Sun and Steel (太陽と鉄, Taiyō to Tetsu) was published by Kodansha in 1968, two years before Mishima’s suicide. It is less a book than a manifesto — a philosophical autobiography explaining why a man famous for his intellect devoted the second half of his life to the cultivation of his body through bodybuilding, kendo, and military training.
Mishima argues that his early life was entirely verbal — “words preceded experience” — and that this left him spiritually incomplete. The body was merely a vehicle for the mind. Beginning in his thirties, he deliberately set out to reverse this hierarchy: through weight training, exposure to sunlight, and physical discipline, he would make the body speak with an eloquence equal to words.
The essay builds toward its logical conclusion: if the body is to achieve its ultimate expression, it must be offered to destruction. The sun (representing life, vigor, masculine principle) and steel (representing discipline, artifice, the refusal of nature) meet in the act of ritual death — seppuku — where the trained body achieves its final perfection by being destroyed. Two years later, Mishima enacted this thesis literally.
Collecting Sun and Steel
First edition (Kodansha, Tokyo, 1968): Japanese text.
First English edition (Kodansha International, New York, 1970): Translated by John Bester.
Market values:
- English first edition, fine in jacket: $80–$200
- Japanese first edition: $100–$250
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Body as Text
Sun and Steel (太陽と鉄, 1968) is Mishima’s most important non-fiction work — a philosophical autobiography in which he describes his transformation from a sickly, bookish youth into a bodybuilder, martial artist, and man of action. The essay explores the relationship between words and the body, intellect and physical experience, and makes the case that pure thought is insufficient — that the writer must also inhabit the flesh. Read in retrospect, the essay is a clear manifesto for the ritual suicide Mishima would perform two years later. It is essential reading for understanding his life and death.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a memoir? It is more philosophical meditation than conventional memoir. Mishima rarely provides biographical details; instead he constructs an argument about the relationship between body and mind, art and action. The English translation (1970) by John Bester is excellent.