A recently discovered story for children written by Yukio Mishima is currently on display at a museum dedicated to him, according to museum officials.
"Koguma no Hanashi" ("A Story of a Bear Cub") is thought to have been written when Mishima, one of modern Japan's most famous authors, was around 15. It was discovered at the Mishima Yukio Literary Museum in Yamanakako, Yamanashi Prefecture, among his manuscripts.
The first page of the 16-page story bears Mishima's signature under his real name, Kimitake Hiraoka.
The story is about a boy who is taken to see a bear captured by foresters in Osaka. When he learns that the bear was sold to a hot springs inn, he travels there because he is worried the bear might have been killed for its fur.
"It is an unusual work for Mishima, known for his precocious writings, in that it leaves an impression of naivete," said Hideaki Sato, a professor at Sugiyama Jogakuen University in Nagoya.
"It may be one of his attempts to try various techniques for writing novels at that time."
Mishima wrote a play on the theme of the birth of Jesus Christ when he was 14.
Born in 1925, he produced various novels, critiques, essays and dramas until he committed suicide in 1970.