Yukio Mishima — 6th Annual Yukoku-ki Memorial Ceremony 1975 Original Poster with Program & Gekibun

[PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS]
- Subject: Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫, 1925–1970)
- Event: 憂国忌 第6回追悸会 / Yukoku-ki 6th Annual Memorial Ceremony
- Year: 1975 (Showa 50), November 25
- Format: Folded poster, 72.5 × 25.5 cm (unfolded)
- Inclusions: Original Program (式次第) + Gekibun Manifesto (檄) by Yukio Mishima — Complete
- Language: Japanese
- Origin: Japan

[OVERVIEW]
He saw it coming. Fifty years ago, Yukio Mishima wrote:

「私はこれからの日本に大して希望をつなぐことができない。このまま行ったら『日本』はなくなってしまうのではないかという感を日ましに深くする。日本はなくなって、その代わりに、無機的な、からっぽな、ニュートラルな、中間色の、富裕な、抜目がない、或る経済的大国が極東の一角に残るのであろう。それでもいいと思っている人たちと、私は口をきく気にもなれなくなっているのである」

"I can no longer connect my hopes to the Japan that lies ahead. The feeling deepens daily that Japan, as Japan, may simply cease to exist. Japan will disappear, and in its place will remain a merely economic superpower — inorganic, empty, neutral, colorless, wealthy, shrewd — occupying a corner of the Far East. I find I can no longer bring myself to speak with those who find that acceptable."
— Yukio Mishima, "A Promise Unfulfilled" (果たし得ていない約束), 1970

And then — it happened. Not with a bang, but with the slow, imperceptible erosion he had named: inorganic, empty, neutral, colorless, wealthy, shrewd. The Japan he feared did not fall — it dissolved, from within, into exactly the economic superpower he could not bring himself to accept.

What Mishima dreaded as a Japanese catastrophe has since become the condition of the entire world. The "inorganic, neutral world" he named in 1970 is, in 2026, the AI-saturated, fully digitized, automated, and homogenized global civilization we now inhabit — a world where everything is optimized, nothing is sacred, and efficiency has replaced meaning. Every culture flattened. Every friction eliminated. Every human impulse processed, predicted, and monetized.

On November 25, 1970, Mishima performed seppuku at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Tokyo. In the years that followed, members of the Tatenokai — Mishima's own private militia — and those who shared his convictions established the Yukoku-ki (憂国忌) — an annual memorial ceremony held each November 25th. This poster is an artifact of the 6th Yukoku-ki, held in 1975 (Showa 50) — five years after his death, when the wound was still raw.

The poster — 72.5 × 25.5 cm unfolded, stored in four folds — was designed to be displayed at the ceremony and carried away by those who attended. That it survives at all, in this condition, after 50 years, is itself a minor miracle of preservation. It is accompanied by the original program (式次第) documenting the ceremony's proceedings, and most extraordinarily, by Mishima's own gekibun (檄) — the manifesto he distributed on the day of his death. To hold these three documents together is to hold the act, and the remembrance of the act, in a single set of hands.

[IMPORTANT NOTE FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: EASY AI TRANSLATION]
Japanese text in the program and gekibun can be easily read using Google Lens, ChatGPT, or Google Translate on any smartphone. Language is no longer a barrier to engaging with this extraordinary document.

[WHY THIS IS A PRIZED COLLECTOR'S ITEM]
1. 6th Yukoku-ki (1975) — among the earliest annual memorial ceremonies; ephemera from this period is extraordinarily scarce
2. Complete three-piece set: poster + program + Mishima's own gekibun — surviving together after 50 years
3. Mishima's prophecy has been fulfilled — his words resonate now more than ever, driving global demand among collectors, technologists, and philosophers

[CONDITION]
Very Good Vintage Condition — Exceptional Survival for Ephemera of This Significance

- Poster: Very Good — fold lines present and consistent with storage over 50 years; no tears, no loss, color strong and legible throughout.
- Program (式次第): Very Good — clean, intact, no damage.
- Gekibun (檄): Very Good — Mishima's manifesto present and fully legible; light age-toning consistent with 50 years of careful storage.
- *Please carefully inspect all high-resolution listing photos to verify condition.