薔薇刑 [Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses]

by Yukio Mishima, Mark Holborn (Afterword), Eikoh Hosoe (Photographer)

"Ba-ra-kei: Ordeal by Roses" is a rare glimpse into the life of the great modern Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima, who ended his life in 1970 by ritual suicide. Many in Japan regarded the suicide as a sensational act. However, the publication of Mishima's final cycle of novels, which had been conceived eight years prior to his death, revealed that his death was carefully considered--a gesture of historical import in perfect accord with the morbid and esoteric aesthetic that pervades his writing. In 1961 Mishima asked Eikoh Hosoe to photograph him, giving him full artistic direction in making these surreal and alluring photographs. The props that surround the writer and the baroque interior of his home are antithetical to the pure Japanese sensibility of understatement and reveal Mishima's dark, theatrical imagination.

Genres: Photography, Art, Japan, Japanese Literature

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, the Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.

Reviews

[GD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I paid about 50 bucks for this book, just because I'm a Mishima nut. There are a lot of weird pictures of him in this book, but apparently there is another set somewhere of just him in all kinds of death poses, which I was kind of hoping to see. Mishima hit by a truck, etc. God, is there anyone anywhere more awesome than Mishima?

[d]

Mi miseria es grande, pero más grande es mi entusiasmo por Mishima: conseguí este photobook en un scan pirata horrible (Monoskop.org). Se trata de un libro que los fanboys/girls de Mishima deberían observar atentamente, no sólo porque Eiko Hosoe es un fotográfo genial, también porque es una forma visual de las obsesiones de Mishima. A saber: el cuerpo y la belleza. El trabajo físico y la proyección de la belleza. Muchas de las fotografías son montajes/transparencias de cuadros del renacimiento europeo, cuadros de santos (San Sebastián..), etc. En esta curiosa relación de Mishima -en tanto cuerpo duro, porque en casi todas las fotos está semidesnudo- y la proyección europea, recuerdo su preferencia por Georges Bataille, según él, el pensador europeo que más lo influyó. No por nada en varias de estas fotos hay muchos soles/espejos y muchos huevos.

[Killer of Dreams · Rating 2 out of 5]

The similarities between Mishima’s works and this book end as far as the subject matter being of Spanish Baroque architecture and renaissance paintings. When taking these photographs, Yukio Mishima had shown Eikoh Hosoe, the photographer, his reproductions of renaissance paintings, one specifically of Saint Sebastian, and from this Hosoe uses Mishima’s paintings to create his own interpretation and expression of Mishima. Even though Mishima is acceptive, supportive, and pushes for the publication of Hosoe’s work, I cannot find this book to be the most authentic portrayal of Mishima’s works. In the first place, to translate what is done in literature to a medium such as photography is impossible. Even Mishima’s forward details a cycle of beauty that I have not encountered in any of the works of Mishima that I have read so far. The forward felt as if Mishima was accomadating himself for Hosoe’s interpretation and expression of Mishima.

I will concede Mark Holborn’s commentary in the afterward: “However, the subsequent publication of his final cycle of novels, The Sea of Fertility, which had been conceived eight years earlier, revealed that his death was a carefully considered act, a gesture of historical implication in perfect accord with the morbid and erotic aesthetic that pervades his writing. Barakei is the most explicit visual evidence of this aesthetic”. I believe these photographs are iconic to any follower of Mihima, however, this book’s forward and stitching of a theme do not feel authentic. I would push the notion that the book synthesizes Mishima’s persona and his conflict with the east and the west, rather than his literary works.

This book is mentioned as being the third edition of the book, with many changes in comparison to the second edition that was published in January of 1971, the year following Mishima’s suicide. I would have liked to see the second edition instead, since the changes done for the third edition appear unwarranted. A simple reprinting could have been done, especially when Hosoe admits that the second editions had largely disappeared when the third edition had been requested.

As for my personal reception to the photographs, I was off-put by the photographs containing the Virgin Mary and the renaissance paintings, which accounted for the majority of the photos. I enjoyed more so the photographs with Mishima positioning himself in his home alongside architecture, and Mishima posing alongside Akiko Motofuji and Kyoko Enami.

On a minor note, Mark Holborn’s afterwards is one of the most well articulated summaries of Mishima’s impact on the world following his suicide.

December 28, 2019
Update
Adding to the last paragraph of the original review, my praise for the afterward includes a three, and at times a four star-rating for it.

I am also not sure if photographs with the Virgin Mary and renaissance paintings account for half of the book, as my original review asserts. I will have to look at the book again later. For now, this is a steady two star-rated book.

[Matthew W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This relatively short book captures Mishima's essence much better than Paul Schrader's film "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters."

[Edoardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"After the first shooting I had referred to an iconoclastic act but I was in fact suggesting a creative process through destruction. I wanted to create a new image of Yukio Mishima through my photography"

Chicca imperdibile per gli appassionati della fotografia di Eikoh Hosoe; l'ultima sezione è veramente meravigliosa.

[maria cacca · Rating 5 out of 5]

mishima mezzo nudo🤤🤤

[Ryan Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful exploration of how the author existed as a bastion of Japanese samurai ideals as well as one absorbed by Classical Roman and Greek art and lifestyle.

[Rosopsida · Rating 5 out of 5]

morbidní erotika, erotická morbidnost; JAZDA

úpadek těla nedovolen

[SA Lillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iconic. One of the last books I insisted on purchasing before I left Japan in 2003. Eikoh Hosoe works at the behest of the enigmatic, charismatic and historically controversial author Yukio Mishima in what turns out to be a self-originating series of dramatic portraits in a decade that culminates in the pre-mediated ritual suicide of Mishima in 1970. Fellow collaborators for this book include artist Tadanori Yoko

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super-campy images by Eikoh Hosoe on one of the great subjects of the 20th Century: Yukio Mishima. Here in one volume you will get the entire range of Mishima's obsessions with sex, glory, fame, and.. well, just pure campiness. No household should be without this book!

[ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

and then, you get photography in its actual art form and why it's art (disconnected from the 21st century).