We old-school self-improvers put a lot of faith in the power of words, it's why we're here, after all, but maybe we don't believe in them quite as much as a young Yukio Mishima did. Here he describes his early development:

In the average person, I imagine, the body precedes language. In my case, words came first of all; then—belatedly, with every appearance of extreme reluctance, and already clothed in concepts—came the flesh. It was already, as goes without saying, sadly wasted by words.

And here his teenage romanticization of a twilight, bookish existence:

I loved my pit, my dusky room, the area of my desk with its piles of books! How I enjoyed introspection, shrouded myself in cogitation; with what rapture did I listen for the rustling of frail insects in the thickets of my nerves!

But something was missing. Recognizing his limitations, Mishima longed for a healthier body and healthier thinking. He took himself into the open air (the sun) and applied himself to lifting weights (the steel), in search of a more physical mode of existence, which he certainly found, becoming—in addition to Japan's most celebrated novelist—a bodybuilder, a martial artist, and a model. This search culminated in his attempted overthrow of the Japanese government and subsequent ritual suicide only two years after the publication of this book.

I trust you all to stop short of these final extremes.

Like all of Mishima's books, Sun and Steel is written in Japanese. As far as I know the only English translation available is the 1970 one by John Bester.

Please join us at our usual venue on July 27, at 7 PM, to compare notes, and perhaps biceps too. Until then I wish you good training!