A Philosophy for Working Out: Mishima's Sun and Steel

As the New Year rolls in, people become interested in working out and building a better body. But perhaps the motivation is not all there, which leads many to quit early. Yukio Mishima, in his essay Sun and Steel, explains the philosophical reasons as to why he works out. This includes embracing pain, the body as a form of expression and a representation of the self, and a future romantic death. In this video, we examine these ideas and try to apply them to our lives in an attempt to establish a philosophical justification for working out.
Music:
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Never Ending Flirtations
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Video Tags:
philosophy, philosopher, philosophize, yukio, mishima, Yukio Mishima, Sun and Steel, workout, working out, body, bodybuilding, lifting weights, fitness, exercise, motivation, motivational, essay, animation, drawing, graphic design, work, pain, struggle, self expression, japan, japanese, exercising, workouts, dumbbells, pullups, weights, inspiration, inspirational

[@JD-ve6kn]

fun fact: Mishima, being a scrawny, sheltered and neurotic kid his whole life, eventually found bodybuilding and it totally changed his mentality and how he interacted with the world around him. that being said, his lower body was notoriously unrdeveloped. he often fancied near-naked photoshoots of himself, though when once critiqued on a series of photos for his undeveloped legs conducted almost every other photoshoot from the waist up moral of the story: NEVER SKIP LEG DAY

[@h3artcxxk]

I think he looked quite proportionate. He wasn’t big by any means, so his small legs don’t really stand out as much in my opinion. Agree with not skipping legs, but we all know what muscles everyone wants to see on a man.

[@TheExNonGrata]

"Left wing or right wing, I am pro working out" - Yukio Mishima (probably - Idk man, I never read him)

[@tonybologna4489]

So true I was there when he said that.

[@KuroNekoExMachina]

You mean "far-far-far-far-far-right".

[@Guilforde]

@Meyer Aliyeh He literally created a milicia to defend the emperor and signed a document condemning the Cultural Revolution. Mishima was not the typichal right-wing but he believed in Japanese tradition and hierarchy

[@conart1201]

@Meyer Aliyeh : Mishima wasn't right wing bro Mishima: *attempts to inspire a military coup to overthrow democracy and reinstall the Emperor as head of state and restore hierarchical Japanese tradition*

[@ryantakach1478]

@Meyer Aliyeh both communism and fascism are anti Liberal

[@DMT4Dinner]

Considering we were brought to life without our consent, and told that we will die without having any control over the fact, approaching our doomed fate with a romantic attempt is extremely relatable

[@jakjohnson2529]

Alan Watts compared the mind and body connection to Ouroboros. He pointed out that the snakes head is not separate from the tail, and by biting its tail it’s hurting itself. This analogy has totally changed the way I view my body and my relationship with food and exercise. I now see that the way I treat my body is the way I treat myself.

[@PhilosophyToons]

I should check it out then!

[@kattihatt]

How could it be any other way? You are your body, and your mind comes from it.

[@chunkymilk]

@@kattihatt you are mistaken. no one knows where the mind comes from.

[@kattihatt]

@@chunkymilk the thoughts and memories in your brain makes up the mind. Theres nothing more than what takes place in the brain, and the brain is inside the body. If you think otherwise, proove it.

[@chunkymilk]

@@kattihatt type ‘mind-body problem’ and ‘mind-body dualism’ into a search engine. also, the burden of proof is on the one who makes a claim, i.e. you.

[@rationalfreak]

I find Mishima’s notion of romantic death to be his most interesting idea. It is admittedly a personal obsession of the author who longed for the preservation of bushido in a prosperous post-war Japan. Being descended from the samurai, Mishima correctly diagnosed that the “classical” Japanese spirit was being suffocated by the materialism and technological comforts of the age. I suspect that his fear of his own senescence was really a fear of civilizational decay, and that his own body was also his interpretation of Japanese history. His failed coup d’état was obviously a protest against the contemporary state of Japan and an attempt to emulate his ancestors who sought to die by the sword for their masters. But it was also his magnum opus, as can be gleaned from his own words in the book. Mishima could only apotheosize the old values through destroying his meticulously chiseled body, which by its very execution expresses his contempt of a materialistic culture that seeks to prolong its life even as it inevitably degenerates into corruption, triviality, and ugliness. After all, it is no wonder that it was in the samurai where the contradictions of restraint and madness, poetry and propaganda, and elegance and brutality find themselves balanced in precarious tension.

[@GhostofTradition]

Right his death wasn't because he "failed" it was part of the plan.

[@illwill6205]

quite a writer you are

[@muhammadhassanaliiqbal1117]

I didn't understand the third paragraph, could you help me out with that? Why is it "no wonder" that these contradictions found balance within a samurai? Is it because Samurais have something to do with balance? And what's with that "After all", like, I don't see the connection between it, and the previous paragraph I just want to understand, not trying to be snarky or anything.

[@TheOneMastodon]

Mostly accurate, except for your bit about Mishima "apotheosizing" old values by destroying his chiseled body and the ensuing thingy about expressing contempt for a materialistic culture. What his suicide was, was the strongest note of resolve any writer could ever put to their work and a hallmark of his sadness due to being born in the wrong age, and a yearning for a return to those times. Also, it wasn't quite a coup d'etat, more of a call to arms, as after he was shouted down, he saw that his countrymen were no longer as they once were, and that he did not belong. Nobody in their right minds can deny his authenticity, earnestness, dedication and honor after that. Further, any proper reading of Mishima's work clearly delineates that the body is sacred, of self-work, something both transcendent and fundamentally different from the "material world" even though the body is material. It is also sacred-separate due to the magic of pain, it being the vehicle through which suffering and perception is ported through, both a reflection of one's self and one's relationship with himself.

[@rationalfreak]

@@TheOneMastodon Yep should have expressed myself better there, the coup wasn't really his point after all. I don't disagree that it was also his yearning for the values of a time mostly gone and a call to arms against his own. There's more to his suicide though, not only as a political statement but an aesthetic one as well.

[@Eternalised]

Wow that's mind-blowing. Never thought of looking towards death like that. Fascinating, great video!!

[@PhilosophyToons]

Thanks friend, excited for your Heidegger video!

[@InfinitiSin]

Once you get used to exercising, it becomes more of a pleasure rather suffering. Plus looking good in every clothe one wear is a motivation in itself. I just love working out and this video of course as well.

[@PhilosophyToons]

Thanks friend! I definitely look forward to working out nowadays, its a great way to build self confidence.

[@Mememaxing]

Yes it's like meth

[@TN-xx4ih]

Never been disappointed by Mishima and I highly recommend Sun and Steel. It is mandatory for all based people

[@jaredanderson7494]

The diminishing of the final point shows a clear misunderstanding of Mishima and of historic japanese culture in general. Death is the spring from which all culture flows. Just read the books folks, not gonna get much here.

[@user-qp5mq9uz1n]

Thanks bro. It is always the same-once you read the book the KZbin video is drivel for you

[@thomasglasscock2570]

A romantic death is tied to the masculine soul. One cannot pick up good literature from Homer to Tolkien without discovering it.

[@muhammadhassanaliiqbal1117]

Guy really said, "I'm dying swole, bitch." I love it.

[@n8g496]

Haha enjoyed this. The ideas are extreme at times but without doubt, the Sun & Steel changed my life for the better.

[@Dacademeca]

Great video. I agree that working out is very important, I've actually started coming back to working out this year and my life has improved for the better.

[@PhilosophyToons]

Dope! Hope it goes well

[@tylerstanley1455]

To the ‘romantic death’ portion, consider Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain. He quoted a Neil Young lyric in his suicide note, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Looking past bodybuilding, I think that’s a Western parallel to what Mishima writes. Of course Cobain was no bodybuilder, but it was a philosophy towards death that gave identical results when acted upon: a lasting legacy. We still talk about Mishima and Cobain today!

[@BLANCOYNEGROFILMS]

Amazing video

[@jamesgeraghty1659]

Amazing video!

[@PhilosophyToons]

Thanks! appreciate it

[@mohammadharisfahim6614]

You just earned a subscriber

[@MrEmiliogtz]

Really good way of getting a new subscriber, you are a good saler hahaha

[@leannechan4692]

The second point just took a lot of the weight of my insecurities off my chest

[@letzte_maahsname]

His philosophy seems to be similar to the nordic believe of entering valhalla only if you die in battle (aka in glory).

[@KILLRAPEDIE]

Yes hello

[@georgepeterson3440]

He made his choice. While I would never condone the action the act of making ones own choice is what I feel the only truth we all have in this shared existence.

[@jayyyen]

Ur looking very nice today too Mr.Amy

[@patrikmomcinovic3145]

A good introductory video to a few people who are interested in the work od Yukio Mishima and yet such a bad choice of background music. The whole concept of connecting the body to the mind is very ancient and deep so this banal toon in the background seems to minimise your, but also Mishima's words. Nevertheless, the content of the video is great. 👍🏻

[@Kisuke323]

I am the person you started the video with.

[@dr.franxx6192]

What kind of Sam o'nella is this? Nah jokes aside good vid

[@rexremedy1733]

Yeah. Be careful. You can get addicted to the pain-gain cycle. And mentally, from a certain point it leads you nowhere. There is a point from which onwards, you won’t be able to transcend the nature of this experience into further growth of insight and mental strength. In other words you can’t achieve nobility by merely working out. All working out will do is give you a false sense of mental strength that can lead you down a very dark path. Btw. of course working out is important. But don’t assign benefits to which it doesn’t have. And be mindful of the inherent risks of self deception associated with excessive working out. You are welcome.

[@nitroglycerific9295]

I'M subscribed to you for historical biographies ;u;

[@calebgigachad6705]

Just finished reading Sun and Steel. It was a bit hard to digest, especially as it went on towards the end. Thank you for spelling it out for low iq people like me. 💕 I'll throw in a sub for your trouble.

[@coldoutkast]

glad I’m not the only one found it hard to conceptualise the read

[@TheMountAndBladerX10]

Neat Funfact, the inseperability of Soul and Body is actually an important ,though often neglected, component of Judeo Christian Theology. This is due to the fact that already just in the hebrew language, these two are linguistically inseperable. Though unfortunately Christian Monks didnt quite make the same "gains" philosophy out of it

[@hanskung3278]

Isn't this interest in pain called Sadism?

[@exiszentriker2952]

You work out to be healthier I work out to kill myself but being jacked We are not the same

[@monti121314]

I have a problem with the concept of heroism. Generally and towards the concepts of body maintenance. So far the romantic death seems not appealing to me. The connection of body and mind, for me, is more about awareness of the sensation my body provides to my mind and the intentions which my mind provides to my body. So working out and clothing are more of a way to communicate in the society than communication between body and mind. Working out though may be a form of communication.

[@PhilosophyToons]

Yeah the romantic death idea is very far out there

[@dn8601]

I think you are thinking of the inner workings of the body too lightly. The day of a person who works out and sleeps well and the day of a person who doesn't sleep enough and is skinny couch potato - even if the exact same events happen to both of them - will be different. The healthy and strong person has a better neural system (including the central neural system), his hormones favour him, he is more alert and maybe he is has a closer relation to self-discipline and self-overcoming, his bones, muscles and heart are far sturdier and he is not afraid of fatigue and effort. He senses more and acts more and things are easier for him.

[@cuezozosousou]

"A few people"? You mean Tate no kai? Hopefully you're doing better, now.

[@rexremedy1733]

I don’t subscribe to any views I haven’t written myself.

[@A_Random_Rat]

Thoughtful and intelligent views tend to build off each other

[@GustavoMontanha]

The guy was totally wrong about pretty much anything. A good writer though.

[@longshorts5154]

kant would walk 2 hours each day until death

[@joem5615]

Wasn't it his gay lover who chopped his head off at Mishima's request

[@NoPrivateProperty]

Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, Ghandi, MLK, Te Lawrence were all pinnacle of men with small muscled bodies. endurance is what matters.

[@sparkysparky999]

yo wtf?

[@anon2034]

A video about a demigod made by a bugman. How uninspiring!