the other extreme. Apart from minor decoration to show rank, ‘dressing elegantly’ carries a hint of vanity in it that repels many men who have a more stoic nature. The peacock is as disagreeable to me as the slob. But no man in simple dress, particularly if it is practical for the life he leads, evokes any sense of vulgarity or conceit. A farmer dressed in those clothes most suitable for his climate, whether it be the glens of Scotland, the great plains of the MidWest, the Afghan highlands or Outback Australia, always looks like an authentic man, and essentially masculine. Everything else seems false to me – either a little or a lot.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
On Mishima: He also wrote extremely well the character of the irrational, emotion-ruled woman who will can switch from loving a man to hating him upon first whiff of betatude. Check out Thirst for Love, or the Sound of Waves. Or, for that matter, Spring Snow.
In Thirst for Love, a wealthy woman chases after a beautiful young man for the entire novel with him being totally oblivious. When he finally gets the message and gets all eager and excited to be with her, she is disgusted and ends up killing him with a shovel while crying “rape!” The obliviousness turned her on, and the eagerness made her ill.
On the herbivores and metrosexuals: the NY Times did an article on a similar phenomenon in the US and I wrote it up here.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Chuck,
That would have been my argument if I’d cared to make one. It’s easy to trot out wealthy, privileged dandies from the top 2% of any society as examples of how “different” their men were from the “slovenly” Americans. It’s a sloppy and convenient distortion of history. The upper classes venerate themselves and have the leisure time to produce the most written evidence of their existence. I find it hard to believe that the majority of men who worked for a living in any age thought much of their nose-powdering elites.
The confusion of faggy/womanly vanity and the fastidiousness of say, Marines over their uniforms, is another mistake that men who have normal male friends rarely make. I’ve never been able to come up with the perfect words for it–and not for lack of trying–but there’s something very different going on there psychologically.
One time I was driving though a wealthy neighborhood with my Mexican co-worker, and he pointed to a very “decorative,” almost foofy, iron gate with a gold initial on it.
He shouted, “BAM! Bitches. How you like that! This guy wants you to know he is rich.”
Meaning that, to him, the extreme “decoration” was a symbolic advertisement of wealth and power…not quite the same as wanting to be surrounded by “beautiful things.”
What I am trying to get at is there are different motivations for doing the same thing, and I think that’s where the interesting discussion is when it comes to effeminate foppery in men. The why is the important question.
Master Dogen –
Yeah, Mishima wrote a lot of female characters, and it should be noted, actually was married and had two kids. The notion that he had no “understanding” of women or the male-female dynamic was so baseless that I ignored it. The repetitive mention of the fact that he was G-A-Y told me what the comment was actually about.
In reality, while he was certainly bisexual, he was not “gay” in the way that people would think of “gay” now. He wasn’t separated out or living in some gay cultural bubble–he was a part of mainstream Japanese culture and one of the most popular and admired authors of his day.
Chuck –
The nobles – that is, the military class. The men who dedicated their lives to fighting wars and who were the most virile and masculine of their society.
The plebians were actually forbidden to dress too sumptuously or nicely as it would be an aspiration towards a social privelage they were not allowed to possess.
Pierced – I hear what you are saying, but you are expressing what is essentially a very modern sensibility which is of fairly recent origin and has its twin roots in notions of equality – the idea that *simple* is necessarily good – and in a veneration of science and utility – the idea that decoration is not *functional*, is not utilitarian, and everything not strictly functional is bad.
Historically, masculinity was considered perfectly compatible, if not enhanced by, great care for personal appearance – it was considered an essential expression of aristocratic excellence.
I understand when you say you find peacocking distasteful – I agree some metrosexuals can go to excess – but we shouldnt swing to the opposite extreme of elevating the common and undistinguished.
Or if you have a personal preference for the simple, that is fine, but one must admit, based on the volumnious evidence of history, that masculinity is quite compatible with sumptuous dress.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Um, actually Mellencamp only did a cover version. “Wild Night” was originally Van Morrison’s tune. Credit where credit is due.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jon,
What matters is the “why.”
The examples you are using vary widely, as do the reasons for and symbolism surrounding various kinds of ornamentation.
There is dandyism of the modern variety throughout history.
There is also a long history of manly disdain for a particular kind of fussy vanity.
sestamibi -
Fair enough, thanks for the correction.
Hmmm, what is becoming quite clear in your post above is that your hostility towards decoration and distinction in dress is an expression of the *common mans* disdain towards any claims to aristocratic distinction or excellence.
Fair enough – I dont go in for veneration of the common man but at least I now understand better what is motivating you.
What cannot be claimed, objectively, based on the ample record of history, that virility is incompatible with decorative dress. Historically, virility is more commonly found together with decorative dress than without it. Knights and kings of the Middle Ages, Samurai wearing makeup, 18th century brutal colonizers wearing wigs and stockings and high heeled shoes as well as lipstick and foundation – the list goes on and on. These were mainstream mens fashions in the tough, warrior elite.
Instead of dressing it up as masculine simplicity vs effeminate foppery, which sort of turns historical reality on its head, be more honest and pit your veneration of the common man vs claims of aristocratic distinction.
Then we know where we stand.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
My post above, Jack, refers to two posts of yours above, not the one directly above.
Regarding dandyism and foppery, I agree with you that male dress CAN go to excess and end up in effeminacy – I dont think the question is so much one of motivation, but one of degree. Excess of ANYTHING is usually a vice.
But drawing our standards from modern day sensibilities which are themselves far from timeless but highly conditioned by a particular historical epoch – rather than from the long roll call of history, seems not to be the right way to go.
Modern American men suffer from a lack of culture and tendency to slovenliness and *letting themsleves go* – to return to the standards of excellence of former times, we must correct this tendency, not encourage it.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Actually, upon reflection, there’s a lot in Mishima about the meaning of aesthetic perfection.
I don’t have a point, just the comment thread and thinking back through all various Mishima books…
In Spring Snow, Kiyoaki (did I remember that name correctly?) catches just a glimpse of the side of the Princess’s face as a child and it becomes his ideal of female perfection for all time, and later gets grafted onto his intense love for Satoko. (Really an amazing ending if you have not read that book.)
In The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, the ugly young monk is so infuriated by the perfect beauty of the temple on the lakeside that he burns it down.
Actually, now that I think about it, Mishima’s books are themselves a really great example of the intersection of action and aesthetic beauty. They alternate between lush description and intense psychological action. Once I tried to underline and identify every authorial device used to intensify the lived experience of the reader in one of his books (The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea) but I gave up after five pages because there were literally too many to count.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jon,
“Modern American men suffer from a lack of culture and tendency to slovenliness and *letting themsleves go* – to return to the standards of excellence of former times, we must correct this tendency, not encourage it.”
I’m not a historian, but it seems that we are somewhat post-fashion in a way. We have come to grips with what clothes are and what they reprsent and we have now alternatingly rebeled and embraced fashion.
Metrosexuality isn’t an embrace of culture; it’s an embrace of some androgynous ideal. There’s a male fashion designer named Tim Gunn who accentuates culture in fashion. I’ll point out that he’s gay, but his clothing doesn’t come close to emasculated metro wear. He advises wearing tailored suits and ties and blazers and such. The men he makes over still look like men (and not closer to women) while pulling off what one would call “culture”.
So I guess I agree in essence with what you’re saying just that metrosexualism isn’t a reach towards culture; its a reach toward counterculture.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I was watching “To Kill a Mockingbird” with my dad for some reason (no idea why), anyway, he pointed out that men really did use to sit on their porch in full suits like Gregory Peck did in that movie. Old black and white movies are excellent source of manly fashion.
I have a copy of Spring Snow around here somewhere. I’ll have to get around to reading it at some point.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I am grateful to you Jack Donovan for reminding me about Mishima. I remember the incident of this suicide. Of course at the time I could not really understand or relate to it the way I can now. It seems such people saw ahead far better than I was ( or indeed am) able too.
As for make up I can not say too much except to add that if we where talking about what some people call primitive societies we would be calling it war paint and not make up at all.
I wonder if there is not an element of preparing the body for death in all this so called decoration.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jon,
This is the least important thing I could possibly think of to worry about concerning American men. Which is exactly the point. What you’re encouraging is completely superficial, which is also the reason that it points away from the masculine. Masculinity is active, and is first concerned with action, function and substance. Manliness does not reject beauty or refinement, but it places it in the correct perspective.
Obsession with beauty or refinement–when it is not one’s occupation–is regarded as womanly because women, especially women of means, had very little else to concern themselves with. What you are advocating in men only ever truly occurred in a privileged leisure class that could afford to concern itself with the impractical. Encouraging this in common men on the edge of a recession is exceptionally foolish.
Your self-congratulatory aristocratic snobbery really isn’t impressive to anyone but other self congratulatory aristocrats–or proles desperately trying to identify with aristocrats to raise their social standing.
Honestly I am not in favor of a return of “aristocratic dress” codes. They are not very functional or comfortable and they are mostly a PITA. They also reflect vanity, which is a feminine trait, and not a masculine one. I much prefer the simple, comfortable clothes that prevail today over some kind of created, cultivated and constructed pseudo-appearance based on standards of masculinity (and concrete male privileges) that no longer exist. That would be another example of hemming in men with the past restrictions and expectations on behavior without any concurrent rights and privileges (and we all know that the latter are not coming back any time soon).
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Keep in mind that the Samurai evolved from a rough and tumble warrior class to something more akin to an aristocratic class that practiced swordplay as well as poetry, painting, and flower arranging. As wars became less significant towards the end of the Samurai era, the Samurais became more warrior-poet types, more philosophical, and probably more dandied up. This is a vague recollection of Samurai history. I may need to be corrected.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
That’s my understanding as well, Jabberwochie. I’m certainly no expert on Japanese history, but “the way of the pen and the sword” was the result of peace and giving these guys something to do. The Hagakure, where Mishima got a lot of his inspiration, was in some sense a samurai rejecting what he saw as the trend toward softness. He had never seen battle, and was forbidden to kill himself when his master died, so he quit and became a monk.
Mishima, being first of the pen, believed that, for him, that balance could only be reached through taking some sort of action.
Let’s everyone remember the real tragedy of Mishima’s life: hysterical overcompensation. Equally terrified by his Hitler-worshipping father and smothering, invalid grandmother, what choice did he have but to let half-baked bull-fruit Bushido blow his mind? A brilliant writer nonetheless.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Chuck – thats fair. I cant defend everything about the metrosexual movement, but like all movements it has its silly excesses and overreaches – some examples of metrosexualism make even me retch – but overall it represents a healthy trend, in my view – a move away from slovenly neglect which has come to characterize the American male and towards a sense of *standards*. Since this trend is in its infancy, it makes sense that it will commit some excesses before finding its balance.
I dont support androgyny, blurring of gender roles and boundaries, and effeminate men , for the record. Im trying to suggest that masculinity and distinction in dress and personal appearance are not antagonists, as the reigning American male ideal has had it for about a century, but historically are close allies. We need to return to that historically normal state.
One more point – its important that we recognize that we recognize the historical particularity of our modern sense of whats male, female, and androgynous. To us it seems like make-up, for instance, is irreducibly and irrevocably female, yet both Samurai and 18th century European noble-warriors – both virile men in one of their respective countries most virile epochs – wore make-up without blushing.
We need to realize that our modern sense of gender appropriate clothing is historically conditioned and is far from representing some timeless ideal. Ancient Romans wore *skirts*.
Jack D -
You fail to realize that the effeminacy of modern Western culture and the decline in standards of dress are twin phenomena with one single, common root – the modern hostility to excellence, personal distinction, and hierarchy – in short, the plebianism of modern culture. It is assuredly no coincidence that both feminism and decline in standards of dress appeared at about the same time in the
world – they are both expressions of the same rot eating away at the basis of Western culture, along with a myriad of other symptoms as well.
Concern with appearances is very far from being superficial, my deluded friend – being surrounded by dignified, beautiful, and imposing people, buildings, and objects has palpable and far reaching effects on the spirit, mind, and personality.
Have you ever lived for long in countries with still living traditions, unlike ours? I have, in East Asia and Continental Europe. People take great care to look good, and the total effect is striking – you live and walk amongst people who have not *let themselves go*, and you are spiritually fortified and emotionally strengthened.
Simply let men dress well again, and youd be surprised at the psychological regeneration that would occur. Im not saying, obviously, that all our problems would be solved, but it would have a palpable effect far greater than you seem capable of recognizing.
The disdain for beauty – outward appearance – is of ancient pedigree in Western thought, and traces its origin to the Christian disparagement of things of this Earth. It is a disastrous and nihilistic strain of thought that rears its head throughout the centuries, and its always destructive. Not to mention, its psychologically superficial – in this day when material realities are once more appreciated, its time to retire that ugly prejudice.
I am not recommending *obsession* with beauty on the part of males – but considering that for the past century complete neglect has come to be considered *masculine*, clearly the task is to push male culture towards beauty and concern with personal appearance, not away.
I am so infinitely weary of this primitive vision of masculinity in which the lowest common denominator male, the menial labourer, is taken as the standard, and his grunting, sweaty tastes are enthroned as the *masculine ideal* – neglect of dress, preoccupation with physical strength, and coarse physicality.
This isnt masculine, this is merely plebian. You are merely resurrecting an age-old concept of manliness that has always had an honored place in American life and continues a very lively existence in the Nascar watching, Budwieser chugging regions of the country. Your ideal is live and kicking.
You may mock me for what you call my *aristocratic snobbery*, but the downfall of this country and the West in general was its abandonment of elitism. Any regeneration of the West means returning to an unabashedly aristocratic and elitist ideal, in which excellence and standards mean something again, and people strive to better themselves rather than *letting themselves go*.
Anyways I doubt well ever see eye to eye, Jack D – your vision of what it means to be a man seems hopelessly wrong to me.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jon,
You’re offering a silly dandy’s solution to real problems. “Dress for success” is not a serious approach to repairing noble masculine ideals.
Your characterization of my vision for what it means to be a man is a straw man based on an urban Europhile’s xenophobic middle American nightmare. (I’m an atheist making references to Mishima and Sir Richard Burton and you’re connecting me with Nascar and Christianity.)
Masculinity is innately hierarchical, but the elitist systems you put on a pedestal were based on inherited wealth, not merit. Meritocracy is ideal, aristocracy privileges people who have earned nothing. Simply being born into wealth is no sin, and some people born into wealth do great things with it, but those born wealthy who waste their lives playing dress up for parties are all the more despicable for it.
I do not advocate the Larry the Cable Guy/Homer Simpson version of masculinity. There is something to be said for honest, simple men. But the retarded slob is no ideal. In fact, that plays right into feminist misandry. However, the solution is not to make men more like women or encourage them to waste their time at the Macy’s cosmetic’s counter. There are plenty of great, strong men in history who were neither fey fashionistas nor dull thugs.
Your white gloved vision of masculinity is and always will be meant for a tiny minority of men. As such, it really isn’t relevant for the majority, and never has been.
Strength, as I’ve broadly defined it–not as you’ve repeatedly mis-characterized it–is the prime element of masculinity. You acknowledge as much in your defenses of refined men. You’ve been quick to add that they were often military men–which is as good as saying “see, they ARE masculine because they are STRONG and they DO wield deadly force). This offends your elitist sensibilities, so you refuse to admit the primacy of strength and reach for abstract values that anyone–including women–could embrace just as easily.
Strength is only as unrefined as you make it. A sword still has to cut, but men of means can certainly appreciate a beautifully made sword. When a sword becomes merely decorative, however, its function moves from the authentic to the artificial. Artifice is essentially feminine, because it betrays a lack of confidence in what one IS. Artifice is passive aggressive; it conceals and disguises. You used the example of samurai armor, much of which is, I agree, quite beautiful. But exquisite samurai armor that falls apart at the slightest hit is frivolous.
This whole thing comes back around to Mishima, who, as Master Dogen noted was quite obsessed with beauty. As a young writer he was an Oscar Wilde style dandy with a passion for more delicate sorts of beauty. But as he grew older, he developed an appreciation for manly beauty. There is an aesthetic quality that is particularly masculine; I would add that strength is at the root of that. Manly beauty is a bit heavier, a bit harder, a bit more functional, and in terms of decoration draws from manlier themes. The topic of a manly aesthetic is an interesting one (men were the majority of artists for the last several thousand years) but this is probably not the correct forum for it.
You might imagine that I’m sitting here watching tractor pulls as I write this, and I suppose that’s understandable, but once I was a naive young man going to art school in New York City, spending countless hours at the Met, in awe of John Singer Sargeant paintings and ancient works of art. I actually used to believe that the solution to the imbalance created by feminism is for men to become sexual objects of the same kind. However, as time went on I came to realize that the nature of male beauty was completely different, and could never be the same. Men could never wield exactly the same kind of power women do sexually, but they have something different, something powerful. There is a different kind of beauty there, rooted in strength, refined by honor, rooted in function and a particularly masculine nobility of the soul that women can barely even emulate.
I use this quote on my blog, and I used it to open my first book. you may appreciate it.
Righteous. My favorite author.
This is the most touching and profound passage I’ve ever read in all of literature.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
””””’It is not about being prepared to meet your doom with dignity and honor””””’
It does not matter what some people do. Men will still face death singing their death song.
I have done it multiple times. I called the family told them I would not be coming back said goodbye and walked out to thirty people with a smile on my face because I really didn’t care if I died at that point wasn’t going out like a pussy. Really though once you go through that and live to many times. I think you become like a ghost and shit on this earth no longer matters quit so much. To have a good death to your liking you just need to plan how you will react in the situations where it would happen so that when you time comes you don’t beg and plead for another chance at life you go singing your death song. Shit the first time I went out for a point wearing blue and red bandanas and I went down swinging.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I don’t know if the otaku and hikkikomori have been beaten down by their interactions with women so much as by the educational system. A great number of hikkikomori are in their teens and begin by skipping school. Traditionally, the system is cutthroat competitive, and once you’re into (or not…) a famous private school your future’s determined. Your place in the social hierarchy pinned. Name value is everything. You go to Tokyo University and the world is your oyster.
I’m in the Kobe area and in our area Nada junior high and high school is the top school (further away are Junshin and Hakuryou, in Himeji). A high percentage of the graduates of Nada-kou get into Tokyo University, so the pressure is intense. The number of applicants that sit for the exam, is 15x the available number of places. Kids start cram school in preparation from third grade of elementary school. I’ve seen cram schools advertised to help kids get into the right *kindergarten*. It’s insane. Public high school isn’t compulsory, so even the kids who don’t dream of Nada-kou have exam pressure all through junior high, and their grades determine which high schools they can take a test for. Along with grades is the student’s file , the ‘naihinshou’ which even parents can’t see . In it are notes on each student from each teacher and God knows what else…….the naishinshou plus grades can make or break you.
Now after the huge bubble burst here in the late 80s and early 90s even going to Nada and Todai (Tokyo U) doesn’t guarantee you lifetime employment, or a good position. The job situation is even more dire for those who decided not to go on to college at all, at only 48% finding employment. Notable (and shocking) this year was the news in January of the withdrawal of employment promises at the end of last year by several companies….graduates had three months to try and find other jobs before graduation in March. Company prospects worsened so much since December that they could not afford new hires. It’s unheard of for a company to withdraw offers.
I can see how we’d get a class of people who’d think ‘why bother?’ The otaku I don’t know much about, I don’t know what drives them.
If Mishima was allied with the Uyoku (the black bus guys mentioned at the end of this piece) then it’s no wonder he was ignored. The Uyoku (Right Wing Militarists) are an odd group who patrol in armored buses blaring slogans at 130 decibels on Sundays and holidays in city centers, calling for shredding of the Constitution, for Japan to rearm, become a nuclear power, and banish the barbarians from Japan (their words). Flakes. Dangerous flakes.
And yes, the swords are lethal. A good one in trained hands can sever the spinal column in a single slash. They use bamboo to practice with, as well as the straw dummies mentioned above.
I still don’t see extreme examples of metrosexuals myself in public, Tokyo is a world of it’s own, we don’t see everything that’s touted as ‘what’s happening now’ in Tokyo as seeping all that much into lifestyles outside the metropolis. The magazines and TV scream a lot if things, I don’t know how many actually are listening. Our son is 26, I know a great many of his friends and they don’t primp much …that’s at least 25 Japanese men accounted for
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
About the schools- I had meant to mention two things (you’d think I could have squeezed them into that long post….) , one is that kids are so determined, and their parents so brainwashed into believing the school hype that we have a spate of suicides every February/March, both boys and girls who didn’t get into the school of their choice.
Second was the speech that the principal gave at my son’s public junior high their first day there . Our son didn’t get into private school, we tried without subjecting him to the cram school nightmare, and he didn’t succeed. We however, didn’t treat it as the end of Life As We Know It. Anyway , the principal starts out with ‘Okay, well, the smart kids all went elsewhere, and now we’re left with you guys’ to which I heard sniffles in the audience. Jesus!! A few mothers become completely neurotic in the few years leading up to the exams, it’s bananas….
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
””””””””There is a different kind of beauty there, rooted in strength, refined by honor, rooted in function and a particularly masculine nobility of the soul that women can barely even emulate. ”””””””””’
It is the fact of men being given nothing that allows them to take everything.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Gunslingergregi –
I think you more or less just summed up the basic gist of the Hagakure.
I haven’t had the experience myself and probably won’t, so I can’t say I identify with it personally, but I see some of my pals go through similar thought processes. Two of them are mentally preparing to go into the military. I’ve read it referred to as a “manly nihilism.”
It’s something Mishima was really interested in and wrote about…especially in Runaway Horses. I didn’t really “get it” until I read him. It’s a powerful gesture, to walk toward death, to choose it, to prefer it to a life of progressive dishonor with the volume turned down. It makes everything else seem trivial by comparison.
crella -
I can’t imagine what is so insanely flaky about thinking your (still) economically powerful country should be independent and armed, two generations after losing a war. Ditto for Germany. How long are you going to allow your nation to be militarily impotent as punishment for a war that ended in 1945?
I’d rather Japan had nuclear arms than North Korea or Iran.
“I can’t imagine what is so insanely flaky about thinking your (still) economically powerful country should be independent and armed, two generations after losing a war.”
You’ve never seen these guys in action? They all wear fatigues or blue uniforms with boots, have buzz cuts and drive armored buses and vans with the windows painted black. They are stationed outside Yasukuni Ginja, the fallen soldiers memorial most days and although they have no right to, they intimidate anyone they feel shouldn’t enter the shrine. They bully people, blare music and create disturbances outside businesses, they’re thugs. Most people are afraid of them, they have ties to the underworld. They scream at foreigners on the street from the loudspeakers, to go the hell home. The average Japanese is ashamed of them. For once Wiki sums it up well–
“Uyoku dantai are well known for their highly visible propaganda vehicles, known as gaisensha (街宣車)–converted vans, trucks and buses fitted with loudspeakers and prominently marked with the name of the group and propaganda slogans. The vehicles are usually black, khaki or olive drab, and are decorated with the Imperial Seal, the flag of Japan and the Japanese military flag. They are primarily used to stage protests outside organizations such as the Chinese, Korean or Russian embassies, Chongryon facilities and media organizations, where propaganda (both taped and live) is broadcast through their loudspeakers. They can sometimes be seen driving around cities or parked in busy shopping areas, broadcasting propaganda, military music or Kimigayo, the national anthem.
Political beliefs differ between the groups but the three philosophies they are often said to hold in common are the advocation of kokutai (extreme nationalism), hostility towards communism and hostility against the Japan Teachers Union. Traditionally, they viewed the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and North Korea with hostility over issues such as communism, the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and the Kurile Islands.
Most, but not all, seek to justify Japan’s role in the Second World War to varying degrees, refute the war crimes committed by the military during the first part of the Shōwa era and are critical of what they see as “self-hate” bias in post-war historical education. Thus, they do not recognize the legality of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and other allied tribunals, consider the war-criminals enshrined in the Yasukuni shrine as “Martyrs of Shōwa” (昭和殉難者 Shōwa junnansha), support the censorship of history textbooks and the historical revisionism [1]
However, Uyoku dantai, especially groups affiliated with Yakuza syndicates, have many foreign members involved, such as Zainichi Koreans.[2][3] This is because Yakuza groups include many Zainichi Koreans. Moreover, it is difficult to arrest Uyoku dantai members because freedom of ideology is protected by the Constitution of Japan. This is one of the reasons why Yakuza groups use Uyoku dantai as camouflage.”
Why they have it in for the teacher’s union I have no idea. Maybe the history books? They want them all rewritten and it’s probably the uyoku that made death threats against a few history book authors for mentioning the Nankin Massacre. They swear it never happened.
As far as nukes go, there is a HUGE network of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb victims here, very active politically to squash the proposed abolition of Article 9 of the Constitution. Article 9 says that Japan can have a self-defense force only. As long as even one of them is alive and lobbying, Japan will never go nuclear. Every year they take a poll on the street and anti-nuclear weapon opinion still runs close to 80%. American subs and warships with nuclear warheads can’t even stop here unless it’s a grave emergency.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
That was Yasukuni Jinja’ sorry for the typo.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Because Yukio was gay,
he’s a darling of liberal literature college profs everywhere;
if he were straight – nope.
If Yukio M is the only example of masculine clarion call
Japan can muster
since fucking 1970
they don’t deserve another
nor do we
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
“he’s a darling of liberal literature college profs everywhere;”
Is he?
I dunno, because I learned about him on my own through various wacko right wing connections. He is widely recognized as a fascist (to the extent that serious fascists dig him), so I’s be surprised if he were truly a darling of left wing English profs.
Regardless of his sexuality, he “wrote 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays, one libretto, as well as one film.” If you’ve read a few of them, you know he was no sloppy amateur. He’s a significant and prolific writer.
“If Mishima was allied with the Uyoku (the black bus guys mentioned at the end of this piece) then it’s no wonder he was ignored.”
Rereading my post, I realized that that came out harsher than I intended, I’m sorry.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Read a great short article about the life and beliefs of Yukio Mishima @ http://www.toqonline.com/2009/06/yukio-mishima/
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Jack,
Dig the writeup, and glad to see the translation of the bus getting some good use. I’d like to comment on your statement that “He is widely recognized as a fascist (to the extent that serious fascists dig him), so I’s be surprised if he were truly a darling of left wing English profs.”
For the most part I agree 100%. The English professors I know who do like him and who are rather left-inclined like him because (true life quote), “He’s just so GAY!”
Then again, if you mention as I have the realities of his political orientation and beliefs about warrior ethos and militarism, the aforementioned left-loyal profs can’t seem to find much to say.
For what it’s worth, I dig the Uyoku Dantai dudes, and I dig Yasukuni Jinja. My best memories from Tokyo are hanging out at the shrine and talking to the blue jumpsuit guys. They’re tuned in. The rest of Dai Hello-Kitty no Teikoku is not.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Lisa, thanks again for that translation–yes, it was very helpful.
As I said this civilisation will collapse. Japan is dying, they will go extinct in near future, they have nearly no child! This is why female supremacy never existed, it’s a dead end! Feminism, it’s plain death.
We can recongnise the three to it’s fruits.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Yup. It’s suicide for any civilization.
The problem with both Japan and the Western nations is not so much the “metrosexualisation” of men (which is exaggerated, not one of my male friends is a “metrosexual”, and I’ve never so much as touched a tube of lipstick) but rather the use of militant feminism by cultural elites as a tool against motherhood and the continuation of society through the traditional family.
Yes, it is feminism which is death for civilisations – not the apparent decline in the willingness of menfolk to die for the wars of greedy politicians.
Just my view, anyway. Take it or leave it.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I agree with much of the comments here. I concur that feminism brings ruin to societies. The ‘herbivores’ are stereotyped as men who act feminine, but not all of them are feminine. Some men who seem ‘disinterested’ in women are really simply frustrated with feminists.
I’m a man who is not attracted to women who know how to act feminine, not women who try to act like men. There’s already a man in the house, I don’t need another.
I would rather remain single than date a feminist.
What caused so many young adults like this? The fact that BOTH parents went out to work. With both working, nobody was spending time with the kids and raising them properly. If you let the government raise your kids for you, you end up with this kind of gender-swapping ideology burned into their brains.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
{ 4 trackbacks }