Forbidden Colors

Forbidden Colors
First edition cover
AuthorYukio Mishima
Original titleKinjiki (禁色)
TranslatorAlfred H. Marks
LanguageJapanese
PublisherAlfred A. Knopf (US Eng. trans)
Publication date
1951 (Part 1),
1953 (Part 2)
Publication placeJapan
Published in English
1968
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages403 p. (US hardback edition)
ISBN0-436-28153-8 (US hardback edition)
OCLC629740

Forbidden Colors (禁色, Kinjiki) is a 1951 novel by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima,[1] translated into English in 1968. A part two titled Higyō (秘楽, "Secret Pleasure") was published in 1953. The name kinjiki is a euphemism for same-sex love. The kanji means "forbidden", and in this case means "erotic love", although it can also mean "color". The word kinjiki also means colors that were forbidden to be worn by people of various ranks in the Japanese court. It describes the marriage of a gay man to a young woman. Like Mishima's earlier novel Confessions of a Mask, it is generally considered somewhat autobiographical.

  1. ^ Sato, Hideaki; Inoue, Takashi (2005). 決定版 三島由紀夫全集・第42巻・年譜・書誌 [Final edition-Yukio Mishima complete works No.42-Biographical sketch and Bibliography] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. pp. 540–541.