The Sea of Fertility

Lore & Background

The Sea of Fertility consists of four novels: Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971). The main timeline stretches from 1912 to 1975, and the viewpoint is that of Shigekuni Honda, a law student who becomes a wealthy retired judge.

Each novel depicts what Honda believes are successive reincarnations of his schoolfriend Kiyoaki Matsugae, and Honda's attempts to save them from early deaths condemned by karma, which eventually destroys him. The reincarnations are Kiyoaki Matsugae, Isao Iinuma, Ying Chan, and Tōru Yasunaga. Other recurring characters include Satoko Ayakura, Tadeshina, Imperial Prince Toin, Shigeyuki Iinuma, Keiko Hisamatsu, and Rié.

Reader's Guide

The Sea of Fertility is considered Mishima's masterpiece and his final work. Although The Temple of Dawn contains lengthy arguments for reincarnation, Mishima's biographers note he did not believe in it himself. The tetralogy expresses many of Mishima's deepest-held convictions about human life, and the last book is thought to encapsulate an extremely negative personal assessment of himself and his legacy.

Critics have described it as 'the most complete vision we have of Japan in the twentieth century' (Paul Theroux) and 'one of the outstanding works of 20th-Century literature' (Charles Solomon). The first English translations featured cover designs by Joseph del Gaudio. The work reveals Mishima's gifts for detail, scene-making, sensuous regard for the physical, and cool detachment.

Did You Know?

• The first English editions were published by Alfred A. Knopf (first three novels, 1972–1973) and the Charles E. Tuttle Company (The Decay of the Angel, 1974).
• Mishima began writing the series in 1964.