Thirst for Love by Yushio Mishima

Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima is the first book that I have read in 2022. It is a relatively thin book at about 200 pages. It is the second Mishima book that I have read, the first being The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea.

Yukio Mishima 三島 由紀夫 (1925-1970) is one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th Century. His political activities made him a controversial figure. He was proud of the traditional culture and spirit of Japan and was opposed to what he perceived as western materialism.

He founded Tanenokai ( Shield Society) for the avowed purpose of restoring sacredness and dignity to the Emperor of Japan.

On 25 November 1970, Mishima and four of his militia entered a military base in central Tokyo, took its commander hostage, and tried to inspire the Japan Self-Defense forces to rise up and overthrow Japan’s 1947 Constitution, which he called a ” Constitution of defeat”. After his speech and screaming of “Long live the Emperor”, he committed seppuku (harakiri or ritual suicide).

Thirst for Love, written in 1950, is a story about a young woman Etsuko with no love in her life. One year after the death of her philandering husband Ryosuke  from typhoid, she  moves into the house of her father-in-law Yakichi who makes advances on her.  On the outside she seems happy, but inside she feels repulsed and numb. She  develops romantic feelings for the young gardener Saburo, who oblivious of her interest, is having an affair with the maid Miyo, ending up with making Miyo pregnant. Etsuko’s jealousy is now driving her crazy and she is seeking for revenge. 

The sad novel deals with themes of unrequited sexual longing and the desire to inflict pain upon the object of one’s love. The many dark moments in the novel are a foreboding of impending tragedy.

Though this book is only 200 pages long, it took me quite a while to finish reading it. Mishima’s prose is very beautiful but I find it a bit difficult to read at times.  But overall I still enjoyed reading it.  It is really very different from Western novels.