『絹と明察』の光と闇を明察する―新出の三島由紀夫旧蔵書を手がかりとして―

摘要

Mishima Yukio’s Silk and Enlightenment (Kinu to Meisatsu, 1964) is a long and a ratherunfortunate novel in that it received uncertain reviews of both approvals and disapprovals by thecritics. Where did Mishima’s true intention lie in writing this full-length novel?Fuefukigawa Art Library, where Mr. Hatano Takeo acts as the President, holds many of thebooks owned by Mishima himself. I was so fortunate to be given the opportunity to examine thefour books that provided sources for Silk and Enlightenment. Indeed, I was the first scholar to begiven access to these items, which are all concerned with the industrial actions that took place inthe rapidly growing silk factory, Omi Kenshi.In these four books, many underlines are drawn and marginalias scribbled in by Mishimahimself. Also, whenever he found useful accounts for his novel, he folded the top corner of pages.In fact, there are applications of such relevant parts in Silk and Enlightenment. The pages,stained with Mishima’s greasy hands, have now turned into almost black over forty years and hisfinger prints are clearly retained in some of them. By tracing the pages he referred to, we caninvestigate minutely into the process through which the novelist constructed the plot, created thecharacters, and rendered the novel as close as possible to the real historical incident.Silk and Enlightenment compares the two contrasting spheres: the enlightened world ofthe West, which is represented by Heidegger and Hlderlin, and the chaotic reality of Japan asexposed through the industrial actions over the silk factory. Mishima’s own thought on Japanduring the industrialising period is made clearer by the above four books discovered in his library.It also elucidates his researches on the subject of the hitherto uncertain relationships between theworld of West and that of Japan. Mishima had an eye for the uniqueness of Japanese society as wellas an eye to observe the cultural universality.Besides, this research becomes the key to understanding the root of Mishima’s ‘motivationsas a novelist’ which drove him in the first place to select out these four reference items on theindustrial actions at Omi Kenshi. It sheds a new light upon his fundamental views on humanity andthe world.I am confident that this paper will present a model case for future studies on Mishima Yukioby making a close and detailed analysis of Silk and Enlightenment (Kinu to Meisatsu), for thefirst time, by actually basing research on Mishima’s marginalias on his own books.