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Frogs, farting competitions, art connoisseurs, courtesans and crows all feature in the art of Kawanabe Ky\\u014dsai,- a key Japanese figure who challenged traditions of Japanese art. Ky\\u014dsai blurred the lines between popular and elite forms and we take a look at a new exhibition of his work at the Royal Academy. In today\\u2019s Free Thinking, Chris Harding looks at both his art and the writing of Yukio Mishima. Mishima was one of Japan's most infamous writers when he died in 1970, writing both for the mass market novels and readers of high literature, fusing traditional Japanese and modern Western styles. In his final years he became increasingly interested in extreme politics, a call for the restoration of the Emperor to his pre-war power and culminated in his death by seppuku, the Samurai\\u2019s ritual suicide. With a new translation of Beautiful Star, we learn about him and the recent reappraisal of his work.

Israel Goldman is a leading collector and dealer in the field of Japanese prints, paintings and illustrated books. The exhibition, Ky\\u014dsai: The Israel Goldman Collection, is at the Royal Academy from 19th March to 19th June 2022.

Koto Sadamura specialises in Japanese art history of the late nineteenth century, with a particular focus on the painter Kawanabe Ky\\u014dsai.

Stephen Dodd is Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at SOAS, University of London. He has written widely on modern Japanese literature and translated two novels by Yukio Mishima, including a new version of Beautiful Star published in April 2022.

Kate Taylor-Jones is Professor of East Asian Cinema at the University of Sheffield.

Producer: Ruth Watts