Born in 1925 in Nagasumi-cho, Yotsuya Ward, Tokyo (now Yotsuya, Shinjuku Ward), as the eldest son of the Ministry of Agriculture official Hiraoka Azusa; his given name was Hiraoka Kimitake. He graduated head of his class through all of Gakushuin elementary, middle, and high school, and in 1944 received a silver watch from the Emperor. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Tokyo Imperial University in 1947, joined the Ministry of Finance, but quit after nine months to devote himself to writing. In 1949 he made a stunning debut with 'Confessions of a Mask,' confessing autobiographically to 'homosexual inclinations' and 'longing for death.' He won the Newcomer's Literary Prize for 'The Sound of Waves' (1954) and the Yomiuri Literary Prize for 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' (1956), establishing himself as the greatest of the postwar generation. From the 1960s he forged his body through bodybuilding, kendo, and karate and intensified his political statements. In 1968 he formed the militia 'Tatenokai' (Shield Society). From 1965 to 1970 he wrote the tetralogy 'The Sea of Fertility' ('Spring Snow,' 'Runaway Horses,' 'The Temple of Dawn,' 'The Decay of the Angel'), his final work. On November 25, 1970, after delivering the last manuscript of the fourth volume to his editor, he stormed the JSDF Ichigaya garrison with four Tatenokai members, took the Eastern Army commander hostage, gave a speech from the balcony calling on the SDF to rise, and then committed seppuku in the commander's room. Morita Masakatsu acted as kaishaku. He was 45. The 'Mishima Incident' shook Japan and the world.

A complex personality combining outstanding intellect, devotion to classical beauty, an obsession with body transformation, and a longing for 'the beauty of death.' With his ornate style and intricate structure he raised Japanese-language literature to artistic heights. At the same time, harboring a deep dissonance with postwar democracy, he idealized the emperor system and bushido, and in the end chose seppuku as the embodiment of his own aesthetics. A rare being who lived art and politics, East and West, masculinity and femininity, life and death with his whole body.

The greatest genius of Showa literature. 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,' 'The Sound of Waves,' 'Confessions of a Mask,' and 'The Sea of Fertility' tetralogy have been translated in over 20 countries, and he was a recurrent Nobel Prize candidate. The Mishima Incident gave a great shock to postwar Japanese society and became an occasion to re-question the relationship of Japanese with 'the Emperor,' 'bushido,' and 'defeat.' The Mishima Yukio Literary Museum on the shore of Lake Yamanaka preserves his life and work. His thought continues to deeply influence the new right and conservative discourse. His grave is in Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, Tokyo.