THE SEA OF FERTILITY BY YUKIO MISHIMA

I’ve just finished THE SEA OF FERTILITY tetralogy by Yukio Mishima (which has taken me the best part of six weeks) and I am at a loss for words….The four books contained within – SPRING SNOW, RUNAWAY HORSES, THE TEMPLE OF DAWN, and THE DECAY OF THE ANGEL are not an epic of visual space and time that is something that can be measured although they do take place over a lifetime….Paul Theroux once described it as “the most complete vision of Japan we have in the twentieth century” but I don’t think that’s the most important part of this story.

For these four books tell the story of the illusion of material living as well as the continuity of existence (although it is left to the reader whether or not this is an illusion).

The interlocking story is that of Honda whose teenage friend Matsugae meets with a tragic fate in SILENT SNOW….Matsugae has three birthmarks on his side and also keeps a dream journal (there is much in these stories that is first prophesized by dream)….His last words are about meeting Honda under a waterfall.

Honda next meets Ilinuma in RUNAWAY HORSES…. He is an ultra-nationalist youth who is seen under a waterfall and who also has three birthmarks on his side….He meets a similar tragic fate after being assumed to be Matsugae’s reincarnation as does Thai princess Ying Chan in THE TEMPLE OF DAWN the third reincarnation….The last book deals with the fourth reincarnation and then questions the truth of this whole sprawling narrative….One ends where he starts.

I’m not sure Mishima believed in what he was writing (hence the ending) so the side-trips to India and all the talks on reincarnation especially the conversations between Matsugae and Honda in SILENT SNOW are more alternatives offered to the reader rather than an expressed philosophy.

I will look at this for the writing and storytelling only….It is a tremendous story and tells us much of the different delusions, rituals, patterns the human mind can fall into….Perhaps it could have been edited slightly better (there are a few too many philosophical conversations to suit my taste) but I understand this is all background material for the reader.

Another thing I found striking was the change of tone between the first two books and the last two books….There is the healthy vitality of a mystery and also of the characters who seek to retain honor among all the diversions (such as love and family) in the first two novels….However, the third and forth books have scenes of debauchery and decadence….Even the main character Honda shows his perverse side in the third book (he’s a foot fetishist and a voyeur!) which seems to coincide with his burgeoning wealth as he is a successful lawyer.

Bu that’s how people are….The assumption of normalcy is perhaps based on one view of a complex person….Somebody who knows the same person at a different time in their life with different consequences will know a completely different person.

Much of life does feel like an illusion….How else to explain its seeming unfairness and ridiculousness….It’s rich material for an epic of the human consciousness such as this.