“This toy increased in volume at every opportunity and hinted that, rightly used, it would be quite a delightful thing. But directions for its use were nowhere written, and so, when the toy took the initiative in wanting to play with me, my bewilderment was inevitable. Occasionally my humiliation and impatience became so aggravated that I even thought I wanted to destroy the toy. In the end, however, there was nothing for it but to surrender on my side to the insubordinate toy, with its expression of sweet secrecy, and wait passively to see what would happen.”

Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask

“In childish times

it’s easier;

a child believes

just what it’s told.

But children grow

and soon begin

to see too much

that doesn’t match

the simple tales,

and not enough

of what’s behind

their parents’ words.”

Terry Anderson, Den of Lions – Memoirs of Seven Years

“The period of childhood is a stage on which time and space become entangled.”

Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask