Mishima Yukio's Critique of the "Human Emperor" - The Stir Caused by "The Voices of the Fallen," by Mishima Yukio
"We possessed a principle of love that prevented each individual from falling into isolation... This is what I meant... by saying "we should treasure Him because we need festivals.”"
Mishima Yukio's Critique of the "Human Emperor" - The Stir Caused by "The Voices of the Fallen"1
Mishima Yukio
— What do you think of the February 26th Incident?
That incident, which took place when I was eleven, had a very big psychological influence on me. The hero worship and feelings of frustration that I now have originate entirely in that incident. It goes without saying that I am a supporter of the Young Officers, who were called a rebel army. Later many books came out denouncing them as a rebel army, but when I read books of that sort I would get angry, tear them up, and throw them away. With the subsequent militarist politics that uprising was misused and thoroughly sullied. But the actions of the Young Officers held, so to speak, the possibility of becoming a Shōwa Restoration, and they were pure and based on a creed of national salvation.
That they were given the bad name of rebel army was a plot by the craven, cowardly, and cunning senior retainers that surrounded His Majesty and, by extension, the responsibility of His Majesty Himself, who accepted it.
His Majesty must dispatch an Imperial Envoy as soon as possible to clear the names of the bereaved.