미시마 유키오(三島由紀夫)의 ‘대중’ 인식 전후적 ‘대중’ 담론의 가능성과 한계

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which the image of “the public” had changed in Japan in the 1950s and 60s. Furthermore, this study analyzed the awareness of Mishima Yukio, known as one of the most prominent right-wing writers in Japan, toward the public. The study also investigated the differences and similarities of this awareness. The meaning of the term “the public” has changed slightly in accordance with the time and place. However, it is the concept for which the mass production of wage earners, the population influx into urban areas, the enhancement of average thinking and life due to the development of mass media, etc., become the premises. It is known that the term “the public” became established in Japan in the 1920s. This was the period during which industrialization, capitalism, and the dissemination of mass media such as magazines and radio was underway in Japan. However, the discourse of popular culture during this period vanished after failing to materialize, because it was overwhelmed by the totalitarian atmosphere created by the war. The discourse about “the public” began to revive in Japan during the late 1950s and 1960s. This period was best described by high economic growth, an increased in white collar workers, the formation of a leisure culture, and the dissemination of media such as television. In addition to these urban cultural phenomena, the political events that could give shape to the discourse about “the public” took place. Of those events, the most prominent was “the struggle against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty” that occurred in 1960. In the course of “the struggle against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty”, Mishima became aware of the power of “the public” by watching the emergence of discourses pertaining to “the public” and “the citizen” in Japanese society. However, owing to the failure of “the struggle against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty”, he realized that it would not be possible to revolutionize a society only through solidarity of its citizens. In the 1960s, Mishima thought that a Japanese-style model, which should include the public’s unity over fragmentation and the recovery of “totality”, would be needed instead of a Western model that favors the growth of a citizen class. In other words, Mishima’s belief that spiritual unity and a resting place should be sought from Japan evolved into an obsession with “Japanese tradition” and “the Emperor system”.