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|title=Mishima's Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend

|author=Christopher Ross

|date=November 2006

|isbn=0007135092

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In 1970, Japanese novelist and playwright Yukio Mishima committed suicide in public, in the way of the samurai. He drove a knife into his stomach and was beheaded by a second who then killed himself in the same way. Mishima's death, gruesome to Western sensibilities, has become a source of morbid fascination for many, not least Christopher Ross. Mishima's Sword is a montage of travel writing and autobiographical musing tied together by the author's search for the samurai sword used in the Mishima seppuku. I found it absolutely delightful. It is by turns turns painfully self-conscious, obsessive and even creepy, but also thoughtful, non-judgemental and on occasion, touching on true profundity.