A notebook novelist Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) used to cover the 1964 Tokyo Olympics has been found at the Mishima Yukio Literary Museum in Yamanakako, Yamanashi Prefecture, and put on exhibit.
The contents were published in an academic journal Monday. The show opened Tuesday.
Mishima used the notebook, which had "Olympic" written on the cover, to write stories on the sports spectacle at the request of three Japanese newspapers. He covered weightlifting, volleyball and other events.
The contents were not included in his complete works published by Shinchosha Co.
"Raising his hand high (at 3:10 p.m.), he stands next to the Olympic cauldron and then appears to have smiled," Mishima wrote of Yoshinori Sakai as the final runner in the torch relay approached the cauldron during the opening ceremony.
"Touching the bar, holding his breath for a while and lifting it. Excellently lifting it. Big applause," he wrote of weight lifter Yoshinobu Miyake, who was a gold medalist at the Olympics in Tokyo and Mexico City.
The notebook was part of documents the village of Yamanakako purchased in the 1990s from Mishima's family.
"He tried to write literary and quality sentences, but we can also see Mishima's own views in covering the sports events," said Toru Matsumoto, the curator of the museum.
Mishima, whose real name was Kimitake Hiraoka, wrote fiction, plays and essays. His famous works include "Confessions of a Mask" and "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion."