On Mishima Yukio’s <i>Tōka no Kiku</i> ：The Images of Imperial Japanese Soldiers

Tōka no Kiku, published by MishimaYukio in 1961, is considered the second play of his “Trilogy on the February 26 Incident”. It is loosely based on a specific element of the assassination of Makino Nobuaki, and highlights the non-violent instincts of the young Imperial Japanese Army officers who organized the attack. On the other hand, the image of the surviving soldier in this play, created by Mishima, who attempted to represent the historical continuity of the Shôwa era, is a device that expresses the twin, contradictory aspects of the Asia– Pacific War. The image accentuates the resistance against the imperialism that was led by Europe and the United States, while concealing the aggressiveness of the war against Asian colonies, and it ultimately dissolves The Empire of Japan’s responsibility for the Asia–Pacific War.