Shiosai

14 January 1925 – 25 November 1970

Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威, Hiraoka Kimitake; 14 January 1925 – 25 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫, Mishima Yukio), was a Japanese writer, playwright, actor, martial artist, model, and the leader of an attempted coup d'état that culminated in his ritual suicide by *seppuku.* Mishima is considered one of the most important postwar stylists of the Japanese language. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times in the 1960s. His works include the novels *Confessions of a Mask* and *The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,* and the autobiographical essay *Sun and Steel.* Mishima's political activities made him a controversial figure. From his mid-30s on…