Patriotism

is a 1966 Japanese short film directed by Yukio Mishima. It is based on Mishima's short story "Patriotism", published in 1960. Opening scroll In February 1936, Tokyo was placed under martial law following a coup d'etat executed by a group of young officers. They maintained that they were far more loyal to the emperor than the corrupt cabinet members they murdered. Lieutenant Takeyama was a member of this secret society, but it was decided that he should not participate in this coup d'etat. The others did not want to implicate him, because they knew how much he loved Reiko, his beautiful young bride. It seemed at first that the coup had been successful, but in a few days people began to look on it as a minor uprising soon to be quelled by an imperial injunction. Lieutenant Takeyama was still a member of the palace guard. The time when he would have to fight against his comrade-in-arms, to execute his closest friends as rebels, was drawing near. The Rite of Love and Death takes place on the Japanese Noh stage. Plot Chapter 1: Reiko Reiko, the lieutenant's wife has seen in her husband's face his resolution to die as he leaves for the palace on the snowy morning following the coup d'etat. If he should fail to return alive, she is determined to follow him in death. As she gathers the keepsakes she will leave behind for her parents and friends, she calls up tender memories of her husband's love...