The sea of fertility
The Sea of Fertility (Japanese Hōjō no umi (豊 饒 の 海)) is a tetralogy of the novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima . The books were written between 1965 and 1970 and mark the great final work in the author's life. It describes the life of the legal scholar Honda Shigekuni, an intellectual and observer who has followed the rebirths of his childhood friend Kiyoaki and their fate over several generations. Meanwhile, in the background of the narrative, a broad panorama of Japanese history between the Japanese-Russian War in 1904 and 1970 is spanned. The title refers to the Mare Fecunditatis on the moon .
The tetralogy consists of the parts Snow in Spring , Under the Storm God , The Temple of Dawn and The Death Marks of the Angel . Mishima left the last pages of The Angel's Death Marks in an envelope at his home on November 25, 1970. On the same day, after a failed coup attempt, he and Masakatsu committed Morita Seppuku.
Central themes in Mishima's Magnum Opus are the Buddhist or Hindu doctrine of rebirth, in particular the teaching of the Alaya consciousness , the modern history of Japan in conflict with Western values, and the relationships between beauty, youth, reason and knowledge. Mishima developed his philosophy of "cosmic nihilism".
action
Snow in spring
The plot of the first volume begins Portrayed in 1912. is the story of aristocrats offspring Kiyoaki, a beauty and dreamers nature, falls in love with his Kindheitsgespielin Satoko. However, when Satoko is about to be married to a prince of the imperial family, the love affair turns tragic. Kiyoaki's school friend Honda, who with his cold intellectual nature represents the opposite pole to Kiyoaki, accompanies the events, partly observing, partly mediating.
The milieu in which the story is set is courtly or upper class. Furnishings, garden architecture and kimono patterns as well as ceremonies and celebrations are described with great attention to detail. Although the first western influences are already noticeable, the traditional "Japanese" seems dominant and not in danger. A still almost closed world is depicted. However, references are made several times to the Russo-Japanese War and Honda muses that the political stability of the passionate youth today no longer offers space, so that they must fall "on the battlefield of emotions",
Under the storm god
The second band plays in the years 1931-1934 and tells the story Isoas, a passionate young Kendo fighter and political activists. His nationalistic attitude, his admiration for the emperor and his hatred of the big capitalists and corrupt politicians of that time coincide in him with an insatiable longing for death. After founding a terrorist group and an almost carried out assassination attempt , Honda , who has now matured into a lawyer, takes over his defense. He sees in him a rebirth of Kiyoaki and does everything in his power to save him.
The political situation in Japan in the 1930s was very tense. In 1932 there were actually several assassinations, which are also referred to in the book. The height of the unrest was the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi .
An important element of the book is Shintoism and the imperial cult associated with it. As the original religion of Japan, it forms a deep spiritual foundation for the nationalist aspirations of that time. Volume 3 describes the Tripartite Pact as a marriage of Japan "not with Hitler, but with the forests of Germania; not with Mussolini, but with the Roman pantheon".
The Temple of Dawn
The third volume begins in Bangkok in 1941 and ends in Japan in 1952. On a business trip, Honda meets seven-year-old Thai princess Ying Chan. And again he is convinced to discover a rebirth of Kiyoaki in her. At first, however, their track is lost and Honda's impressions are described during a trip to India, which will be decisive for his further life. During the war, Honda immersed himself in Buddhist scriptures and always kept a great distance from contemporary events. After the war, the now very wealthy Honda meets Ying Chan again, who wants to study in Japan. As a result, an erotic love triangle develops between Ying Chan, a friend of Honda's, and himself (as a voyeur). While the narrative focus of Volumes 1 and 2 was on Kiyoaki and his rebirth, Honda is the focus here.
In contrast to Volumes 1 and 2, in which the narrative focus was on Kiyoaki and his rebirth, the focus here is on Honda. While the first part of the book is very calm and characterized by rambling philosophical considerations, the second is very action-packed and shows the talkative and decadent life of the nouveau riche post-war society. In general, Mishima depicts a decline in values and customs that is also visible in language.
The angel's death marks
The last volume of the tetralogy begins in 1970 and ends in 1975, five years after it was written. He sheds light on Honda's last years, his confrontation with death and his search for a new rebirth of Kiyoaki. After he thinks he has discovered that in the young Toru, he adopts him. But Toru soon develops into an adversary to Honda and Hondas begins to doubt the "authenticity" of the rebirth.
expenditure
- Yukio Mishima: Snow in Spring . Translated from the Japanese by Siegfried Schaarschmidt. Hanser, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-446-14395-5 .
- Yukio Mishima: Under the storm god . Translated from the Japanese by Siegfried Schaarschmidt. Hanser, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-446-14628-8 .
- Yukio Mishima: The Temple of Dawn . Translated from the Japanese by Siegfried Schaarschmidt. Hanser, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-446-14614-8 .
- Yukio Mishima: The Angel's Death Marks . Translated from the Japanese by Siegfried Schaarschmidt. Hanser, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-446-14615-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The harmony of sword and pen . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44/1985 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 11, 2020]).
- ^ Henry Scott Stokes: The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima . Cooper Square Publishers Inc., 2000, ISBN 0-8154-1074-3 , p. 161
- ^ Yukio Mishima : Snow in Spring , Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1985, ISBN 978-3-446-14395-1 , p. 200
- ^ Yukio Mishima : The Temple of Dawn , Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 1987, ISBN 978-3-446-14614-3 , p. 25