Anyone wish Yukio Mishima had left some exercise or bodybuilding book behind before he kicked the bucket at age 45?
According to his book, Sun and Steel, he started bodybuilding and exercising only when he was 30 years old and spent the last 15 years of his life, bodybuilding.
Prior to that, Yukio Mishima wrote he was pale, sickly, and fat and since childhood, had never passed any physical exams.
Also, gym culture came very late into Japan and even today, Japanese gyms are far behind international gyms. There are many reasons for this like lack of space, perception of muscles in current Japanese culture, etc.
Anyways, continuing on, how does a poor and weak 30 year old man in 1955 Japan manage to start bodybuilding without any professional help or advice much less the diet and protein needed to build up those muscles? I don't even think it was possible to get steroids back then in Japan.
1955 was 10 years after WW2. Meat should have been really expensive in Japan so really wonder how he managed to eat enough calories and nutrition to build all those muscles up.
Like I said, it would have been nice if he wrote or left behind his bodybuilding manual or the diet he took to achieve his body but it is nice to know that a sick, pale, weak 30 year old without any modern knowledge of bodybuilding much less access to a gym, managed to attain a strong body. It is inspirational in a way and it would have been great to read about any possible struggles or obstacles Yukio Mishima encountered while trying to become healthy and strong but sadly, he never wrote an actual exercise book much less a step by step manual on how he achieved his body.
Nice understatement, faggot. Mishima used his death as a statement. Took over an JSDF military base, lectured the troops, the committed seppuku. He exercised not to get women or men, but to perfect his body so he could have a beautiful death. Dude holds the modern record for biggest self-disembowelment cut.
Connor Allen
>or men
Zachary Morgan
He also did it on the day that he finished his last book, which he said he always would. That takes it away from his message a little bit I think
Nolan Ward
In 1955, he wasn't thinking of death yet.
Originally, he decided to start bodybuilding because he believed the more he improved his body, the more his mind would become sharper and he would become a better writer.
I guess I should have clarified my post better. I'm interested in 30 year old Yukio Mishima in 1955 thoughts and feelings toward bodybuilding and the exact steps he took to start being fit and healthy and not 45 year old Yukio Mishima in 1970
Luke Clark
You know what they say about broken clocks or blind squirrels. Similar thing; he may have been a bisexual faggot, but he was right about a lot.
Adrian Bell
You talk as if meat is the only source of protein. Asians, Japanese especially eat a lot of fish.
Ethan Kelly
So glad we nuked those fatalistic fucks. All those battle hardened G.I.’s got to come home and have meaningful, fulfilling lives because of it.
Austin Flores
Maybe the Japs are not too big on conventional lifting, but working out is a huge part of their culture, this is a nation that produced karate and judo.
Also, they are not really indifferent to muscles, muscles are really accentuated in almost every manga I saw. It's probably a legacy that goes back to western comics that were heavily inspired by the golden era BBers, but it doesn't change my point.
Jackson Morales
>You talk as if meat is the only source of protein. Asians, Japanese especially eat a lot of fish. lol WHAT?
Isaiah Jones
The Sound of Waves is great, I cant stand any of his other works.
Jacob Ward
The draft happened again for the Korean War in 1950.
MacArthur wanted to nuke Korea, China, etc but was fired by Harry S Truman.
War didn't end after WW2.
Jayden Walker
Well, gyms are like Top 10 complaints of foreigners living in Japan. Number one complaint is that they are so more expensive than gyms back in their home country. Second top complain is the gym size and gym equipment available.
Jayden Brown
I think his secret is that he literally never missed a workout.
He exercised only three times a week and as you mentioned he probably didn't have access to much quality food for most of his life, but his sheer dedication and consistency gave him his athletic body regardless.
Wyatt Flores
Considering his family was basically aristocracy I don't think access to quality food was that much of an issue for him.
Lincoln Moore
I thought asians couldn't grow body hair
Tyler Taylor
i love mishima, but his body isn't insane, any strength routine will do the trick if you stay lean. You gotta remember he was 5'4, putting on some decent mass isn't gonna be that hard at 5'4.
Fish is a vegetable, same way as seaweed. Whale meat on other hand, that is a mammal.
Ryan Hughes
My gf was 5'4" and I fucked her ass and she squealed like a pig she is. I think this guy did lot of calisthenics and bodyweigjt exercises along with kettle stuff. I am sure Japan had basic gyms because of US occupation and military bases. He also practiced martial arts and Bushido so he just forced his body to adapt just by thinking about lifting. Banzai!
Ethan Cruz
Question: why the katana is equal width all the way? Looking at old samurai photographs from 1800s they all had blades which resemble a scimitar a bit, the tip of the blade is almost half wider than the base. This is to create weight to help slicing. At which point the sword become thin all the way?
Gabriel Morris
How is the experience of fucking a womanlet?
David Brooks
It is like fucking a piglet. Nice but does not change anything. Just be in celibate.
Austin Howard
>1955 was 10 years after WW2. Meat should have been really expensive in Japan so really wonder how he managed to eat enough calories and nutrition to build all those muscles up. Ever heard of fish ?
Evan Parker
I'm a big fan of mishima and he probably had good training but you can find better on youtube, opting to follow the advice of mishima is just celebrity worship, he doesn't have an incredible body and didn't have incredible knowledge so the only reason you'd pick his advice is due to him being a celebrity you like
Jonathan Cooper
Post a pic of what you mean
Noah Howard
His secret is that he was a five foot nothing manlet.
Liam Howard
Mishima was rich as fuck he could afford meat, and weights and boxing/fencing lessons lol
Dude was living in a huge mansion with Greek statues
John Brooks
>Meat should have been really expensive in Japan so really wonder how he managed to eat enough calories and nutrition to build all those muscles up.
Look closely, thats just motion blur, the katana is equal width
Jordan Evans
Mishimas katana was from the 17th century
William Thomas
Ahh I was just pretending to be dumb and wanted to see if others notice it.
Muramasa was a legendary sword maker btw.
Hunter Diaz
I lived in rural Japan.
I was lucky enough to live in a town where a bodybuilder had opened a gym. $300 for the whole year, two squat racks and good cardio machines. Plus im 6'4 so I automatically looked huge.
Not saying youre wrong, just sharing a story.
Brody Jenkins
Bodybuilding in Japan is for literal homosexuals so congrats everyone thinks you're a fag
Jace Allen
Did you suki suki Jap pussy? It is disgusting though: smelly and hairy and often they have almost black outer lips and stuff. I only do anal because I want to inflict pain.
Ryder Harris
The guy owned the gym with his wife and I met his kids many times. I think your perception is based on a completely outdated stereotype. Even old men and women lift weights there now.
Xavier Lee
Again thats an outdated stereotype. I only dated a few girls but they were clean, shaved, tight and just wonderful.
Connor Reed
Did you do anal with his wife? Please share photos.
Jace Watson
>shaved The west ruins everything
Adrian Brown
the katana is blurry from being in motion you RETARD
Kayden Hernandez
I did but I only made woodcuts of it sorry.
Jacob Thompson
Traditional Japanese women always pleasure the man. You have right to decapitate her if she is not doing her responsibilities.
Mason Torres
>Originally, he decided to start bodybuilding because he believed the more he improved his body, the more his mind would become sharper and he would become a better writer.
kek, keep lying to yourself. The reason he started bodybuilding is the same reason all gay have -- to get more/better mates.
Robert Gray
Interesting. thread. I tried googling on Japanese bodybuilding history and i couidln't really find anything from the 1950's japan.
Leo Bailey
>opting to follow the advice of mishima is just celebrity worship he is just curious how he did it you idiot
Elijah Peterson
Would you rather say... bi-curious?
Easton Price
The only thing I don't like about Mishima is that he had no sense of self-depreciation. I don't think he even had a strong sense of irony. I guess that kind of autistic singlemindedness can be good, but it makes a lot of his writing seem surprisingly one-dimensional. I suppose it was the era he was in.
Irony and self depreciation is a tool for lesser artists and utter hacks. You don't seek depth or to learn. You seek bubblegum entertainment that you don't have to take seriously.
And yeah. Dude is an up his own asshole fruit.
Caleb Garcia
>1955 was 10 years after WW2. Meat should have been really expensive in Japan so really wonder how he managed to eat enough calories and nutrition to build all those muscles up.
You forget he was from a 'noble' family with all the privilege that entails.
Colton Carter
It's not that I wanted him to spend whole chapters ripping on himself. But there are a lot of contradictions in Mishima that are so extremely obvious from the outside, that at least in Sun and Steel he never addresses.
>tfw the Kris Kristofferson movie of The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea sucked ass
he was a mentally ill homosexual who did bodybuilding solely because he wanted to look good when he committed suicide. he is a testament to the dangers of lifelong mental illness
Aiden James
Someone does. There’s otakus / fanboys for almost every interest out there. Pic related where I read this about Mishima.
Weren't his swords accursed or bloodthirsty or something? They were used by warlords and I think Tokugawa Ieyasu's (the lad who united Japan during Sengoku) father and grandfather were killed by Muramasa swords
Cooper Foster
Most of the online complaints about Japanese gyms are the gyms located in the city.
Yeah, you sound you lucked out with a rural gym opened up by a bodybuilder.
Alexander Cruz
That's why I wish Yukio Mishima wrote a book specifically on his bodybuilding only.
You're a fat and weak 30 year old Japanese man in 1955 and you want to be strong and muscular yet you live in a culture where bodybuilding hasn't taken root yet and nobody around to ask for advice or help.
I'm wondering if he did any really stupid exercises in the beginning. I'm wondering if he tried any stupid diets in the beginning.
When did he eventually figure out the right way to body build after much trail and error. The internet didn't exist back then, you know, and I doubt much Western books were completely translated to Japanese besides the usual classic literature like Shakespeare.
Jack Rivera
read sun and steel. he mentions bodybuilding and physical exercise quite a lot in this pretty long essay.
Landon King
I recall that Donald Keene was a friend of Mishima's and is a very respected scholar of japanese literature, so you could perhaps send him an email and ask about the matter. The guy is something like 95 now so he lived during the period in question.
Jordan Peterson
>poor he married an aristocrat
Lucas Jackson
Scratch that, he died three months ago. Perhaps some other professor?
Carson Howard
Try going to a buddhist temple, in Korean the ones in the mountains sometimes have outdoor gyms where old Korean men lift.
Hunter Sanchez
The most mainstream depiction of muscles in Japan used to be Hard Gay introduced in 2002
Google algorithms constantly update but Japanese male celebrities were consistently slim and lanky since the 2000s. They might be buffer now but if you just youtube search Japanese commercials, the men are still very slim.
Muscular people are only seem in wacky and comedic Japanese commercials not in more serious tone commercials.
Jace Diaz
That was possibly later in his life, not when he turned exactly 30 years old.
I believe he had a more pure bodybuilding desire in 1955 and was just sick and tired of being weak and fat, like a middle age crisis when he just turned 30.
Thomas Murphy
Eh, he used irony in the Sea of Fertility, so he was able, it just wasn't his thing.
Jaxson Kelly
Damn that is sad. Would be so cool if fit dug up that history.
Jonathan Taylor
Im celibate (voluntary) and i still lift.
Jose Evans
That was like the first anime love triangle lol
Nathan Hughes
Would have loved a gay orgy with fit Mishima. Something about Jap discipline and Hard Gay turns my dick to diamond.
Luis Stewart
Mega yikes
Cooper Parker
>all gay I know Jow Forums is 90% gay, but the straight guys here seem to lift for the same reason
Nathan Bennett
I've seen this picture before and thought the guy had the most insane traps ever.
[spoiler]at last I truly see.
Charles Mitchell
>tfw no Yukio Mishima bf to ream me out in the parliament building to make a political statement
