"A young Japanese lieutenant and a group of followers try unsuccessfully to overthrow the Japanese Government in the 1930s. Their failure and the lieutenant's suicide is ironically contrasted with the success of a later militaristic takeover which led Japan into World War II."@en
"Dernier jour du Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama et de son épouse Reiko. N'ayant pu participer au coup d'état du 26 février 1936 mené à Tokyo par des officiers. Le lieutenant se considéra déshonoré, et décida alors de se faire harakiri."
"Austere, elegant, and fiercely Japanese, "Patriotism" uses Noh staging to tell the story of Lieutenant Takeyama and his new bride, Reiko. A planned coup d'état has failed, and Takeyama will be required to participate in the execution of his friends. He therefore resolves to commit seppuku--ritual suicide--accompanied by his wife. Elegant, expressionistic and wordless, accompanied by selections from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," Mishima emphasizes the erotic and romantic ties between husband and wife, the physical relationship between sex and death, the ability of duty and honor to give meaning to action, and the ability of action to grant power to ideas. In keeping with the motto that decorates their home, the final actions of Takeyama and Reiko are "wholeheartedly sincere.""

Yūkoku, or, the rite of love and death