Courage is the ability to do something that’s frightens one or strength in the face of fear, pain, or grief. Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama shows courage in the book Patriotism, by Yukio Mishima. One day Lieutenant Takeyama receives news that a mutiny was held against the emperor of Japan and that he must go to aid in the riddance of these insurgents. But he also finds out that the insurgents are members of his unit. Lieutenant Takeyama is forced to choose between his loyalty to his unit or to his emperor. He finally decides to take "the easy way out" and kill himself. When he tells his wife of his decision, she asks if she could join him. Traditionally, suicide is a terrible act that is frowned upon in our society, but in Japan killing one’s self, also known as sepukku, is seen as an act of honor. What really makes this courageous is when he is killing himself; he doesn't end himself in one cut. First he plunges the knife into his stomach which does not kill him. He is able to see and feel everything that is going on. He has the strength to stab himself in his stomach several more times which still does not end his agony. His suffering is finally ended when he stabs himself in his neck. It was one thing to have the strength to decide to perform this ritual, but to have the strength to continue after all of that is unbelievable. This reminded me of Oedipus' strength when he was gouging his eyes out. Both of these characters had to endure a tremendous amount of pain, I’d imagine.