Listen to the episode here.

It’s a wild week.

Angie kicks things off by telling the story of D’Artagnan and really fleshes out the whole story. Come for this guy’s quick rise to power and his ability to stay one step ahead of all the palace intrigue. Listen for the point where Angie shatters Theresa’s thoughts when she tells her that D’Artagnan actually outranked Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

Theresa veers off in a different direction for her story as she tells us about the life of Yukio Mishima. This man was an author, director, actor, producer… he did all of the things. He also attempted a coup to reinstate the Japanese emperor to greater power.

This episode pairs well with:
Lucy Hay the Countess of Carlisle
Yoshiko Kawashima

Transcript

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast were two compulsive, absolute nutjobs. Join forces and tell each other the stories they’ve only recently learned and have bombarded their family members with non-stop until the moment they can join forces and tell their co-host. I’m host one, I’m Teresa, and that’s co-host two. I’m Angie. 

Angie: I’m apparently still writing my notes because I was just looking at them and like I put two words together that don’t belong together. 

Theresa: That bodes well, especially when you go first. 

Angie: It’s okay. It was just a source date and name, so it worked out just fine. But holy crap, I do go first. 

Theresa: You do, yeah, because last week I did the historically true last samurai. 

Angie: Yeah, and I took him off my list, you giant jerk. 

Theresa: Look, I’m going to be a giant jerk. It’s just a question of how I’m a jerk face this week. 

Angie: You know, at least you’re honest with yourself, you know? I mean, why lie? Exactly. Okay. Well, hello then. Now that I’ve got my notes sorted, I feel like this story that I am about to tell you that I’m just going to jump in has been a long time coming and I was going to wait until summer, but it seems that I’ve been called out. Called out? Without further ado, I’ve been called out by you, in fact. Oh, I mean… Without further ado, I’m going to tell you the story of Datane. 

Theresa: Oh, yeah, because he was discovered and I was upset that you knew this, didn’t tell me, and I was the one who sent you the news article and you’re just like, yeah, old news. You didn’t even pretend that I was the source of your information. I’m so sorry. 

Angie: But I think we have well established that my algorithm for news is not normal people news, so that was at the top of the news cycle for me that day. 

Theresa: You know what? This checks. I’m not even going to complain because I think we all build our algorithm brick by brick. 

Angie: And sometimes it just be dropping you off in the weirdest places, but you’re not even mad. You’re like, yeah, okay. I know it. 

Theresa: I know how I got here. Yeah, I needed the necro pants. 

Angie: No one needs the necro pants. I’m going to keep my mouth shut now. Actually, this is what I will say. The necro pants need no one, but people’s response to necro pants is needed because it is freaking hysterical. And no, you still do not have my consent. I love you with all of my heart and soul, but I’m not going to let you wear my legs. 

Theresa: It’s fine that I’ve been capris anyhow. You short legged chicken. 

Angie: And besides, I think it has to be man pants, doesn’t it? 

Theresa: Look, women got a coin purse too. It’s just a bit more. Got a dollar bill purse. 

Angie: Yeah, honestly, better than coins. True. You’ve got to hold that money. Right. Too far? All right. My notes, my sources. The Real D’Artanian History, The Interesting Bits by a March of 2016 article from Sharon Bennett Conley. 

I did include the Smithsonian’s article on does this skeleton found names of Dutch church belong to D’Artanian, the man who inspired the musketeers. It is from Sonia Anderson. She is a daily correspondent for the Smithsonian. 

It was dated March 27th of this year. The lovely Wikipedia page. Mostly because the Wikipedia page had a really keen understanding of all of his names. It’s kind of absurd. 

Theresa: All of his names? Is he going to be like another General Lafayette, 12 names later? 

Angie: Yeah, because he’s French. So the French Military Museum, the Musée d’Almi, has a really awesome spread of articles on the musketeers and on French military of the time. I could probably spend an entire day just playing on those handful of pages. There is a, for lack of a better way to describe this, it’s called Join Us in France.com. They are a blog and podcast all about tourism. And so this particular episode covers the area where he was born and so by default, him. 

That is produced by Annie Sargent and Elise Riven. Then there’s Le Mode d’Artagnan and it, this particular source just sort of tells the story of why the story of D’Artagnan is so hard. Because of the amount of, shall we say, extracurricular writing that went into the story of D’Artagnan because there’s a true story and then there’s the myth, right? Then there’s the legend. And then there’s what Crystal Donald did with the character. 

Right. So there’s a lot of stuff to sort of unthread and that website had a great explanation. And then the Crossroads Magazine has an article, the Talking About D’Artagnan. 

It’s death written by Hailey Schmidt in 2006. So with all that said, sweet baby Charles Vastacassimore was born sometime between 1611 and 1615 at his family home, the Chateau de Cassimore in Loupiac in Gascogne. So for context here, this is the beautiful southwest region of France. Now, according to Wikipedia that I read on him, his father, Bertrand de Batts, he’s the Lord of Castlemore and the Signore de Plaint. And he is the son of a newly minted merchant who is like sort of rolling in the dough. His name is Arnaud de Batts and he had been the one to purchase the castle. 

So like three generations would have lived in this castle so far. So that’s not a bad term, Bertrand. Not new money, right? Right? 

Yeah. And his mother is, I’m so sorry if I butcher this, this is the hardest name in here. His mother is Francois de Montesquieu. She is the daughter of Jean Signore de Plaint. So the world at the time that he was born in is super convoluted. So without like getting into the backstory of like France at the time, just know he is raised in a really interesting time in France. And he leads this life, like the life we know he led. 

And it’s wild, right? But what we don’t take into account is that like it came from somewhere. The original writings of D’Artagnan were written by a man called Gation Cordelis de Sondre. And he is this author about 80 years after the death of D’Artagnan that learns about him and is like, holy cow, we got something to work with here. And he proceeds to write a four volume memoir of his life. 

Four volume. But it’s based in like, it’s not all 100% accurate. He learns the whole story like based on the documents and like, you know, court records, church records, things like that. And then sort of just embellishes what he doesn’t know. And forever, it seems to me that people know that what he’s writing is not 100% true, but they’re like, they take it for that’s what it is and just enjoy it. And then our guy, our guide, Mont, he picks it up, his, this previous writer’s writing and is like, wow, okay, let’s do it. 

Let’s, let’s take this memoir and write it into the D’Artagnan romance that includes several more books. And he knows his source has been fictionalized, but he runs with it anyway. And he then proceeds to make it seem legit in the first pages of the book for the believability of the three musketeers. 

So like, we know they’re real. We know all of these events that are described in the book happen in one way or another, but how they happen might not be exactly how he says. And so basically, Dumont does it for the plot, right? 

Like, he knows what he’s doing and he’s, he’s okay with it. So all that said, D’Artagnan’s actual story is buried in all of this lore and there’s a lot of teasing out of the actual facts, but either way, his life is incredible. So we don’t know much about his childhood. He does have several, several siblings, two of which would become the captain of the guards. Now, I had read somewhere that you couldn’t get into the musketeers without prior guard service, but that might not always be the case. It seems like you could get on in on merit. 

Like, perhaps if you have like a couple of really great references and you’re noble and our guy is both of these things. But anyway, in the mid 1630s, D’Artagnan finds himself in Paris and that’s the point at which he takes the name D’Artagnan, right? Because at this point, he’s been Charles de Bastille, Casemore. However, the sort of leaning of his, of his maternal side of the family has a little bit of sway. So he just clocks on that D’Artagnan and that’s what he goes by for the rest of forever. Ah, well done. 

Right? Now, he joins the guards. I think he’s about 17 at the time and he serves in the guards under a man called Captain Des Arts. And for some context real quick, I think this would be helpful. 

You have the regular guard and then you have the musketeers. Okay. Now, what’s the difference between the two? That’s why I’m here. 

Okay. The musketeers are special. Here’s their backstory. It’s 1622. King Louis XIII is at war with the Protestants because surprise, surprise, that battle does not just happen in England. And he decides at the time in 1622 to detach 50 soldiers who are armed with carbines from the company of the guards of his light horse cavalry to form its own unit. These men are armed with a sword and a musket. At the time, the musket is this heavy weapon that can only be used on foot. But these fellas are still counted as cavalry because that’s how they move. That’s the units they came from. That’s how they move around. 

That’s how it works. And they are called the musketeers of the guard. Now, these guys are the king’s own bodyguards. So he has taken from the greater guard and been like, you will be my household guards. Like you are the elite force. Yes. That is the easiest way to explain it. 

I love this next bit. They are a part of what is called the Maison de Roy, which is the house of the king. They’re uniforms. They’re iconic with the blue tabard decorated by the cross and the flirre de l’î, which is the symbol of the king’s household. And they are typically made up of gentlemen in nobility who are proven soldiers. 

So it’s worth mentioning, I don’t have this in my notes, but it is worth mentioning that the cardinal, like Cardinal Lechlou, also has his own set of personal bodyguards. And they don’t play well. Like they never have and they probably never will. Surprise, surprise. They have competing priorities. 

Exactly. So there’s the first and the second company of musketeers. They are distinguished by the color of their horse. You have a gray for the first and black for the second. 

Theresa: The horse is the literal horse color, not the accoutrement on the horse. No, the color of the horse. The 

Angie: king is in fact their captain, but everyday command goes to a captain and lieutenant and so on and so forth, like down the regular military ranks. I love this. The captain, lieutenant that is currently the king’s captain is a man called Captain Travier. And serving underneath him are none other than Ethos, Corthos, and Aramis. 

Theresa: All right. Here we go. 

Angie: Oh, you do have like this actual historical base. They all three have these amazing names. See if I can say them all without absolutely butchering. You have Armand Segludiatos. So there you go. Isaac de Porto, Portos. And Henri de Amtaz, who becomes Aramis. 

And I feel like it is so important to tell you that I have in my entire life had the biggest crush on every Aramis to ever play Aramis. All right. There you go. Yeah. 

Love me some Aramis. So now that you have all that, D’Artagnan. In his earlier years, he joins the guard and there’s like a ton of action and it’s likely that he has taken part in a lot of these sieges and little skirmishes. Around this time, D’Artagnan gets in good with the Cardinal Mazran. 

This is Rich Blue’s protege and he is his successor and he is also the first minister of France. So like Cardinal Mazran is kind of the guy you want in your pocket, you know. And this is great for D’Artagnan because Mazran is now his patron. 

And in 1643, Mazran goes on to serve as the regent for the newly crowned Louis XIV who is only five years old when he takes his seat on the throne. So you’re seeing how this is super beneficial for our guy D’Artagnan because his boss man is the boss man. Right. This is also around the time that with Mazran’s help, D’Artagnan, he’s about 30, he is able to join the musketeers. 

So up to this point, he’s just been part of the regular guard of France. And that’s pretty much when things go south. For the sake of time, there is a ton of drama. You’ve got Anne of Austria, the baby king’s mom, Cardinal Mazran and basically everyone else. There’s not a ton of people like nobles or parliament that really like Mazran, but he’s kind of this big deal, right? Like he’s the regent for the king and he’s the minister of France. So this is like a thing and right around 1648, something called the fronds begins. 

Theresa: The fronds? This sounds like it has an upturned leather jacket. And it goes, hey! 

Angie: Honestly, God. Yeah. I don’t know why, but every time I see the word frond, all I can think of is frog and I have no reason why I think that, but I keep thinking of little frogs in battle. It’s irrelevant. But anyway, a lot of this, these little skirmishes, these uprisings, they have a lot to do with the 30 year war because this has left France in a bit of a financial crisis. So it’s basically a time of civil war in France. 

Things aren’t great. During the parliament’s fronds, the laws, like the law courts refuse to obey the king’s government and demand their rights to be respected. Well, obviously the king’s government is sort of ruled by Mazran right now, right? Things get so bad that the royal family actually have to sneak out of Paris in the middle of the night to escape the angry mob. Yikes. 

Like they’re having, they are not having a great day. And then later you have something called the nobles frond. And this is sort of when the powerful nobles join in. They’re forming their own armies. They’re fighting against royal government. Some of them team up with France’s old enemy Spain, which is like a pretty bold move anyway. And this sort of stuff goes on until about 1653. Eventually, people get tired of the fighting and the chaos. 

It’s that it’s like causing just your ordinary everyday life. And Mazran manages to hold things together. And by 53, these little rebellions sort of fizzle out. But by this point, Louis is now a teenager and he has watched this his whole life. So he’s like, holy crap. Now, while it is not relevant to the story of D’Artagnan, it is interesting to point that because Louis was a little bit older, and Louis has seen this and seen how nobles and parliament and all of these people can sort of just on a whim, rise up against the royal family. He, they suspect, like historians suspect that that’s why he rules or side the way he does. That makes sense. Right? This iron fisted keep everybody occupied every minute of the day. That way they don’t have a chance to form the thought against me. 

Theresa: Yeah, idle hands are the devil’s playground sort of deal. 

Angie: Yeah, exactly. So I think that’s pretty interesting. And so Louis, for his part, he is pretty untrustworthy. And as far as like he doesn’t trust others. And he’s determined that no one’s going to challenge his power period. 

And that’s sort of the end of it. And that’s why he develops this absolute moment idea. But all of this has also kept Artanian very busy. 

He’s been dabbling in espionage for the cardinal, like in real life, not in the stories, because things for the cardinal aren’t great. Artanian, he is like great at court for whatever reason. Artanian has the personality. He has the chutzpah and court life. 

It’s great for him. He is the king of court intrigue people. Like I don’t know if it’s just that he walks in and has this immediate likeable personality where people just want to tell him stuff. But he has admirers everywhere he goes. So when the fronds are happening, Cardinal Mazran, he has to go into exile. Artanian follows him but access his messenger between the cardinal and allies back and forth constantly. 

Theresa: So wait, and then let me let me test my understanding. We know Artanian, like everyone knows, Artanian is the cardinal’s number one or number two. And they have no problem telling him stuff and then him just absconding for periods of time. Wow. Okay, so this is everybody knows James Bond’s name. No, he’s the best spy but still proceed. Okay, carry on. 

Angie: That’s from all, from everything that I read about him. That is his one like not great at being, I’ll say later he gets a governorship. He’s not great at that. 

Sucks at that. But he’s really, really good at court. And it just goes well for him. 

Like he has admirers and they can’t help but just open their mouths and talk to him. Now, in 1652, he’s promoted to the lieutenant of the Grabs Francais, which is part of the elite French infantry. Because during this time, the musketeers are otherwise disbanded. So this sort of sets the scene for a lot of the intros for Artanian in the books and the movies today, right? 

Like they come in and at those port those anaramists are like drinking in a bar somewhere because they don’t actually have a job. This is that time. And that also explains why he’s not currently there a lieutenant because there are no there. So during this time, he sees some more good battles. He sees some more sieges and in 1655, he’s promoted to captain. And then in 1658, he becomes the second lieutenant in the reformed musketeers. So now this means he is running the day to day command of the musketeers. 

Theresa: Wait, wait. So in the movies, because I’ve not read the book, I’ll be honest, we see Artanian as kind of the run, the newbie. But we’re saying in real life, he outranked off those port those and wow. Okay, carry on. Yeah. 

Angie: Now, I think from what I understand, and this isn’t really clear in the notes because they’re 400 years old, but from what I understand, at those port those anaramists were there when he got there. So they would have been older, but he just rose through the ranks consistently. So I part of me wonders if they just reached their peak. And there was always someone higher than them anyways. 

Theresa: I mean, they may not have had that same champion in the Cardinal. 

Angie: Right, because clearly you need to have a patron that’s going to speak your name to the good lord, you know, and he had that. So I really think in their case, it wasn’t that they couldn’t. 

It’s just that they didn’t have the same sponsorship. Foot up. Yeah. 

Right. But it is fun to know that they were there and they were consistent in his life and he was he just kept rising through the ranks till he is running the musketeers. He does actually marry in 1659, which is cool. Like, I wouldn’t don’t know why, but I guess because he doesn’t really in the books, it doesn’t ever cross my mind that there would be like a woman involved. A woman. 

No, I’m joking. A woman. Her name is Charlotte Ann DeTrancy and she’s the she’s like a bairness of St. Croix. They have two sons born in 1660 and 1661 and they are both named. Wait for it. Louis after their godfather, the king. 

Theresa: Okay, wait, no, like I’m assuming they have nicknames they go by because that I’m sure they do. Otherwise, it’s just like, hey, Bubba, forehead turn. Yes. 

Angie: Yeah, I’m sure that they they have their own individual like middle names, but they are both named after their godfather, the king. So this is how high up the chain his everyday life is. The king is his son’s godfathers. 

Theresa: Yeah, the king, his boss, the king is also so close that it’s okay. 

Angie: He was there at their baptism. So I think it’s super cute actually. So it’s Louis and his son Louis, the dofan, are the godfathers. Now, unfortunately for Dartianian, the marriage doesn’t last long and the couple officially separates in 1665. They think it’s due to his long, his long absences on duty. Shocking. 

That seems pretty common. Now, here’s where life takes an absolute different direction for him. There’s this guy called Nicholas Phraket, and he’s the finance commissioner to Louis XIV, and he was very, very much like to take Mazrin’s place as the king’s advisor. 

And in a very shortened version of the story, he effs up and it goes as follows. Mr. Phraket is hugely ambitious and very wealthy, and he fully expects to become the chief minister of France after Mazrin’s death in 1661. However, Louis XIV is deeply suspicious of him, partly due to negative reports that are fed to him by Phraket’s rival, a man called Kilbear, and for other reasons. But despite this, Phraket, he feels relatively secure because he has his legal position, gives him immunity for most prosecutions until he’s tricked into giving it up. Oh, because he’s an idiot. There’s a quote from Kilbear, his rival, that said, Phraket managed to conduct his robbery while keeping his hands clean. 

Theresa: Which just, I mean, if your enemy can say that about you, you were doing something kind of right. Right-ish? 

Angie: Right. Okay, so basically what happens is, his downfall is brought up by a combination of factors. He’s got this super lavish lifestyle. He builds this chateau and then, like, it’s stupid expensive. And then throws this extra extra extravagant party in 1661, and this party makes the king deeply uncomfortable. He is like, um, you’re not supposed to be more grandiose than I. Oh. 

This does not sit well with me. And because our guy is an idiot, he decides that the party favors he’s going to give out for attending this party are a horse for everyone. You get a horse. 

You get a horse. Yeah, he’s opening it up, right? And this really just, the king does not, doesn’t really appreciate all the showing off, right? But in the meantime, our guy has been secretly building up military power and fortifying the island of Bel-Il, and he’s got hundreds of cannon and soldiers, and he’s ordering warships from the Netherlands. If he’s developing a network of powerful allies, the king, still thinking about his childhood, is like, hmm, no. 

Theresa: Hey, that’s us. Yeah. Right? So he’s super wary of any movement that, like, doing anything openly against the clot because he does have these powerful allies, 

Angie: and he is not trying to go down the same road, right? Um, so he, sorry, I lost my spot in my nose. Okay. So the king manages to strip him of his legal immunity by maneuvering him into selling the office that protected him, which I’m not sure how you do that. But he doesn’t willingly, in attempt to win the royal favor. He also doesn’t help his own cause because he is trying to recruit one of the king’s own mistresses as a spy. 

Theresa: Yeah, you have to swing and not miss on that one. Yeah, and she’s like, huh, no. 

Angie: And immediately goes home and reports into the king. Surprise! So, hey, guess what? You were right. So on September 5th, 1661, Fouquet is arrested by D’Artagnan, and he is seemingly very caught off guard. He has to, now, by this point, he believes himself to be fully in the king’s favor because things are going great for him. 

Yeah. Um, the charges are embezzlement and high treason. And his trial drags on for nearly three years and is wildly considered to be deeply unfair because the judge, their hand picked by his enemy, Colbert. So, wait a minute. 

Theresa: It lasts three years. If this was the case in the Rue Court, I would expect it lasted three days. The jury deliberated for exactly 3.5 minutes, came back with doughnut crust around their lips because they had a snackie and said guilty. 

Angie: Yeah, I, part of me wonders if this is just because it’s France or they really just want to stick it to him. Nothing really explains why it gets dragged on other than we know his enemy, Colbert, has definitely got his hand in the mix. So I have a feeling he is really just trying to stick it to him for as long as he possibly can. So it’s just torture. 

Um, pretty much. Most judges in this particular trial vote banishment. But Louis overruled this and sentenced him to life in prison. And which I guess is the same thing as banishment in my opinion, but you are literally just behind bars instead of being able to like, I don’t know, go off to a… 

Theresa: No, banishment means I have access to my wine cellar. Or a wine cellar. Yeah, he doesn’t. 

Angie: He spends his remaining years locked away in the fortress of Pegadol in the Alps where he dies in 1680. Now here’s the thing. Louis doesn’t want this man getting out and he doesn’t trust anyone. But you know who he does trust and he knows he can’t be bought is D’Artagnan. So for the duration of his jury or for his trial, D’Artagnan is assigned to guard him because no one else can be bought. Like, he cannot be bought by anybody else. So D’Artagnan is like, hey, really, really great of you to think so highly of me, but like, I hate this job. 

Theresa: It’s boring. There’s no Wi-Fi. 

Angie: Pretty much. Like, this is the worst. So he finally gets to drop him off at the prison in the Alps after the trial is done. And D’Artagnan gets to go on soldiering until he is required to bring in another high profile arrest. Now this high profile arrest is the Duke de la Zune who had dared to marry Le Grand Mamelzale. This is the sister to the king and this did not sit well with the king. So the Duke is getting arrested for his actions of trying to marry his sister. And because he is a high profile individual, D’Artagnan is the one that sees him across to his Alps prison where Fouquet is sitting in the cell right below him. So it’s funny to me that he has to make this trek more than once and he just can’t get away from this guy. Now in 1672, D’Artagnan is awarded for all of his valiant efforts and made the governor of Lillie. He’s not great at it. 

He sucks, in fact. And in 1673, he’s back as the head of the musketeers marching into the Dutch horse. Like, I think even the people of the region were like, could you just, like, we were fine. We were fine without you. Can you just go? Yeah. 

Theresa: Bye. 

Theresa: You know, honestly, you’ve done such a good job. You’ve taught us to lead ourselves. That’s the sign of a good leader. You’ve worked yourself out of a job. 

Angie: Pretty much, yeah. Now, Lille, he’s marched, he has marched into Maastricht. It’s the head of his troops. It’s Jun 10th. He’s surrounded by French and believe it or not, they’re English allies and this siege begins. D’Artagnan leads his men in this fierce attack on a fortified position that’s protecting the Tungres Gate. Hopefully, I’ve announced that right. And they capture it within half an hour and they raise the French flag in victory. So you think, cool, we’re done here, right? 

No. The situation takes a very dangerous turn because the Duke of Monmouth, one of the English commanders, makes the reckless decision to charge across the open ground towards the gate himself. Unclear why? D’Artagnan, who is a far more seasoned soldier, most likely sees this for the folly that he is, but because Monmouth has made the charge, honor and duty, require that D’Artagnan cannot just leave him hanging. Okay, yeah. So, he tweets his musketeers forward into the fray. 

They’re right there with him. He makes it to the ramparts before he takes a musket ball to the neck. It would seem fitting that his service to the neck, his service started in a siege and it came to the end in a siege. He died on June 25, 1673, about 60 years old. The musketeers were grief-stricken because even by then he was led and dairy among them. King Louis wrote to his wife saying, Madam, today I lost D’Artagnan in whom I had every confidence. Wow. Wow. So, there you have it. 

Theresa: That was illuminating and I legitimately had none of that info. 

Angie: So, now you do. Okay, well, I’m here for it. And all I can think of now and we’ll probably have to watch it later is the man in the eye mask just so I can watch the captain say, oh, I ever wanted to be, was him. They’re part of the whole movie. 

Theresa: So, I’m going to take us on a wildly different tangent. Shocking. Yep. Okay, this is what he suggested on Instagram by a user named JessCupArtist. And she’s a JessCupArtist? JessCup with two Ps, artist. Oh, okay. Okay. 

They suggested that I cover Yukio Mishima. Okay. All right. 

You either have no idea or you’re going to fangirl this person. Like, those are the only options. Okay, let’s go. All right. Make me fangirl. My sources. Actually, you’re probably not going to be a fangirl, but you, I mean, you’re going to be like, oh, that dude. 

Okay. BBC has an article Yukio Mishima, The Strange Tale of Japan’s Insomest Novelist by Thomas Graham, Ebsco Yukio Mishima by Patrick Adcock. And then I did some podcasts as per my want. I did a podcast on YouTube, Ridiculous History, a two-part series on him, The Yukio Mishima Story, and the History of Literature, Episode 312 Yukio Mishima. Are you ready? 

Angie: It’s sounding more familiar, but keep going. 

Theresa: Okay. So, 1925, Kimite Hirooka is born. He would later go by Yukio Mishima. Now, he is a prominent Japanese author, playwright, and political advocate known for his complex personality and dramatic life. Now, as a wee one, he is said to be a delicate boy, in quotation marks. From what I understand, he has pretty heavy asthma. Okay. But it’s not like I have access to his medical chart. So, it’s so bad. 

Theresa: Dang it. Turn it, Lisa. Look, I can only dig so deep. His grandmother takes him from his parents, saying that he’s too fragile to live in a home with a second story. 

Theresa: Okay. Like, he cannot be trusted to go upstairs. And so, maybe grandma’s crazy, or maybe our boy really is that delicate, either way. During this time, he’s basically confined in his grandmother’s house, and he’s only interacting with female members of his household until he’s around 12. 

Okay. At which point, you know, when he turns 12 or so, his grandmother’s health deteriorates so badly, she’s hospitalized and will later die. And so, at this point in confinement, you know, he is taken from grandma’s house and moved back to parents’ house. 

Okay. Now, he has kind of a privileged environment that he grows up in, in parents’ house, because he’s attending prestigious schools. Later, he’s studying law at the University of Tokyo. So, this seems fortuitous in that regard. Yeah. 

Relicate or not. Now, while he’s still a schoolboy, he meets another man named Yasunari Kalabata. And Kalabata is later going to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Okay. So, he is rubbing elbows with some incredible humans. Okay. Now, the elder writer will basically serve as a literary influence for him, but also as a lifelong friend. Okay. Now, in some of the research that I did, it would go on that Yukio wanted to win the Nobel Prize for Literature himself, but realized since, you know, there was another Japanese writer that recently won it, the chance of him winning is very slim. Okay. 

And so, he kind of sees us as a fork on conclusion that America, or America, Japan’s not going to win it multiple years in a row. Interesting. Okay. Does that make sense? 

Now, is it valid? Who knows? I didn’t do that deep dive. Okay. Now, fast forward. It’s 1944. He’s conscripted into the Army. And it’s here I have some conflicting reports because Ebsco says his conscription to the Army in February of 1945, but he sees no action in the closing months of war. 

And his service period of, you know, his active service is really short, but it still affected him profoundly for years to come. There’s other reports that say he’s rejected because of this weak physique that he has. Maybe both are true. 

Maybe he is both conscripted and put on the sidelines because he’s not able to do much. Right. Okay. You know, so maybe there’s that because I don’t, again, don’t have his medical records. But here is where his literary career basically begins to take off and he would gain recognition for his autobiographical novel called Confessions of a Mask. And this book is in the 40s exploring themes of identity and sexuality. Yes. 

Angie: Okay. All right. I know who he is. Wow. Okay. Cool. Now, I don’t know much, but I knew as soon as you told me what he was writing because it was all sounding familiar, but I couldn’t tell why. Fair. 

Theresa: Around this time period, he’s critical of the emperor and the actions of the soldiers of World War II and those wartime atrocities that Ginny Chan guest star in this, in episode 168. And for those of you playing at home, episode 168, so just a couple episodes back, she is a profound human who uncovered a million pages of documentation on comfort women and Unit 731. And this is Unit 731 is where the Japanese were experimenting on Chinese citizens, horrific stuff. And Yukio Mishima is dead set against it because it’s, yeah, he finds this incredibly unethical and he has the cojones to shake his fist. Now, 1949, he publishes that book, Confessions of a Mask, and this is that thinly veiled novel where it would go on to make him famous. 

And he’s in his 20s about this time. It tells the story of this delicate sensitive boy who’s basically held captive in his grandmother’s house. She’s ill and he’s made to nurse her back to health. 

But rather than playing with any of the neighborhood boys, he’s confined in what he describes as her sickly sweet smelling darkness of her bedroom. Okay. So, yeah, yeah, sounds lovely. But in that book, this boy’s mind develops in that room, you know, kind of trapped. Fantasy and reality are never really separated. Fantasy becomes more dominant of the two. And by the time his grandmother dies and the boy emerges, he’s developed a fixation on role playing with life as theater. 

And he can’t resist layering fantasies over the life around him. Which X? Yeah. Now, men and boys, especially muscular straightforward ones, are assigned roles in his vivid, often violent daydreams. And he tends to obsess over his own deviance of really worshiping the male physique and trying to appear normal. And he learns how to play his own role. And there’s a quote that I pulled that said, the reluctant masquerade had begun. Yeah. Okay. 

Angie: I’m trying to remember why I know any of this. 

Theresa: I mean, this was all brand new to me. 

Angie: So, I’m kind of… It has to be from a class I took, but I can’t remember why. Anyway, sorry. 

Theresa: Now, the critics who really know and understand his books suggest that this novel would set the tone for the rest of the fiction that he writes. And he, at the publishing of this, adopts an entirely new name. This is where he goes by Yukio Mishima and a new personality. 

Because he’s going to mask the vulnerability, the timidity that he has, and the aestheticism with this arrogant and provocative persona. Get it, buddy? You know? Thank you for making it, I guess. 

We all hide pieces of ourselves. Now, he and his whole body of work is going to include novels like The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Soldier… Or, nope, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. And then he also has some modernized no plays to his name. Many of his plays are produced, and he would also go on to direct them. Okay. Now, he’s cranking out books during this time as well. So, prolific. Like, this is one of those just keeps writing, keeps writing, keeps writing. 

Angie: He’s the Brandon Sanderson of his time. Dude. 

Theresa: Now, June 1, 1958, he marries a woman, Yokosuke Yama, and eventually goes on to father two children, Noriko and Ichiro. But then something snaps with him. Something changes. He starts to take on a new phase. It’s the 60s, and he’s entering this political phase of his life. He’s portraying himself as a pure astute. He’s decadent romantic, and he’s undergoing a transformation. Remember, delicate boy, right? 

That’s where we start. He’s taking up bodybuilding. He’s working out at the gym for two hours a day, and he is putting on muscle. Now, imagine more of a Bruce Lee body frame as opposed to bodybuilder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he, even with putting on muscle, is still five foot three. Oh, right. So, yeah. 

Theresa: Now, short and not whole, even for Japanese. 

Theresa: He’s also bronzing himself in the sun. He is trying everything he can for a glow-up. Now, it’s at this point in time, he starts setting up a group of right-wing male university students that he’s leading through his workout routines. 

Okay. Now, here’s where things kind of get a little bit bizarre, because he’s in his 40s, and he becomes really aware of his age, like many in our 40s do. Things don’t heal as quickly. That eyesight starts going a little bit. 

And, you know, you’ve got to be a little bit more protective of what goes in that mouth. Now, he makes this statement that I find absolutely bizarre, because this is shortly after the death of James Dean, the actor. He says, the beautiful should die young, and everyone else should live as long as possible. Unfortunately, 95% of people get it backwards with the gorgeous lingering on into their 80s and hideous fools dropping dead at 21. 

Angie: Which… So, where do you stand on James Dean? 

Theresa: He loved James Dean. He’s like, James Dean is beautiful. And why did James Dean get it wrong? That’s what I was… Okay. Like, or did James Dean die, right? He goes, this is the pinnacle of life. Die at your peak. If you’re old, decrepit, hang on, kick it into your hundreds, you know, whatever you’ve got to do. 

But, you know, the flower should be picked right at the pinnacle of its appeal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Now, as he is writing this, he seems to understand that his moment is passing, and he begins to really contemplate his final moments. 

Okay. This is foreshadowing, not even subtle, just foreshadowing. Now, 1970, he writes a book called Son and Steel, and he describes the process of his personal philosophy of physical prowess and the beautiful, or the beauty of a violent death. And this is… Yeah, yeah. As he’s undergoing this rigorous training, often very militant. Now, he’s also kind of going a little bit more versatile in his work. Remember, he’s adding plays and all of this other stuff. And he’s becoming more and more flamboyant. So, he would go on to be a motion picture actor, screenwriter, director. He even appears in a gangster field. 

Wow, okay. So, Jack of all trades, that’s kind of what we’re getting. He becomes a recording artist, and he would achieve more celebrity as a television star than he would from his many literary prizes and awards. 

Okay. So, just he’s everywhere in pop culture is what I’m understanding. He’s doing the most. Yeah. Now, he would build an Italiante villa in Tokyo, and he’s going to fill it with English antiques. 

And then he’s going to enroll his wife in Western cooking classes. Okay. And this is really bizarre when you consider that… Okay, so I’m going to add on that he’s also… His writing starts to pull from more French literature than the Japanese that he’s previously done. Okay. Okay. All of that’s happening. Yet, this is the bizarre bit, he’s opposing the restoration of Japan. He even hates it. 

Angie: But I’m putting my wife in Western cooking classes, and I’m filling my house with English antiques. Yeah. Okay. 

Theresa: So, there is a bizarre juxtaposition happening here. As all of this is happening, he is writing essays and articles, and he’s trying to advocate for this return to the samurai tradition, this very idealized path or past that we have. 

Right, right. And he’s organizing… Remember that small group of university students that he was taking through workouts? He forms them in kind of apostles and names this group the Shield Society. 

Okay. Now, this is really bizarre to me, and I kind of feel like that duality and this… It’s fascinating and like, oh, what the hell? You know, you… What? Okay. Why? 

Yeah. Now, his elitism, his militancy, and this idealization of the samurai tradition is disturbing many people in his circle. And when people look at the Shield Society, it’s stirring up memories of this military adventurism that led Japan into World War II. Oh, okay, okay. Because they’re fresh out of that, right? Like, it’s only been 20 years. So veterans are still walking around going, ooh, this, this, I’ve seen this before. 

Theresa: You’ve done this before. History rhymes. History rhymes. This sounds like the second verse. 

Theresa: Yeah. Yeah, okay. But he’s got this charismatic personality and his provocative behavior just kind of makes him fodder for journalists. And they’re seeking him after… Like, there was… Pardon me, they’re seeking after him as a guest for talk shows and whatnot. So he is just becoming more and more… 

Angie: I don’t think, like, talk shows… 

Theresa: I said talk shows, but in my notes, this is television shows. So I’m just… My brain is filling in gaps that may or may not have been there. 

Angie: Okay, okay. I’m assuming talk shows did, but my brain just went, wait, no, we’re not… Oprah’s not here yet. 

Theresa: Right, but she… I mean, because it’s the late 60s at this point, right? Yeah. Okay, so now, fast forward. It is November 25th, 1970. And he has his final book of a tetralogy, and it’s called The Sea of Fertility, and he turns it into his publisher. This would be the last of four books that he’s written in this frantic burst of creativity. The series starts in 1912. It’s shortly after the Russo-Japanese War, and then the series ends in 1975. It spans this period of incredible change where we see the Japanet ascend from the imperial Japan all the way through the annihilation of World War II. And we see the emergence of this capitalistic, consumeristic Japan. They’re held together by this main character named Honda, and this conceivably is a stand-in for Mishima himself. And Honda is reincarnated repeatedly with his boyhood friend who is this enduring soul surrounded by change and decline, because he’s seeing the fall of samurai traditions and then the rise of capitalism. 

Right, okay. Now, when you compare this series to his earlier works, there’s a lot of philosophizing. But after the second one, the volumes begin to feel really rushed and they’re really slim. Like, he’s just trying to get the bullet points out kind of deal. 

He’s submitting the cliff notes. Exactly. Like, he doesn’t have time. He’s got stuff to do. The final volume, The Decay of the Angel, he writes basically entirely during his family’s seaside holiday in August of 1970, which sounds like a frenetic thing. 

I don’t know how long your holiday was that you wrote an entire novel, but here we are. Yeah. Now, in a letter dated November 18th of 1970, he writes it to his mentor Fumio Kiyosumu, and he writes, to me, finishing this book is nothing more than the end of the world. So, okay. He says that November 18th, and this is now November 25th. November 25th, after he sends that book to his publisher, he and four members of the Shield Society invade the headquarters of the Eastern Ground Defense Forces. They kidnap the commander at Knife Point, and they make him assemble all the entire garrison in front of the building that they’re in. 

His goal, he wants to start a coup. Right, okay. Because remember, now Japan doesn’t have a standing army, but they’re allowed to have a defense force. 

Right. And he’s on the rooftop without a microphone, and he’s railing against the U.S. back state and the Constitution. He’s berating the soldiers and their submissiveness, and he’s challenging them to return the Emperor to a pre-war position as a Living God national leader. You know, he’s standing on business. Now, he’s got like several hundred humans in front of him listening without a microphone, so I can’t imagine his voice carries very far. Now, because this is Japan, the audience is very politely listening to him at first. Then, maybe it could be that they’re just stunned into silence, but soon they start to drown him out with jeers. 

Oh, okay. So things go south quickly, and Nishima steps back inside and is said to say the phrase, I don’t think they heard me. And it’s at this point in time, he kneels down and killed himself by seppuku, which is that ritual samurai technique. And for those of you playing at home may not know, he disemboweled himself with a dagger and then later one of his followers beheaded him with a sword. 

That follower did such a clumsy job with the blade that he had to hack several times at it, and then because he felt like a failure, he committed seppuku right next to Nishima. 

Angie: Okay, that’s the part of the story in you, right? Oh. Yeah. And I’m still trying to remember why I know any of it. 

Theresa: Okay. I mean, here we are. I’m glad to at least give you context. His death absolutely shocks the Japanese public because the morning he chose, this is the opening of the 64th session of the Diet, which is Japanese Parliament, and the emperor is actually present at the Diet to open it up. Now, the Prime Minister’s speech on the government agenda for that whole coming year gets overshadowed by Nishima’s unaliving, because at this point, nobody had died by seppuku since the last days of World War II. 

Angie: So it’s been, what are we, we’re saying? It was 1970. Okay. So it’s been a minute. 

Theresa: It’s been a minute, but it’s still just like, holy crap. Now, something kind of to go back on and to really think about is Nishima had written his own death scene in the 1960 story, patriotism, and later he goes on by adapting patriotism as a film. And in this film, he’s directed it. He acts as the leading role himself. So prophetic is the suicide scene that Nishima’s family suppresses the film after he dies. 

Angie: And he’s been saying it for like 10 years. Oh, yeah. 

Theresa: He’s been posing in the photos. He’s been acting it out like this. They can see that the writing’s been on the wall the entire time. Good Lord. Now, for those of the Western audience, the form that he chose to commit seppuku, this is really significant because it would test his courage and his tenacity because after you stick the knife in your belly, you need to slow down. You need to slowly draw it across the entirety of your abdomen until your intestines fill out. 

This requires physical strength as well as some mental endurance to be able to carry on. And that alone makes this whole idea incomprehensible to the Western mind. And that’s honestly the entire point that he seems to have been making. Oh. Now, I didn’t put this in my notes, but right before he does this, he said to tell his wife that he doesn’t think Japan will under—the 1970 Japan will understand why he did, but he believed 50 or 100 years from now that they would. Oh. Not that we do because having his red up on it, I don’t see that, but he believed that he was going to usher in that understanding. 

Angie: You know, maybe, maybe… Okay. Yeah. 

Theresa: You know, very visionary. But I’ve got photos for you. I love his suit. 

Angie: Okay. You’re looking at a—yeah, when you say Bruce Lee type, yeah, that sort of stature. He’s got this—it’s like the wool business suit with the tie and the white, very pressed shirt. The lines are immaculate. The hair immaculate. Perfect eyebrows. I’m kind of jealous. Yep. Um, yeah. So he’s squatting with the—I always forget what that’s called, that kind of squat when you have the bar. My son yelling at me right now. 

Theresa: The bar over your—I don’t know what it’s technically called. I know I’ve done these even recently. Yeah. 

Angie: So he’s got—you know, looking lights, but he’s doing the squat with the bar over the back. And he is your classic, like, if very much looks like this photo was taken in the 60s, the white t-shirt, pants, barefoot in the yard. 

Theresa: Yeah. I mean, he’s not in workout pants. He is in trousers. 

Angie: Yeah. Yeah. I love trousers. I love that word. 

Theresa: But that’s the story of Yukio Mishima. I love it. And his really unhinged thing. And I think one of the things that kind of kept coming back to me is this idea of radicalism. I think I’m against radicalism anytime it comes up. You know, I believe in maybe more of a middle way. 

I think once you kind of niche down too hard, whatever direction it is, at some point even too much water is going to kill you. Yeah, I agree. You know, and I think we just kind of see him double down on things that may not have been the best for him. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. 

Angie: Well, thank you. Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for telling me his whole life. And I’m going to spend the rest of my day wondering why I knew any of it to be in this. 

Theresa: In six hours, I’m going to get a random text that says, here’s all the missing dots, and I’m going to struggle to make meaning of it for a while. Yeah. Yeah. 

Angie: I know I’d heard of his books. I wonder if I read an article or something about him because I’ve heard of the books. Mm-hmm. I knew how he ended, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember how. Like, what was I, what bunny trail was I on? 

Theresa: Well, if you enjoy these rabbit trails and you’re thinking, I too knew X, Y, and Z, but didn’t know how they all connected. Yeah. So send this to somebody who also needs that rabbit trail and you can do this thing where you rate, review, subscribe, and it helps other humans similar to you. Find us and enjoy us. And on that note. My little weirdos. Yeah. 

Theresa: Ha ha ha. Yeah.