In this article we analyse the political thought of Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), one of the most famous and polemic Japanese writers who, after an attempted failed coup, commited seppuku, the ritual samurai suicide. Through the reading and analysis of his most relevant works, we can see how the writer recovered, reread and reinterpreted traditional elements from Japanese history and culture in a way in which he tried to respond to what he considered the decadence of modern Japanese society in the second half of the 20th century. Very important in Yukio Mishima's political thought was the figure of the samurai, whom the writer considered as the embodiment of the purity and true soul of the Japanese people.
Yukio Mishima; Japan; 20th century; Tradition; Modernity