A Guide to Yukio Mishima Books

A haunting novel about a young man’s obsession with beauty and the book that established Mishima as one of the outstanding writers of our world. Mizoguchi, an ostracized stutterer, develops a fascination with Kyoto’s famous Golden Temple. He fixates on the structure’s aesthetic perfection and it becomes his one and only object of desire. But as Misoguchi begins to notice the flaws in the temple, he is determined that the only true path of beauty lies in an act of horrific violence. Inspired by a real incident that occurred in 1950, this story portrays the passions and agonies of a young man in postwar Japan.

In the first novel in Mishima’s masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility,  in 1912 Tokyo, the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by rich provincial families unburdened by tradition and with enough money and vitality to be contenders for social and political power. Shigekuni Honda, an aspiring lawyer and his childhood friend, Kiyaoki Matsugae, are sons of two such families. As they come of age amidst tensions between old and new, Kiyoaki is plagued by his love and loathing of Ayukua Satoko. His true feelings come to light when her sudden engagement to a royal prince shows him the magnitude of his passion – and leads to a love affair both doomed and inevitable.

In the second installment of The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, Shigekuni Honda has become a judge in 1932 Osaka. He’s convinced that a young revolutionary, Isao, is the reincarnation of his friend Kiyoaki. Honda commits to save the youth from an untimely death. Isao, driven to fanaticism by his father who instilled the ethos of the ancient samurai, organizes a violent plot against the new industrialists who he believes are challenging the Emperor’s rightful power. A chronicle of conspiracy and the roots and nature of Japanese fanaticism in the years that led to war.

In the third novel of The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, Shigekuni Honda continues his pursuit of reincarnations of his childhood friend, Kiyoaki Matsugae. Traveling to Thailand in the early 1940s, Shigekuni encounters a young Thai princess he is convinced is the reincarnated spirit of his friend Kiyoaki. The story follows as Honda becomes obsessed with his pursuit of the beautiful princess and his equally passionate search for enlightenment.

In the final installment of The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, Shigekuni Honda is now an aged and wealthy man. He meets and adopts a teenage orphan, Tōru, who he believes is the reincarnation of his friend Kiyoaki Matsugae. Honda soon finds that Tōru is a force to be reckoned with. The final novel weaves through the themes of the last three novels of the series: the decay of Japan’s courtly tradition; the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics; and the author’s, Mishima, apocalyptic vision of the modern era.

After a failed suicide attempt, salaryman Hanio Yamada decides to put his life up for sale. Soon he is inundated with bizarre requests. What follows is a madcap comedy of errors involving a jealous husband, a drug-addled hairess, poisoned carrots, and even a vampire. For someone who wants to die, Hanio can’t seem to catch a break and finds himself tangled in a continent-wide conspiracy that puts him in the crosshairs of his own government and an organized crime syndicate. Wildly inventive and darkly comedic, this book uses satire to explore the same dark themes that preoccupied Mishima throughout his life.

Following a former university student, Kōji; his would-be mentor, the literary critic Ippei Kusakado; and Ippei’s beautiful, enigmatic wife, Yūko the three get tangled up in an affair gone wrong. When brought face-to-face with one of Ippei’s many marital indiscretions, Kōji finds his growing desire for Yūko compels him to action in a way that changes all three of their lives profoundly. The Frolic of the Beasts is a haunting examination of the various guises we assume throughout our lives.

Inspired by elements of the classical Japanese dance-drama art form that typically lies on the accidental encounter of characters and the revelation of Fate, Mishima wrote a set of contemporary plays for a modern audience. Through these plays Mishima explores his fascination with beauty and death that preserves the style and inner spirit of the Nō form. A wonderful blend of the haunting mood of classical Nō with characters and situations that have the grit of a city street.

For years, Kazu has run a fashionable restaurant with her charm and shrewdness. But when the middle-aged entrepreneur falls in love with one of her clients, an upper class retired politician, she leaves her business behind to become his wife. One day, however, Kazu decides to resurrect her husband’s political career and embarks on a series of compromises and evasions that will force her to choose between her marriage and the demons of her irrepressible vitality.

An aging and bitter novelist sets out to avenge himself on the women who have betrayed him. To do this, he enlists the help of Yuichi, a young man whose beauty makes him irresistible to women, but who is just discovering his attraction to other men. As the novelist presses Yuichi into a loveless marriage and several equally loveless philanderings, Yuichi enters the gay underworld of postwar Japan where he is as defenseless as any of the women he preys upon.

Presenting a riveting portrait of the corrosive power of frustrated desire, Etsuko, a young widow whose husband has died of typhoid moves into the house of her father-in-law. Etsuko’s misery deepens as she numbly submits to the old man’s advances. But soon, Etsuko falls in love with the young servant, Saburo. Tormented by his indifference, yet invigorated by her anguish, she makes one last catastrophic attempt for his attention.

A timeless story of first love, a young fisherman is entranced at the sight of the beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. While they fall in love, they must endure the gossip of the villagers threatening to divide them.

Noboru is a 13-year-old member of a gang of philosophical teenage boys who reject the illusions of adult life. They think it’s hypocritical and sentimental. When Noboru’s widowed mother is wooed by Ryuji, a sailor, Noburu is thrilled. He idolizes the rugged man of the sea as a hero. But his admiration turns to hate as Ryuji trades his life at sea for marriage, rejecting everything Noboru holds sacred. Upset and appalled, he and his friends respond to the apparent betrayal with a terrible ferocity.