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((Expand Japanese|仮面の告白|date=December 2021))

((Short description|Novel by Yukio Mishima))
((More citations needed|date=March 2013))
((infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = Confessions of a Mask
| title_orig   = ((nihongo|Kamen no Kokuhaku|假面の告白|))
| translator   = [[Meredith Weatherby]]
| image        = File:ConfessionsOfAMask.jpg
| caption      = First edition (Japanese)
| author       = [[Yukio Mishima]]
| cover_artist = 
| country      = Japan
| language     = Japanese
| genre        = 
| publisher    = [[Kawade Shobō Shinsha|Kawade Shobō]] (Japan)<br>[[New Directions Publishers|New Directions]] (US Eng. trans)
| pub_date      = 5 July 1949
| english_pub_date = 1958
| media_type   = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages        = 254 p.
| isbn =  0-8112-0118-X
| oclc          = 759934
))
 
((Nihongo|'''''Confessions of a Mask'''''|仮面の告白|Kamen no Kokuhaku)) is the second novel by Japanese author [[Yukio Mishima]]. First published on 5 July 1949 by [[Kawade Shobō Shinsha|Kawade Shobō]],<ref>((cite book|author1=佐藤秀明|author2=井上隆史|author3=山中剛史|title=決定版 三島由紀夫全集42巻 年譜・書誌|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnTWPQAACAAJ|date=August 2005|publisher=[[Shinchosha]]|isbn=978-4-10-642582-0|pages=391–393))</ref><ref>((cite book|author1=佐藤秀明|author2=井上隆史|author3=山中剛史|title=決定版 三島由紀夫全集42巻 年譜・書誌|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnTWPQAACAAJ|date=August 2005|publisher=[[Shinchosha]]|isbn=978-4-10-642582-0|pages=540–561))</ref> it launched him to national fame though he was only in his early twenties.<ref name="enc">((cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Japan |title=Confessions of a Mask |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |accessdate=2012-04-14 |year=2012 |publisher=Shogakukan |location=Tokyo |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archivedate=2007-08-25 ))</ref> Some have posited that Mishima's similarities to the main character of the novel come from the character acting as a [[stand-in]] for Mishima's own autobiographical story.

''Confessions of a Mask'' was translated into English by [[Meredith Weatherby]] for [[New Directions Publishing|New Directions]] in 1958.<ref>((Cite book |last=Petersen |first=Gwenn Boardman |url=http://archive.org/details/mooninwateru00pete |title=The Moon in the Water: Understanding Tanizaki, Kawabata, & Mishima |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |year=1979 |isbn=0824805208 |location=Honolulu |pages=319))</ref>

==Plot==
The protagonist is referred to in the story as Kochan, which is the diminutive of the author's real name: Kimitake ([[wikt:公威|公威]]). Being raised during Japan's era of [[uyoku|right-wing]] [[Japanese militarism|militarism]] and [[Empire of Japan|Imperialism]], he struggles from a very early age to fit into society. Like Mishima, Kochan was born with a less-than-ideal body in terms of physical fitness and robustness, and throughout the first half of the book (which generally details Kochan's childhood) struggles intensely to fit into Japanese society.<ref name="kokugo">((cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (日本国語大辞典) |title=仮面の告白 (Kamen no Kokuhaku) |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |accessdate=2012-04-14 |year=2012 |publisher=Shogakukan |location=Tokyo |language=ja |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archivedate=2007-08-25 ))</ref> A weak homosexual, Kochan is kept away from boys his own age as he is raised, and is thus not exposed to the norm. His isolation likely led to his future fascinations and fantasies of death, violence, and same-sex intercourse.<ref name="nipponika">((cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Nihon Daihyakka Zensho (Nipponika) (日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ) |title=仮面の告白 (Kamen no kokuhaku) |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |accessdate=2012-04-14 |year=2012 |publisher=Shogakukan |location=Tokyo |language=ja |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archivedate=2007-08-25 ))</ref>

Kochan is homosexual,<ref name="enc"/> and in the context of Imperial Japan he struggles to keep it to himself. In the early portion of the novel, Kochan does not yet openly admit that he is attracted to men, but indeed professes that he admires masculinity and strength while having no interest in women. This includes an admiration for Roman sculptures and statues of men in dynamic physical positions. Some have argued that the admiration of masculinity is autobiographical of Mishima, himself having worked hard through a naturally weak body to become stronger and a male model.

[[File:Guido Reni - Saint Sebastian - Google Art Project (27740148).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Alt|Kochan finds an image of [[Guido Reni]]'s ''[[Saint Sebastian]]'' and is attracted to it.]]

In the first chapter of the book, Kochan recalls a memory of a picture book from when he was four years old. Even at that young age, Kochan approached a single picture of a heroic-looking European knight on horseback almost as pornography, gazing at it longingly and hiding it away, embarrassed, when others come to see what he is doing. When his nurse tells him that the knight is actually [[Joan of Arc]], Kochan, wanting the knight to be a paragon of manliness, is immediately and forever put off by the picture, annoyed that a woman would dress in man's clothing.

The word 'mask' comes from how Kochan develops his own false personality that he uses to present himself to the world. Early on, as he develops a fascination with his friend Omi's body during puberty, he believes that everybody around him is also hiding their true feelings from each other, everybody participating in a 'reluctant masquerade'. As he grows up, he tries to fall in love with a girl named Sonoko, but is continuously tormented by his latent homosexual urges, and is unable to ever truly love her.<ref name="enc"/>

==References==
((Reflist))
((Yukio Mishima))
((Portalbar|Japan|Asia|Literature|Novels|LGBT))

[[Category:1949 novels]]
[[Category:1949 Japanese novels]]
[[Category:Japanese-language novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Yukio Mishima]]
[[Category:Novels set in Tokyo]]
[[Category:Novels with gay themes]]
[[Category:1940s LGBT novels]]
[[Category:Japanese LGBT novels]]
[[Category:1949 debut novels]]
[[Category:Kawade Shobō Shinsha books]]
[[Category:Novels set in Nagano Prefecture]]

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