Michiharu Mishima

File:Johnwilsonp48.jpg

J.S. Wilson and Michiharu Mishima, Chief Scout of Japan, at the national training camp at Lake Yamanaka, on the slopes of Mount Fujiyama, December 1952

Michiharu Mishima (三島通陽 Mishima Michiharu) (January 1, 1897 - April 20, 1965) was a novelist, playwright and drama critic born in Azabu, Tōkyō. He was a viscount, a member of the House of Peers and the House of Councillors and was parliamentary vice-minister to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He was also a Peers School graduate. His pen name was Shōdō Mishima (三島章道 Mishima Shōdō).

His grandfather was Michitsune Mishima. His father was Yatarō Mishima (三島弥太郎 Mishima Yatarō), eighth-generation custodian of the Bank of Japan, while his mother was Marquis Takauta Shijō (四条隆謌 Shijō Takauta)'s third daughter, Kaneko (加根子). His younger sister was married to Yoshi Hijikata (土方与志 Hijikata Yoshi).

Boy Scout Movement

Mishima became the first president of the Boy Scout Association of Japan and also served as the head of the central training-grounds and as the fourth Chief Scout of Japan in 1951. He also held a Scouting exhibition in February 1946, the first of its kind since the end of World War II.

• 1922 Forms the nationwide 'Boy Scouts of Japan' alongside Count Futara Yoshinori with Shimpei Gotō as its figurehead; he is elected as Associate Board Chairman at age 25

• 1941 Wins the Blue Ribbon Medal for Philanthropy

• 1950 Transfers Boy Scouts Association of Japan headquarters to his villa and home in West Nasuno, Tochigi Prefecture. This site is now a permanent camping grounds for the Boy Scouts of Japan known as the Nasuno Camping Grounds

• 1951 Elected to serve as the fourth Chief Scout of Japan at the National General Assembly

• 1953 Receives the (きじ章 kijishō) from the Boy Scout Association of Japan for meritorious deeds and services

• 1961 Awarded the 'Bronze Wolf' by the World Organization of the Scout Movement for exceptional sevices to world Scouting

• 1965 Writes his serial Scout Jūwa (スカウト十話) for the Mainichi Shimbun from February 25 to March 7. This will be his final work. Dies on April 20. A (日本連盟 Nippon Remmei) funeral service is held on April 24.

Additionally, J.S. Wilson presented the Wood Badge to Mishima, which he had earned at Gilwell Park after the Austrian World Scout Jamboree.

Mishima's handwriting can be found on the stone monument at 'Japan's First Boy Scout Camping Ground' on the banks of Lake Biwa in Omatsuzaki (Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture).

Literature

• 和訳孟子 Wayaku Mōshi (1918, Daidōkan)
• パトロールシステム Patrol System (1925, author: Roland Philips)
• 少年団指揮者教範 Shōnendan Shikisha Kyōhan: Aids to Scoutmastership (author: Robert Baden-Powell)
• 満州及上海に正しき日本を観る 附国際聯盟と我裏南洋 Manshū Oyobi Shanhai ni Tadashiki Nihon o Miru: Fukokusai Remmei to Wagaura Nan'yō (1932, Tōgakusha)
• 世界少年団劇集 Sekai Shōnendan Gekishū (1933, Boy Scouts Association of Japan)
• 郊外健児教育 Kōgai Kenji Kyōiku (1933, author: ロアゾウ, Boy Scouts Association of Japan)
• 日満健児工作 Nichiman Kenji Kōsaku (1934, Tōgakusha)
• 伊太利は奮起した Itarii wa Funki Shita (1939, Jitsugyō no Nihon Sha)
• 少年団概論 Shōnendan Gairon (1939, author: ロアゾウ, Kyōikukenkyūsha)
• 世界児童劇集 附少年団劇集 Sekai Jidō Gekishū: Fushōnendan Gekishū (1940, Shōkasha)
• 少年団指導の理念と実践 Shōnendan Shidō no Rinen to Jissen (1942, Sangakushobō)
• 音なき交響曲 Otonaki Kōkyōkyoku (1958, Hōbunkan)
• 十人百話-9 ボーイスカウト十話 Jūnin Hyakuwa-9: Boy Scout Jūwa (1965, Mainichi Shimbun)

Films

• 平和の勇士 Heiwa no Yūshi (1926, Film Institute of Social Education) monochrome, silent film

Operas

• 歌劇 ボーイスカウトKajū: Boy Scout (1925, Takarazuka Revue/Yukigumi)

Source

• Japanese Wikipedia