Is Ryuji a Samurai?

November 25, 1970 was the day Yukio Mishima fulfilled his destiny of a Samurai by comitting the honourable death of seppuku. By then, a famous novelist in the East, Mishima became increasingly consumed by a desire to revive the traditional lifestyle of Bushido, or the code of the Samurai. Following World War II, Mishima believed that Japan had lost its cultural roots as a result of Western influence. Sailor is a vivid representation of Mishima's personal sentiments in regards to the Westernization of post-war Japan.

While reading an interesting journal article on the code of Bushido, I was inclined to think that Ryuji's character is an embodiment of a tradtional Japanese Samurai; thus affirming Mishima's Eastern ideals. Ryuji's stature as a sailor forces him to fit well in to many of the characteristics outlined in the code of Bushido. The fierce and masculine characteristics of a sailor are parallel to the ones inscribed in the "Seven Virtues of Bushido." However, in order to effectively portray his thoughts on the influence of Westernization, Mishima presents Ryuji as a weaker character succumbed to human emotions. Mishima believes the inclination to die for a woman as dishonourable and an act of disloyalty to the Samurai Code. As Fusako is an obvious symbol of Westernization, Ryuji's eventual subservience to her love is an accurate metaphor for the loss of Eastern ideals in post-war Japan. In fact, Ryuji is a microcosm of Japan itself, as he is shifting within the forces of tradtional Eastern values and Western ideals. Just an interesting interpretation...

Oftentimes, we read novels and dismiss them without taking into account the personal events in an author's life that may have influenced them to create a certain piece of writing. This was a fascinating experience for me as I read Mishima's interesting biography and came up with my own interpretations of different events in his life that may have influenced his various characters. As we should always remember, "all stories are about people and their problems."