Patriotism or the Rite of Love and Death (憂國, Yūkoku) is a 1966 Japanese short film directed by Yukio Mishima.

[2][3] In February 1936, Tokyo was placed under martial law following a coup d'etat executed by a group of young officers.

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.

While sitting under a kanji painting that displays the phrase "wholehearted sincerity" Reiko waits for the lieutenant to return to his abode.

Takeyama, a dedicated soldier, cannot bear the thought of killing his close friends if he wishes to remain loyal to the emperor.

First the Lieutenant and then Reiko, who has lost all her shyness in the face of death, bids loving farewell to every smallest detail of the other's flesh.

As they copulate, Reiko kisses the flesh of the Lieutenant and many sensual shots show closeups of their naked bodies entwined.

As he stabs himself with the sword, spit forms in his mouth and his stomach lets loose a torrent of blood and entrails.

Patriotism is a silent, thirty-minute black-and-white film with long expository intertitles elaborating on the story and its historical background.

It contains visual references to Noh theatre, as Mishima admired the traditional style and wrote several plays in the genre.

Set in a single room, it is composed of static wide shots and lingering close-ups, most of which obscure Mishima's eyes.

[9] On November 25, 1970, Mishima committed seppuku after delivering a speech intended to inspire a coup d'état.

But in 2005 the original negatives were discovered in perfect condition, in a tea box at a warehouse at their home in Tokyo.

[12] The band Laibach used a clip from this film in their music video "Le Privileges des morts" from the album Kapital interspersed alongside Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville.