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The Sea of Fertility Series

This epic tetralogy, Mishima's final work, delves into profound themes of reincarnation, karma, and the ephemeral nature of life. It follows the journey of a central character across several decades, from the early 20th century into his later years. The series explores human endeavors to avert destined fates while uncovering deep psychological insights into human nature and spirituality. It offers a captivating examination of the cyclical patterns of existence and the inherent tragedy within human connections.

The Decay of the Angel
Temple of Dawn
The Sea of Fertility - 2: Runaway Horses
Spring Snow

Recommended Reading Order

  1. Spring Snow

    • 376 pages
    • 14 hours of reading

    The first novel of Mishima's landmark tetralogy, The Sea of fertility Spring Snow is set in Tokyo in 1912, when the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders -- rich provincial families unburdened by tradition, whose money and vitality make them formidable contenders for social and political power. Among this rising new elite are the ambitious Matsugae, whose son has been raised in a family of the waning aristocracy, the elegant and attenuated Ayakura. Coming of age, he is caught up in the tensions between old and new -- fiercely loving and hating the exquisite, spirited Ayakura Satoko. He suffers in psychic paralysis until the shock of her engagement to a royal prince shows him the magnitude of his passion, and leads to a love affair that is as doomed as it was inevitable.

    Spring Snow1
    4.2

  2. The Sea of Fertility - 2: Runaway Horses

    Second Novel In The Sea Of Fertility Tetralogy

    • 432 pages
    • 16 hours of reading

    Isao is a young, engaging patriot, and a fanatical believer in the ancient samurai ethos. He turns terrorist, organising a violent plot against the new industrialists, who he believes are threatening the integrity of Japan and usurping the Emperor's rightful power. As the conspiracy unfolds and unravels, Mishima brilliantly chronicles the conflicts of a decade that saw the fabric of Japanese life torn apart.

    The Sea of Fertility - 2: Runaway Horses2
    4.3

  3. Temple of Dawn

    • 320 pages
    • 12 hours of reading

    Yukio Mishima’s The Temple of Dawn is the third novel in his masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility . Here, Shigekuni Honda continues his pursuit of the successive reincarnations of Kiyoaki Matsugae, his childhood friend. Travelling in Thailand in the early 1940s, Shigekuni Honda, now a brilliant lawyer, is granted an audience with a young Thai princess—an encounter that radically alters the course of his life. In spite of all reason, he is convinced she is the reincarnated spirit of his friend Kiyoaki. As Honda goes to great lengths to discover for certain if his theory is correct, The Temple of Dawn becomes the story of one man’s obsessive pursuit of a beautiful woman and his equally passionate search for enlightenment.

    Temple of Dawn3
    3.8

  4. The Decay of the Angel

    • 236 pages
    • 9 hours of reading

    Yukio Mishima’s The Decay of the Angel is the final novel in his masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility. It is the last installment of Shigekuni Honda’s pursuit of the successive reincarnations of his childhood friend Kiyoaki Matsugae. It is the late 1960s and Honda, now an aged and wealthy man, once more encounters a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki — this time restored to life as a teenage orphan, Tōru. Adopting the boy as his heir, Honda quickly finds that Tōru is a force to be reckoned with. The final novel of this celebrated tetralogy weaves together the dominant themes of the previous three novels in the series: the decay of Japan’s courtly tradition; the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics; and, underlying all, Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era.

    The Decay of the Angel4
    4.2