Customer Reviews

Mishima's Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I happen to have read many novels by Mishima in their English translations as well as many other Japanese novelists. I came to this book as someone interested in anything about Mishima having already read the Nathan and Stokes biographies and the Yourcenar book on him. But, regardless of whether one has any interest in Mishima or in Japanese literature or in Japan I think this book could only be read by someone amused by bad writing. This book was the worst book I have ever read by far - nothing comes close. While the story itself and the subject itself are certainly worthy Christopher Ross has such a flair for lack of taste and such a flair for tangents that are neither interesting nor at all relevant that, well, yes, one may find this amusing as an example of bad writing. Ridiculously bad! I am utterly astonished this was published. For example in one particularly crazy tangent that I am recalling from memory he uses the pretext that Mishima was a resident of Tokyo to speak of going to one section of Tokyo where pornography was available (I'm not offended at all by pornography here - only by ridiculously off-subject and uninteresting writing) - and then offhandedly makes some nitwit observation that the chrysantheum image is often used to cover up private parts in pornographic pictures and then he informs us that the chrysantheum is a national symbol in Japan. And then... on with his story of searching for Mishima's sword. But there are countless other examples of tangents that are completely uninteresting, uninformative, and irrelevant. This might be alright with any sort of tactfulness but, always, Christopher Ross seemed to come across as Beavis or Butthead- snickering at some stupid observation which he thinks is original or insightful. I began reading this thinking I might want to write a review of it for a local publication- thus I plunged forward with it despite how much I disliked it. But halfway into it - I think at the point he makes his juvenile snickering about what covers private parts in certain magazines he has seen (which has nothing to do with anything whatsoever) - I spontaneously threw the book across my apartment - both in jealousy that here was someone who had something published and then, primarily, at the utter contempt I had for this person. Spending time reading Ross is like being forced to listen to the most annoying person you have ever sat next to on a bus, plane, or waiting in line. All you can do is endure and try not to lose your temper. I certainly, however, recommend any of Mishima's books particularly 'Confessions of a Mask' and 'Temple of the Golden Pavillion' for those who have not read his works before. Nathan's biography stands out from the others though the movie 'Mishima' was based on the Scott Stokes biography (which is also good and covers the subject in a different enough way to make it worth reading in addition to the other.) Plenty has been written about Mishima and it would be helpful for the novice to Japan to understand that Mishima's death is seen as something of an embarrasment and an egotistical act- though a portion of the right-wing there may look at him with respect. Anyhow, avoid this book unless you are searching for samples of poor writing- in which case I highly recommended going thru the pages of this piece of trash that has the feel of a weekend spent with an immature suburban junior high student without talent, taste, or seemingly without any reason to having had a book published. Was this a publisher's joke? Did Ross pay the publisher to have this book published? In fewer words, this book was just astonishingly bad.

This is a pretty fascinating account of Yukio Mishima's life and eventual suicide seppuku style. As far as the amazing real life story of Mishima and the amazing history of Japan goes, this book should have been 5 stars. The reason I only gave it three is the author's self-indulgent, "I'm sooo cool because I know about japanese culture and kendo", attitude and writing style. You have to read %50 percent of the book hearing about this guy's stay in japan and martial arts routines.
I appreciate the attempt to write more than just a biography, but when it comes down to it, who do you want to read about? Mishima or some cocky british japanophile?

Christopher Ross goes on a quest for the sword used to assist in the suicide of Yushio Mishima, one of Japan's most famous authors. Along the way, the reader is treated to a history of Japan, lessons on Kendo, and insight into Mishima himself, and icon (or iconoclast?) of Japanese literature. In essence, the quest for the physical sword takes secondary importance, behind Ross's quest to understand the man, the times, and the context of his suicide.

For those that read Twigger's Angry White Pajamas, this book is a more serious, and more culturally detailed view of the same genre. Perhaps the connection comes as Christopher Ross was the uber-guru that Twigger wrote about...

If there's one issue I have with the book, it's that the writer at times talks down to the reader. For example, most anyone reading this has experienced international travel - the audience is a cosmopolitan set. Explaining the details of an inflight entertainment system detracts from the overall story.

That said, the book is still concise and well written, and worthy of a read from any afficianado of Japan. It certainly earns a prominent place on my bookshelf!

I picked up this book from the martial arts section of my local bookstore. When I started flipping through it, I thought the answer the author was looking for was quite different than what it turned out to be. I thought he was trying to understand himself and his own studies on martial arts through his research on Mishima; but this isn't quite it. If anything, it is more of a glance at Japan and the bio of a fairly wretched person.

This book flip-flops rapidly, has multiple grammatical and spelling errors and the format is terrible. The author also tries very hard to pop off with profundities but unless this is your first exposure to eastern philosophy, it doesn't really sing.

It seems when the author hits an interesting subject, he changes to something else and then rambles about that for awhile. Towards the end it seems like he is desperately trying to pad out the rest of the book by jumping topics to unrelated information (he might have been trying to build tension, but it didn't succeed). I honestly still don't understand the author's interest in Mishima; the picture the author paints is one of a narcisstic sociopath.

I honestly came to hate Mishima though the book as he comes off as a malevolent, Don Quixote-esque character. The author's mentioning of Mishima's sexuality does help put some of the reasons for Mishima's ultra-machismo in place, but instead of focusing on Mishima's homosexuality, it might have been better to focus more on his sado-masochist fetish instead as it seems to say more about the man.

I do appreciate that the author is willing to still point a critical eye towards the object of his interest, but perhaps he was a little too successful.

As another review suggested, the author might have been better suited to writing about his daily life in Japan as I found it to be the most interesting part of the book.

I'd still say it is worth reading once.

I found this book by accident while waiting for someone, and I was enthralled by it. Ross uses the sensational circumstances of Mishima's very public and gruesome suicide to explore Japanese martial culture in general and tries to explain his own fascination with it along the way.
While he keeps tracking Mishima's life and death as a guide to his narrative, it becomes clearer and clearer that Mishima is conceivably of no importance outside his role as a popular author of nationalist appeal, and that his very theatrical life and death actually stand for very little. His careful reconstruction of himself and his image is not so uncommon, and in the end there is just another guy coming to terms with the very big chips on his shoulder, although he does so in a spectacular way.
But along this way Ross manages by description of his travels and interviews to highlight and clarify Japanese history and fascination with death in a highly insightful way.
Sometimes this book is just about Christopher Ross: For instance there is a whole section, where he describes feeling unwell and having to interrupt his stay in Japan to return to the UK. One can't help wondering if his editor slept through that part, since it seems to have very little to do with the rest of the story.
Fortunately these deviations are relatively brief, as is the whole book, and you have basically read past them before they really trouble you. The rest of the ride is wonderful for people who share Ross' fascination with the martial aspects of Japan.