On a Book Just Delivered: Kyoko’s House by Yukio Mishima
The book arrives with flyers: a Value Books newsletter with comments about the joys of curating books, a faux golden envelope that unfolds to reveal a thank-you from the company president, and a postcard-sized coupon for free shipping. The title in burnt orange and the author’s name in slate gray dominate two-thirds of the otherwise white cover, with the name of the publisher tucked into a corner. A narrow ribbon extends from the crown of the spine to nestle between pages 298 and 299, such bookmarks being a common feature of Japanese pocketbooks. The back cover of the dust jacket bears a summary introducing the titular character: the beautiful and wealthy Kyoko at whose house gather the elite salaryman Seiichiro, boxer Shunkichi, artist Natsuo and unknown actor Osamu. The four men represent different aspects of the author’s personality. There he is on the back flap, a handsome but dangerous devil who would, 11 years after publication of the present book, attempt a coup of the Japanese government alongside members of his far-right militia the Shield Society, by storming a Self-Defense Forces base. The effort failed and in the year The Beatles disbanded, the U.S. decided Vietnam wasn’t enough and invaded Cambodia, and the National Guard shot and killed protesters at Kent State University, the man who was determined to live life hard and choose the time and manner of his death committed seppuku, ritual death by self-disembowelment and second-abetted beheading, after the ways of the samurai of old. The book is Kyōko no Ie by Yukio Mishima, and it was delivered today.
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