The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, who lived from 1925 to 1970, styled himself as an “aesthetic terrorist,” and carried out one actual act of terror in 1970, leading a far-right coup against the Japanese government. When the coup failed, he committed seppuku, the ritual disembowelment by sword traditionally reserved for samurai warriors. The combined lurid elements of his persona have made him difficult to categorize. He was a gay, sadomasochistic social conservative and bodybuilder, whose work was both performance art and a celebration of classical Japanese culture.
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