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Where is Their Love Going to Go?

This play was written by Mishima Yukio who was one of the most famous novelists in Japan. He was born in 1925, and died in 1970. His death gave me a big impact, because he committed a harakiri. Actually, when he died I was a child. Thus I couldn't understand its meaning.

While I had been growing up gradually, I became to think about his works and himself. Of course I can't understand him yet. He was a genius, and I'm not. But I know that Mishima and I have a lot of common things. So I'm so sad when I think that I can't read his new novel.

I don't know how many novelist's works have been translated in English. "The Tale of Genji", Oe Kenzaburo's works and what? But Mishima's works must have been published in foreign countries. If you had read them, you could have known that there were a lot of beautiful words in his works.

"Iwashi Uri Koi no Hikiami" has a lot of beautiful old poem. As I mentioned before, he was a genius so he had a great knowledge about Japanese traditional poem. It was a common sense for the ruling class people long ago.

When the play was written, the common sense had disappeared already. Hotarubi was a princess, so she has enough knowledge of old poem as the common sense. When Saru-Genji covers his slipup by some old poems Hotarubi can consent to his talking. As she consents to it, audiences thinks they can consent to it like her.

"Iwashi Uri" was written based to "Otogizoshi" that is a collection of old stories. There was the same situation of Saru-Genji in the based story in "Otogizoshi". But I think that Mishima made use of the situation intentionally.

A novelist isn't a good novelist unless his work is understood by everyone. Thus Mishima had to write a play that would be able to be understood easy by an ordinary person.

I suppose that Mishima might have been irritated to an ordinary person often, because he was a genius. Anyway he could write a good drama that was understood by everyone.

Hotarubi was a princess, and she refuses to be called "princess" again. And she refuses to continue a highly accomplished courtesan's life. Of course she was restricted, but she spent a luxury life as a courtesan.

It is difficult to accept that she leaves her present life, and that she gets married with sardine-vendor. It might be sure, or it might not be sure. Their love would go anywhere whichever you like. The most important matter of the story is they all feel happy as a result.

Kankuro performed Saru-Genji, and Tamasaburo performed Hotarubi this time. Both of them were excellent so much. I know it is useless to say something to a dead person. But when I watched the play, I thought that I would have liked Mishima to watch the performance by Kankuro and Tamasaburo. I think that Mishima must have loved it.