The Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima

First published in a magazine called Shinchō as a serial between the months of Spring and Autumn in 1961, it was published as a book by Shinchōsha later that same year. Written by the revolutionary mind, Yukio Mishima, some think that the man is greater than the works he wrote. The novel was translated into English by Andrew Clare and published by Vintage International in 2018, it immediately became a smash hit. Penguin picked it up and added an introduction (one which I highly suggest). Now, we are here - where this book is still massively read today. Mishima's works are perhaps some of the most important to come out of that era of Japan, starring characters of great strain and tension, they reflect the political backdrop he was fighting against to make way for a brave new, modern world. One that was far more global.

Plot

The novel starts with a prologue in which there is a photograph of a man (Ippei) and his wife (Yuko along with a youthful Koji when they are standing smiling in a rural fishing village in Japan. In a newly fashioned graveyard, we see Ippei's grave is on the right, Koji's on the left, and Yuko's in the centre. Yuko's is reserved for when she will eventually die.

Koji has recently been released from prison and travels back to the village he is from. Yuko is waiting for him there and there is clearly tension in the air. Yuko closed her Tokyo shop a year ago, moved to Iro, and established the Kusakado greenhouse where Koji will now work. Yuko may hide some shame about rumours from the past, but she tries her hand at hope for Koji's future upon returning. Ippei stands waiting at the gate and Koji becomes absolutely terrified.

Two years earlier, 21-year-old university student Koji began working at Ippei Kusakado's ceramics shop in Ginza. Ippei, unhappy with his wife Yuko's lack of jealousy and boasting about his affairs, unknowingly fuels Koji's infatuation with Yuko, leading to their secret affair. Yuko knows about Ippei's infidelity and asks Koji to keep her suffering a secret from Ippei. ix months into their affair, Koji, disillusioned by the lack of dramatic confrontation when Yuko catches Ippei with a lover, impulsively and fatally attacks Ippei with a wrench he had found earlier that day, acting without clear motive.

Ippei suffers badly after the attack from Koji, including permanent injuries to his cranium and confusions in his thinking. During a picnic at a nearby waterfall, Koji, Yuko, and Ippei meet the priest Kakujin and stop at the village shrine. Yuko's disdain for the shrine and her sacrilegious actions frighten Koji. She taunts Ippei about "sacrifice" and "kiss," then provocatively kisses Koji in front of Ippei. Koji is angry at being used to provoke Ippei and Yuko reveals that she has manipulated him all along. Koji then strikes Yuko, finding her love has lost its magic.

Koji, drinking at the Storm Petrel bar, learns about Tejiro's estranged relationship with his beautiful daughter Kimi, who works at the Imperial Instruments factory in Hamamatsu. Kimi's presence causes jealousy among the village girls, and she carries a ukulele everywhere. Eventually, after going swimming and drinking with Kimi and her friends, Koji falls in love with her, using her as a stand-in for Yuko. However, he is not satisfied with Kimi, especially when he keeps comparing her to Yuko. As people fall in love with different people, someone has stolen the ukulele and others have vowed to protect his reputation.

Tejiro confesses to Koji that he raped Kimi and Koji is absolutely horrified. Kimi says goodbye to everyone, leaving to go to the factory. Yuko comes to Koji's room that night, telling him how she pricked the back of Kimi's hand with a hairpin as a warning to her. She compares it with what Koji did to Ippei and ultimately sees that her husband is approaching, letting out a loud scream. A typhoon passes and some days later Koji speaks with the priest about his predicament. Koji decides to confront Ippei on how he is pretending to be mentally disabled in order to boss around Yuko. But when asked what he actually wants out of life, Ippei's response is horrifying.

When Koji and Ippei meet back up with Yuko, Koji explains how he believes he is only alive for the sake of Ippei and there is this mutual understanding between all of them. Yuko states that they should go out on a boat and take lots of pictures.

The priest recounts that Koji and Yuko appeared at the temple some time later to confess to murdering Ippei. Koji was given the death penalty and Yuko was sentenced to life in prison. Requesting to be buried in between Koji and Ippei, Yuko is granted this one wish and states that only now can she serve the rest of her time in peace.

Into the Book

One of the most important themes in this book, I believe is psychological manipulation. Just how Yuko manipulates Koji, Koji is also manipulated by his own sense of impulse. When looking at the way he attacks Ippei in the earlier parts of the book, we can see that he is clearly attracted to the idea of beating him with the wrench. However, when it comes to confronting the reason and the motive, it remains a little bit hazy as to how it happens. A concentration on the wrench as an object of power is symbolic of the fact that Koji never really feels like he has any power whatsoever. So, he tries to get it the only way he knows how, through committing violence against a man who has the woman Koji loves in his grasp and yet, treats her incredibly badly.

At the time, I could no longer endure that putrid world; a world bereft of logic. It was necessary that I impart some logic into that world of pig’s entrails. And so you see, I imparted the cold, hard, black logic of iron. Namely, the logic of the wrench.

- The Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima

Another big theme is the ugliness of reality in comparison to the fantasist world. One key example of this is when Koji begins a relationship (if you can call it that) with Kimi, even though it leaves him yearning for Yuko. He believes that Kimi could possibly be this stand-in, filling in a gap for him but she does not serve that purpose. This idea is shattered entirely when Koji learns that Tejiro, after the death of Kimi's mother, raped Kimi after seeing she looked a lot like a character on a scrap he shows Koji. Kimi is Tejiro's daughter and so, to Koji, this ugly reality forces him to almost see into Kimi's soul the next time he encounters her.

When Kimi comes to say goodbye, Yuko is standing there and clearly directs her rage at Koji, not Kimi. In fact, unlike Koji, Yuko feels sorry for Kimi in a way that Koji could never really connect with. The ugliness of the reality is therefore spurned on by the pricking of Kimi's hand as a warning against Koji. This act of protection through anger is something that Kimi would not have experienced before after being raped by her father. Even though the scene is filled with tension, we can see that the ugliness of reality is masked by the anger of Yuko towards Koji - the reality of his relationship with Yuko is about to change forever.

The anguish she felt at not having a crime to her name like the one he committed had grown in intensity. Ever since the picnic that day at the waterfall, this thought had rooted itself blackly in her mind – she wanted to compete with Koji’s crime, to somehow be able to own a crime like his in order to at least stand beside him.

- The Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima

This leads us into the world of appearances. This is not only done through the fact that Tejiro believes that picture he shows Koji looks a lot like Kimi, but it is also done through the requirement of people to keep up appearances and look like things are not bothering them. Yuko does this with Ippei's infidelities. Koji finds he must do this with Kimi after learning about what her father did to her. It becomes a big circle of nobody ever telling anyone else how they truly feel out of the idea it will come crashing over them. This is why Koji's attack on Ippei is so shocking. We all know that Ippei is a bad guy, but Koji would have been better simply keeping up appearances instead of taking out his anger on the guy causing the problems. That is the logic of the characters in the book.

...the mediocre concealment of human shame, the irony of keeping up appearances...

- The Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima

Why It's a Masterpiece

Most of the time, this novel is considered a minor work from Mishima's middle period but since its translation into English, it has grown more popular as a work of pure depravity, signalling the genius of Mishima even in his novels which are not considered as famous as others.

Some magazines in Japan around the time of its initial publication called it an authentic view of love whilst also referring to it as 'pure literature' even though it was highly controversial in its subject. Many referring to it as a crime novel whilst others stated it was more neo-romantic than anything else. But that is the beauty of this novel, it cannot simply be categorised by one or two genres. It is an accumulation of many, used in incredible ways to create a beautiful story.

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoed reading this article about Yukio Mishima's The Frolic of the Beasts and I also hope that this inspires you to read some Mishima novels, even if it is not this one. His books are both loving and tragic, often reflecting the political turmoil of the time and place he was living. But if I were to be honest, I have never seen a modern author from Japan to have such a great impact on the English speaking world as he has.

Next Week: Seize the Day by Saul Bellow