Word and Image.

[wandering-son.livejournal.com]

"Otaguro's hands were large, though emaciated, and the sharp report of their clapping was as if the palms, like hollowed, rough-hewn cedar planks, had entrapped pure atmosphere, and crushed it with an explosive burst of divinity."

Words quoted from Runaway Horses, the second book of Yukio Mishima's greatest work of art, the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility.
Yukio Mishima, the greatest writer ever, had a soul of a samurai right until his end.

Comments

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I did a painting once of Yukio Mishima as samurai, I'm not sure if I kept a photo of it, as many of my works from twenty years were destroyed in flooding. But I hope someone does a bio of him in English that 'gets' him, you know?

thanks for posting.

[elegantpaws.livejournal.com]

Rather beautiful and poignant.

Thank you.

EP

[jishcreator.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's beautiful.
I should look into him~

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Ah - those hands! (picture) Entirely capable of "an explosive burst of divinity", eh? Especially when attached to a piano.

I liked this quote, though I've never found what I've read about Mishima's life that attractive; this is probably only because I don't know enough about his writing, his art. I came across him because of his interest in martial arts (kendo, I think) and not as a writer.

The extract you chose is full of things (description of appearance, noise, plank image, a poetic recipe for the clap itself) but was presumably in Japanese originally. Did you make the English language version yourself, or do you recommend a particular translator of Mishima's work, please? It's a shame if people receive the wrong impression of a writer's work because of an unsympathetic translation, and it sounds as though you know enough about Mishima's writing to have a good opinion, if you don't mind giving it!

Thanks for posting this.

[lilyginnyblack.livejournal.com]

I can't add much more, besides the fact that I find the quote to be lovely and the combination with the picture to be wonderful. But, this has intrigued me to look into Mishima's work, since I had never heard of him before this. So, thank you for posting and sharing! ^-^