Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

The template of a long held dream ..., 29 Dec 2007
This is my favourite book ... not just of those produced by Mishima , but of all authors . As a Westerner , I can only guess as to the workings of the great man's mind , but to me , I humbly submit that in both this title , and the excellent " Forbidden Colours " , there is the baring of a haunted man's soul , and fantasy ... his disgust with himself at being born too late , for which he never forgave himself . The story stripped down to its most basic premise , is almost one of " if you want something doing , then you must do it yourself " , whatever the obstacles ... the story exposes the chasm between the rhetoric of revolution , and the actions required to actually accomplish it . Isao is betrayed by all of those who purport to , and maybe do , love him ... but honour and truth are causes beyond simple human emotions . If you are not moved by the account of the exploits of the " League of the Divine Wind " , then you are , or might as well be , already dead . I can only hope that any other reader draws at least a fraction of the inspiration that this book has given me ... or , in truth , burdened me with . Please read it ...

The key to Mishima's quartet, 29 Apr 2001
For a student of the Mishima phenomenon, the second volume in his tetralogy is interesting in the extreme. The protagonist of "Spring Snow", Kiyoaki Matsugae, is reincarnated as the son of his tutor, Iinuma. The young Isao is the converse of the effete, introspective Kiyoaki. He is consumed by a ferocious, impatient physicality which finds expression in kendo and in his devotion to ultra right-wing patriotism. Isao comes to the notice of Prince Toin, a member of the imperial family, and of a hot-headed army officer who, for a while at least, goes along with the naive dream of a kamikaze coup: for Isao's ambition is to see the Emperor restored as the spiritual leader of a martial Japan.

Isao's idealism is rendered in intense, homoerotic detail. He is perhaps what Mishima most yearned to be -- an anti-intellectual, motivated by love of the Emperor. Above all, Isao dies young. His suicide is a compressed version of that of the young soldier in Mishima's short story (or, rather, masturbation fantasy), "Patriotism", a lascivious account of seppuku.

Mishima's version of Japan in the 1930s reads suspiciously like the turbulent, westernizing sixties, during which he assembled his corps of fascist dimwits and body-builders. This private army had less to do with politics than the author's own, increasingly deranged, exhibitionism: culminating, of course, in his bizarre and very public demise.

Even if Mishima was not someone you might care to have as a neighbour, he was indisputably a terrific writer. He understood perfectly that imagination lies in the detail. There are some longueurs in "Runaway Horses", but also many passages of electrifying brilliance: for instance, Shigekuni Honda on Mount Miwa; or the scene in which Isao, having taken a rifle and shot a pheasant, fulfils a prophesy from his former life; or the prison-dream which presages his next as a woman.

This book repays careful reading. It consolidates not only much of what Mishima seemed to be about, but also the whole quartet. "Spring Snow" is a little too mannered and controlled, too lush; "The Temple of Dawn" too cynical and abstruse; and "The Decay of the Angel" is a clearly the work of a man going off his rocker. In "Runaway Horses", though, we find Yukio Mishima at the peak of his form. It is one of his most successful novels and is, by any measure, a masterpiece.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

The template of a long held dream ..., 29 Dec 2007
This is my favourite book ... not just of those produced by Mishima , but of all authors . As a Westerner , I can only guess as to the workings of the great man's mind , but to me , I humbly submit that in both this title , and the excellent " Forbidden Colours " , there is the baring of a haunted man's soul , and fantasy ... his disgust with himself at being born too late , for which he never forgave himself . The story stripped down to its most basic premise , is almost one of " if you want something doing , then you must do it yourself " , whatever the obstacles ... the story exposes the chasm between the rhetoric of revolution , and the actions required to actually accomplish it . Isao is betrayed by all of those who purport to , and maybe do , love him ... but honour and truth are causes beyond simple human emotions . If you are not moved by the account of the exploits of the " League of the Divine Wind " , then you are , or might as well be , already dead . I can only hope that any other reader draws at least a fraction of the inspiration that this book has given me ... or , in truth , burdened me with . Please read it ...

The key to Mishima's quartet, 29 Apr 2001
For a student of the Mishima phenomenon, the second volume in his tetralogy is interesting in the extreme. The protagonist of "Spring Snow", Kiyoaki Matsugae, is reincarnated as the son of his tutor, Iinuma. The young Isao is the converse of the effete, introspective Kiyoaki. He is consumed by a ferocious, impatient physicality which finds expression in kendo and in his devotion to ultra right-wing patriotism. Isao comes to the notice of Prince Toin, a member of the imperial family, and of a hot-headed army officer who, for a while at least, goes along with the naive dream of a kamikaze coup: for Isao's ambition is to see the Emperor restored as the spiritual leader of a martial Japan.

Isao's idealism is rendered in intense, homoerotic detail. He is perhaps what Mishima most yearned to be -- an anti-intellectual, motivated by love of the Emperor. Above all, Isao dies young. His suicide is a compressed version of that of the young soldier in Mishima's short story (or, rather, masturbation fantasy), "Patriotism", a lascivious account of seppuku.

Mishima's version of Japan in the 1930s reads suspiciously like the turbulent, westernizing sixties, during which he assembled his corps of fascist dimwits and body-builders. This private army had less to do with politics than the author's own, increasingly deranged, exhibitionism: culminating, of course, in his bizarre and very public demise.

Even if Mishima was not someone you might care to have as a neighbour, he was indisputably a terrific writer. He understood perfectly that imagination lies in the detail. There are some longueurs in "Runaway Horses", but also many passages of electrifying brilliance: for instance, Shigekuni Honda on Mount Miwa; or the scene in which Isao, having taken a rifle and shot a pheasant, fulfils a prophesy from his former life; or the prison-dream which presages his next as a woman.

This book repays careful reading. It consolidates not only much of what Mishima seemed to be about, but also the whole quartet. "Spring Snow" is a little too mannered and controlled, too lush; "The Temple of Dawn" too cynical and abstruse; and "The Decay of the Angel" is a clearly the work of a man going off his rocker. In "Runaway Horses", though, we find Yukio Mishima at the peak of his form. It is one of his most successful novels and is, by any measure, a masterpiece.

Stunning ending to the Sea of Fertility tetrology!, 05 Sep 2002
This book is the concluding part to the Sea of Fertility quartet by Mishima--generally considered his magnus opus. As an individual book it is inferior in characterisation, plot strength and beauty of expression than Spring Snow and the third book but better than Runaway Horses (book 2). However the ending is so stunning and original that it leaves one mentally exhausted and yet thrilled. The ending turns the whole story so far (from Book 1) on its head and for that reason I will not disclose it. Suffice it to say that of all the books I have read this has the most unexpected and mind-bending ending. I was left in awe!

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

The template of a long held dream ..., 29 Dec 2007
This is my favourite book ... not just of those produced by Mishima , but of all authors . As a Westerner , I can only guess as to the workings of the great man's mind , but to me , I humbly submit that in both this title , and the excellent " Forbidden Colours " , there is the baring of a haunted man's soul , and fantasy ... his disgust with himself at being born too late , for which he never forgave himself . The story stripped down to its most basic premise , is almost one of " if you want something doing , then you must do it yourself " , whatever the obstacles ... the story exposes the chasm between the rhetoric of revolution , and the actions required to actually accomplish it . Isao is betrayed by all of those who purport to , and maybe do , love him ... but honour and truth are causes beyond simple human emotions . If you are not moved by the account of the exploits of the " League of the Divine Wind " , then you are , or might as well be , already dead . I can only hope that any other reader draws at least a fraction of the inspiration that this book has given me ... or , in truth , burdened me with . Please read it ...

The key to Mishima's quartet, 29 Apr 2001
For a student of the Mishima phenomenon, the second volume in his tetralogy is interesting in the extreme. The protagonist of "Spring Snow", Kiyoaki Matsugae, is reincarnated as the son of his tutor, Iinuma. The young Isao is the converse of the effete, introspective Kiyoaki. He is consumed by a ferocious, impatient physicality which finds expression in kendo and in his devotion to ultra right-wing patriotism. Isao comes to the notice of Prince Toin, a member of the imperial family, and of a hot-headed army officer who, for a while at least, goes along with the naive dream of a kamikaze coup: for Isao's ambition is to see the Emperor restored as the spiritual leader of a martial Japan.

Isao's idealism is rendered in intense, homoerotic detail. He is perhaps what Mishima most yearned to be -- an anti-intellectual, motivated by love of the Emperor. Above all, Isao dies young. His suicide is a compressed version of that of the young soldier in Mishima's short story (or, rather, masturbation fantasy), "Patriotism", a lascivious account of seppuku.

Mishima's version of Japan in the 1930s reads suspiciously like the turbulent, westernizing sixties, during which he assembled his corps of fascist dimwits and body-builders. This private army had less to do with politics than the author's own, increasingly deranged, exhibitionism: culminating, of course, in his bizarre and very public demise.

Even if Mishima was not someone you might care to have as a neighbour, he was indisputably a terrific writer. He understood perfectly that imagination lies in the detail. There are some longueurs in "Runaway Horses", but also many passages of electrifying brilliance: for instance, Shigekuni Honda on Mount Miwa; or the scene in which Isao, having taken a rifle and shot a pheasant, fulfils a prophesy from his former life; or the prison-dream which presages his next as a woman.

This book repays careful reading. It consolidates not only much of what Mishima seemed to be about, but also the whole quartet. "Spring Snow" is a little too mannered and controlled, too lush; "The Temple of Dawn" too cynical and abstruse; and "The Decay of the Angel" is a clearly the work of a man going off his rocker. In "Runaway Horses", though, we find Yukio Mishima at the peak of his form. It is one of his most successful novels and is, by any measure, a masterpiece.

Stunning ending to the Sea of Fertility tetrology!, 05 Sep 2002
This book is the concluding part to the Sea of Fertility quartet by Mishima--generally considered his magnus opus. As an individual book it is inferior in characterisation, plot strength and beauty of expression than Spring Snow and the third book but better than Runaway Horses (book 2). However the ending is so stunning and original that it leaves one mentally exhausted and yet thrilled. The ending turns the whole story so far (from Book 1) on its head and for that reason I will not disclose it. Suffice it to say that of all the books I have read this has the most unexpected and mind-bending ending. I was left in awe!

Small but perfectly formed..., 26 Jul 2007
Yukio Mishima blazed a path through Japanese fiction in the fifties and sixties,just as he was reaching the peak of his powers he committed ritual suicide and the world lost a great voice from the orient...

"The Sound of Waves" is set on a small island in the Gulf of Ise,Eastern Japan. This short but brilliantly formed tale follows the paths of two star crossed lovers as they court each other tentatively amid the hard working lives they lead on the island.

Flora,fauna,dialogue,narrative and plotlines are delicately woven around a beautiful location and an age old story. Mishima reads very well, his use of metaphor and similie is exceptionally good and i highly recommend this 1956 novel to all readers,not just fans of Japanese fiction.



Uninvolving, 27 Oct 2005
I found the writing style very bland and uninvolving. For me the characters and the setting just don't come to life at all. It reads more like a first draft in note form than a fully-fleshed out novel. I know it's supposed to be minimalist, but I just couldn't find anything to get my teeth into. Some of the prose is quite clunky and maintains a distance from the events being described. Too clinical for me.

An Often-Overlooked Masterpiece, 10 Feb 2003
People often call Mishima's highly acclaimed "Sea Of Fertility" tetralogy his crowning achievement, but I'd have to disagree. "The Sound Of Waves" is the deeply moving story of Shinji and Matsue - Shinji a simple fisherman and Matsue the daughter of the village's richest citizen - whose love it blighted by the wagging tongues of the other people of the village.

Whilst occasionally dipping into seemingly self-indulgent poetry and making several redundant descriptions of people and places, this piece of art (for that is what it is) is truly a testament to the great talent that Yukio Mishima was, and is a prime example of why he is still so well-read by people of all ages even today.

Wonderful, 11 Nov 2002
Yukio Mishima is a literary juggernaut. He is not only famous for his huge body of quality work but also for his very public seppuku (ritual suicide). I haven't read a great deal of his stuff but what I have read is magnificent. Usually his works focus on the destructive emotions of men and women and the darker side of human nature. "The Sound of Waves" is atypical of his usual fiction in that it is a charming love story.

Set in a fishing village somewhere in Japan it tells the story of a young fisherman who falls in love with a girl. In Mishima's hands the fishing village almost has an ethereal quality and the characters are so well realised, they feel like people you already know. "The Sound of Waves" is deeply poetic and seems to have lost none of its power in the translation. Mishima also captures the awkward and embarrassing nature of first love perfectly.

"The Sound of Waves" is a great introduction to a literary master.

nice but perhaps overly poetic, 06 Sep 2002
very good book with a romantic feel,mood and tone. however did feel the need to skim read certain parts of book due to over poetic descriptions.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

The template of a long held dream ..., 29 Dec 2007
This is my favourite book ... not just of those produced by Mishima , but of all authors . As a Westerner , I can only guess as to the workings of the great man's mind , but to me , I humbly submit that in both this title , and the excellent " Forbidden Colours " , there is the baring of a haunted man's soul , and fantasy ... his disgust with himself at being born too late , for which he never forgave himself . The story stripped down to its most basic premise , is almost one of " if you want something doing , then you must do it yourself " , whatever the obstacles ... the story exposes the chasm between the rhetoric of revolution , and the actions required to actually accomplish it . Isao is betrayed by all of those who purport to , and maybe do , love him ... but honour and truth are causes beyond simple human emotions . If you are not moved by the account of the exploits of the " League of the Divine Wind " , then you are , or might as well be , already dead . I can only hope that any other reader draws at least a fraction of the inspiration that this book has given me ... or , in truth , burdened me with . Please read it ...

The key to Mishima's quartet, 29 Apr 2001
For a student of the Mishima phenomenon, the second volume in his tetralogy is interesting in the extreme. The protagonist of "Spring Snow", Kiyoaki Matsugae, is reincarnated as the son of his tutor, Iinuma. The young Isao is the converse of the effete, introspective Kiyoaki. He is consumed by a ferocious, impatient physicality which finds expression in kendo and in his devotion to ultra right-wing patriotism. Isao comes to the notice of Prince Toin, a member of the imperial family, and of a hot-headed army officer who, for a while at least, goes along with the naive dream of a kamikaze coup: for Isao's ambition is to see the Emperor restored as the spiritual leader of a martial Japan.

Isao's idealism is rendered in intense, homoerotic detail. He is perhaps what Mishima most yearned to be -- an anti-intellectual, motivated by love of the Emperor. Above all, Isao dies young. His suicide is a compressed version of that of the young soldier in Mishima's short story (or, rather, masturbation fantasy), "Patriotism", a lascivious account of seppuku.

Mishima's version of Japan in the 1930s reads suspiciously like the turbulent, westernizing sixties, during which he assembled his corps of fascist dimwits and body-builders. This private army had less to do with politics than the author's own, increasingly deranged, exhibitionism: culminating, of course, in his bizarre and very public demise.

Even if Mishima was not someone you might care to have as a neighbour, he was indisputably a terrific writer. He understood perfectly that imagination lies in the detail. There are some longueurs in "Runaway Horses", but also many passages of electrifying brilliance: for instance, Shigekuni Honda on Mount Miwa; or the scene in which Isao, having taken a rifle and shot a pheasant, fulfils a prophesy from his former life; or the prison-dream which presages his next as a woman.

This book repays careful reading. It consolidates not only much of what Mishima seemed to be about, but also the whole quartet. "Spring Snow" is a little too mannered and controlled, too lush; "The Temple of Dawn" too cynical and abstruse; and "The Decay of the Angel" is a clearly the work of a man going off his rocker. In "Runaway Horses", though, we find Yukio Mishima at the peak of his form. It is one of his most successful novels and is, by any measure, a masterpiece.

Stunning ending to the Sea of Fertility tetrology!, 05 Sep 2002
This book is the concluding part to the Sea of Fertility quartet by Mishima--generally considered his magnus opus. As an individual book it is inferior in characterisation, plot strength and beauty of expression than Spring Snow and the third book but better than Runaway Horses (book 2). However the ending is so stunning and original that it leaves one mentally exhausted and yet thrilled. The ending turns the whole story so far (from Book 1) on its head and for that reason I will not disclose it. Suffice it to say that of all the books I have read this has the most unexpected and mind-bending ending. I was left in awe!

Small but perfectly formed..., 26 Jul 2007
Yukio Mishima blazed a path through Japanese fiction in the fifties and sixties,just as he was reaching the peak of his powers he committed ritual suicide and the world lost a great voice from the orient...

"The Sound of Waves" is set on a small island in the Gulf of Ise,Eastern Japan. This short but brilliantly formed tale follows the paths of two star crossed lovers as they court each other tentatively amid the hard working lives they lead on the island.

Flora,fauna,dialogue,narrative and plotlines are delicately woven around a beautiful location and an age old story. Mishima reads very well, his use of metaphor and similie is exceptionally good and i highly recommend this 1956 novel to all readers,not just fans of Japanese fiction.



Uninvolving, 27 Oct 2005
I found the writing style very bland and uninvolving. For me the characters and the setting just don't come to life at all. It reads more like a first draft in note form than a fully-fleshed out novel. I know it's supposed to be minimalist, but I just couldn't find anything to get my teeth into. Some of the prose is quite clunky and maintains a distance from the events being described. Too clinical for me.

An Often-Overlooked Masterpiece, 10 Feb 2003
People often call Mishima's highly acclaimed "Sea Of Fertility" tetralogy his crowning achievement, but I'd have to disagree. "The Sound Of Waves" is the deeply moving story of Shinji and Matsue - Shinji a simple fisherman and Matsue the daughter of the village's richest citizen - whose love it blighted by the wagging tongues of the other people of the village.

Whilst occasionally dipping into seemingly self-indulgent poetry and making several redundant descriptions of people and places, this piece of art (for that is what it is) is truly a testament to the great talent that Yukio Mishima was, and is a prime example of why he is still so well-read by people of all ages even today.

Wonderful, 11 Nov 2002
Yukio Mishima is a literary juggernaut. He is not only famous for his huge body of quality work but also for his very public seppuku (ritual suicide). I haven't read a great deal of his stuff but what I have read is magnificent. Usually his works focus on the destructive emotions of men and women and the darker side of human nature. "The Sound of Waves" is atypical of his usual fiction in that it is a charming love story.

Set in a fishing village somewhere in Japan it tells the story of a young fisherman who falls in love with a girl. In Mishima's hands the fishing village almost has an ethereal quality and the characters are so well realised, they feel like people you already know. "The Sound of Waves" is deeply poetic and seems to have lost none of its power in the translation. Mishima also captures the awkward and embarrassing nature of first love perfectly.

"The Sound of Waves" is a great introduction to a literary master.

nice but perhaps overly poetic, 06 Sep 2002
very good book with a romantic feel,mood and tone. however did feel the need to skim read certain parts of book due to over poetic descriptions.

Great descriptions and vivid detail from Mishima's view, 14 Apr 1999
The Temple of Dawn can either be read alone or with the other three books in The Sea of Fertility series. This book does take some getting used to but once the reader discovers Mishima's writing style it is a pleasure. Vivid details and philosophical ideals are the main focus of this book. I would recommend this book to those readers seeking a new style in writing.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central to Spring Snow is Kiyoaki's best friend, Honda. Only in Honda do we find a voice of rationale, amid Kiyoaki and Satoko's impassioned sensibilities. Only when Satoko is betrothed to another, does Kiyoaki confront his obsessive want of her. Despite Honda's reason and warnings of disaster, Kiyoaki embark's upon a forbidden affair with Satoko.
The tragic conclusion to Spring Snow is heartbreakingly touching. The book is written with such poetry, and such gracious flourish, that the reader is left grateful to have read such a moving, and such a mesmerizing tale.

A good introduction to Mishima, 23 Jul 2003
Though a part of the sea of fertility, Spring Snow is a self contained novel. It is a love story that is likely to appeal to men and women. As in all Mishima stories, the ending is not a happy one. Instead the love is doomed and tragic for most of its duration.

The story is a complete one and it is not necessary to read the remaining 3 novels in the sea of fertility.
Nevertheless it is likely that most readers will desire to read the subsequent novels in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

The book describes the upper class society of Japan of the early 20th century and is worth reading for that reason alone.

Riveting: it makes you want more, 17 May 1999
Perhaps I shouldn't review this book in light of the fact that I haven't read the whole tetralogy. However, after reading 'Spring Snow' I'm trying to plow through 'Runaway Horses' as quickly as I can so I can get to volumes III & IV to complete the whole cycle.

He pays wonderful attention to detail and subtlety without it becoming tedious or overbearing. I can't begin to count the hours of sleep I lost pouring through this book. I look forward to completing the cycle so I can go to bed at a decent hour again.

Mishima's writing is entrancing. Of all the supposed western "classics" that were forced on me in high school and college, this one surpasses them all. Mishima should be required reading, and I thank the wonderful college professor that introduced me to his work.

The finest novel from one of Japan's most famous writers, 11 Mar 2008
A very famous work in Japan, and one of the finest Japanese novels I have read. Mishima himself regarded his series of novels, The Sea of Fertility, as his masterpiece, but this is a tighter piece of work. It is neither cold nor overly dense, two frequent flaws in this author's work. On the contrary the novel displays great understanding and sensitivity and is immensely readable - even hypnotic.

Many tourists who visit Kinkakuji (the Japanese name for the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) don't even know that it is a 1950 reconstruction. It's not a fact heavily publicised at the site. After surviving the catastrophe of WW2 it was torched by a deranged monk - a monumental loss for Japanese art, culture and history. This is the story of that monk, and his slow, ineivtiable journey to that final, awful event.

This is a profound psychological study of depression and madness. Vivid images linger in the mind long after the last page has turned.

Misunderstood in his Brilliance, 05 Jan 2006
For the readers that are unfamiliar with Mishima and his work, this book could be very difficult to understand. One of his best works, “The temple of the golden pavilion” was one of the many ways that Mishima tried to explain to the world how he saw it. Using the true story of the arson of one of Japans most famous temples Mishima brings forward issues and ideas that to most Westerners would seem perverse and disturbing. What people often miss to understand when reading this book is that it is a glimpse of the true Kimitake Hiraoka (Yukio Mishima’s birth name), his obsession with the beautiful and its link to death and bloodshed. The main character’s obsession with the Golden Temple is really Mishima’s obsession with Death and his believe that to remain beautiful you must die, and die young.

A truly wonderful book that will provoke the darkest thoughts and make its reader take and inward look to find their own “Golden Temple”

The best Mishima novel to begin with..., 18 Oct 2002
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion, along with Forbidden Colours is one of the best known books by Yukio Mishima. The two things strangely that led me to Mishima's books were the Sakamoto/Sylvian single Forbidden Colours and Paul Schrader's film Mishima (1985). The latter includes a brilliant episode from the book, which shows us the impotent, stuttering student loner at the heart of this novel.

This was the first book of his I read, based on a true story that occurred in Kyoto in the 1950's it feels somewhere between Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, Genet's A Thief's Journal or a more twisted Hemingway. These are only pointers, Mishima's voice is one that is deeply original- more so to the reader who is not that well versed in Japanese literature. Mishima takes the true story and crafts it around an existential-zen notion and explores the character of the Japanese male following the end of World War II. This book lays out many of the themes prevalent in the rest of Mishima's oeuvre- repressed homosexuality, violence, cruelty, tradition, honour, destruction etc. This book feels like part of a character that Mishima longed for and which may have been behind the semi-fascist actions committed before his own suicide. The best works to read of Mishima's after this are Confessions of a Mask, Forbidden Colours, Temple of Dawn and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.Despite many people objecting to Mishima, who is perceived as a fascist nutcase, his books are rich with some of the finest prose written in the 20th century. The reissue of The Temple of the Golden Pavillion is a welcome one.

The template of a long held dream ..., 29 Dec 2007
This is my favourite book ... not just of those produced by Mishima , but of all authors . As a Westerner , I can only guess as to the workings of the great man's mind , but to me , I humbly submit that in both this title , and the excellent " Forbidden Colours " , there is the baring of a haunted man's soul , and fantasy ... his disgust with himself at being born too late , for which he never forgave himself . The story stripped down to its most basic premise , is almost one of " if you want something doing , then you must do it yourself " , whatever the obstacles ... the story exposes the chasm between the rhetoric of revolution , and the actions required to actually accomplish it . Isao is betrayed by all of those who purport to , and maybe do , love him ... but honour and truth are causes beyond simple human emotions . If you are not moved by the account of the exploits of the " League of the Divine Wind " , then you are , or might as well be , already dead . I can only hope that any other reader draws at least a fraction of the inspiration that this book has given me ... or , in truth , burdened me with . Please read it ...

The key to Mishima's quartet, 29 Apr 2001
For a student of the Mishima phenomenon, the second volume in his tetralogy is interesting in the extreme. The protagonist of "Spring Snow", Kiyoaki Matsugae, is reincarnated as the son of his tutor, Iinuma. The young Isao is the converse of the effete, introspective Kiyoaki. He is consumed by a ferocious, impatient physicality which finds expression in kendo and in his devotion to ultra right-wing patriotism. Isao comes to the notice of Prince Toin, a member of the imperial family, and of a hot-headed army officer who, for a while at least, goes along with the naive dream of a kamikaze coup: for Isao's ambition is to see the Emperor restored as the spiritual leader of a martial Japan.

Isao's idealism is rendered in intense, homoerotic detail. He is perhaps what Mishima most yearned to be -- an anti-intellectual, motivated by love of the Emperor. Above all, Isao dies young. His suicide is a compressed version of that of the young soldier in Mishima's short story (or, rather, masturbation fantasy), "Patriotism", a lascivious account of seppuku.

Mishima's version of Japan in the 1930s reads suspiciously like the turbulent, westernizing sixties, during which he assembled his corps of fascist dimwits and body-builders. This private army had less to do with politics than the author's own, increasingly deranged, exhibitionism: culminating, of course, in his bizarre and very public demise.

Even if Mishima was not someone you might care to have as a neighbour, he was indisputably a terrific writer. He understood perfectly that imagination lies in the detail. There are some longueurs in "Runaway Horses", but also many passages of electrifying brilliance: for instance, Shigekuni Honda on Mount Miwa; or the scene in which Isao, having taken a rifle and shot a pheasant, fulfils a prophesy from his former life; or the prison-dream which presages his next as a woman.

This book repays careful reading. It consolidates not only much of what Mishima seemed to be about, but also the whole quartet. "Spring Snow" is a little too mannered and controlled, too lush; "The Temple of Dawn" too cynical and abstruse; and "The Decay of the Angel" is a clearly the work of a man going off his rocker. In "Runaway Horses", though, we find Yukio Mishima at the peak of his form. It is one of his most successful novels and is, by any measure, a masterpiece.

Stunning ending to the Sea of Fertility tetrology!, 05 Sep 2002
This book is the concluding part to the Sea of Fertility quartet by Mishima--generally considered his magnus opus. As an individual book it is inferior in characterisation, plot strength and beauty of expression than Spring Snow and the third book but better than Runaway Horses (book 2). However the ending is so stunning and original that it leaves one mentally exhausted and yet thrilled. The ending turns the whole story so far (from Book 1) on its head and for that reason I will not disclose it. Suffice it to say that of all the books I have read this has the most unexpected and mind-bending ending. I was left in awe!

Small but perfectly formed..., 26 Jul 2007
Yukio Mishima blazed a path through Japanese fiction in the fifties and sixties,just as he was reaching the peak of his powers he committed ritual suicide and the world lost a great voice from the orient...

"The Sound of Waves" is set on a small island in the Gulf of Ise,Eastern Japan. This short but brilliantly formed tale follows the paths of two star crossed lovers as they court each other tentatively amid the hard working lives they lead on the island.

Flora,fauna,dialogue,narrative and plotlines are delicately woven around a beautiful location and an age old story. Mishima reads very well, his use of metaphor and similie is exceptionally good and i highly recommend this 1956 novel to all readers,not just fans of Japanese fiction.



Uninvolving, 27 Oct 2005
I found the writing style very bland and uninvolving. For me the characters and the setting just don't come to life at all. It reads more like a first draft in note form than a fully-fleshed out novel. I know it's supposed to be minimalist, but I just couldn't find anything to get my teeth into. Some of the prose is quite clunky and maintains a distance from the events being described. Too clinical for me.

An Often-Overlooked Masterpiece, 10 Feb 2003
People often call Mishima's highly acclaimed "Sea Of Fertility" tetralogy his crowning achievement, but I'd have to disagree. "The Sound Of Waves" is the deeply moving story of Shinji and Matsue - Shinji a simple fisherman and Matsue the daughter of the village's richest citizen - whose love it blighted by the wagging tongues of the other people of the village.

Whilst occasionally dipping into seemingly self-indulgent poetry and making several redundant descriptions of people and places, this piece of art (for that is what it is) is truly a testament to the great talent that Yukio Mishima was, and is a prime example of why he is still so well-read by people of all ages even today.

Wonderful, 11 Nov 2002
Yukio Mishima is a literary juggernaut. He is not only famous for his huge body of quality work but also for his very public seppuku (ritual suicide). I haven't read a great deal of his stuff but what I have read is magnificent. Usually his works focus on the destructive emotions of men and women and the darker side of human nature. "The Sound of Waves" is atypical of his usual fiction in that it is a charming love story.

Set in a fishing village somewhere in Japan it tells the story of a young fisherman who falls in love with a girl. In Mishima's hands the fishing village almost has an ethereal quality and the characters are so well realised, they feel like people you already know. "The Sound of Waves" is deeply poetic and seems to have lost none of its power in the translation. Mishima also captures the awkward and embarrassing nature of first love perfectly.

"The Sound of Waves" is a great introduction to a literary master.

nice but perhaps overly poetic, 06 Sep 2002
very good book with a romantic feel,mood and tone. however did feel the need to skim read certain parts of book due to over poetic descriptions.

Great descriptions and vivid detail from Mishima's view, 14 Apr 1999
The Temple of Dawn can either be read alone or with the other three books in The Sea of Fertility series. This book does take some getting used to but once the reader discovers Mishima's writing style it is a pleasure. Vivid details and philosophical ideals are the main focus of this book. I would recommend this book to those readers seeking a new style in writing.

Poisonously elegant and beautifully evil, 22 Jun 2000
Japan's great novelist, Yukio Mishima it as the height of his formidable form in this magnificent book. A tale of revenge of Borgiaesque dimensions, it tells how an embittered old man uses a beautiful young man to revenge himself vicariously on the gender which he feels have ruined his life. It sounds appalling - and it is, but it is the magnificent elegance of the prose style and the superb poise of the narrative that makes it so delicious an experience. The inspiration for any number of pale imitations in any number of genres, "Forbidden Colours" is an important, unforgettable and brutally beautiful novel. Once you finish this, you will be a Mishima acolyte for life. Like you should be.

Spring rebirth (9/10), 27 Jun 2008
Spring Snow is a 1966 novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy that concerns itself principally with themes of love, death and reincarnation. It's an evocative and at times philisophical novel, rendered into English with the apparently painstaking care and meticulous spirit in which is written. The translator has done an incredible job delivering Mishima's highly disciplined descriptive style in English, which is deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetic traditions. In reading Spring Snow we are priviledged access to the seemingly impenetratable Japanese spiritual identity - and the unique visual grammar so deeply entwined with it - in a way that a weaker translation might have failed to do. Some of the descriptive passages in particular are so vivid and evocative (and often cinematic) that is hard to believe that we are reading anything but the authentic voice of the author.

While some of the philosophical ruminations, most often delivered as dialogue, leave me cold - it seems too overt when compared to the novel's subtler explorations, especially those in the realm of aesthetics - the principal storyline is devestatingly emotive. While some readers might find Mishima's style a little too self-conscious, too disciplined, others (like myself) may find themselves sucked into the intense seasonal imagery, as richly coloured as it is tactile. The quote on the back of the book compares Mishima's prose to the perfectionism of a Japanese garden, and while this may seem like lazy cultural stereotyping, it is hard to disagree. Mishima's writing is highly stylised, yes, but with a taut symmetry rooted in the cyclical nature of Japanese spiritual and aesthetic traditions.

A Chillingly Beautiful Novel, 16 Jun 2004
Spring Snow tell's the tale of the brief, yet chillingly beautiful romance between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Set in the early twentieth centuary, the tale unfolds like an exquisitely painted Japanese fan. Kiyoaki is an elegant and aristocratic eighteen- year old boy who suffers from plauging doubts, and bouts of introspection. The elder Satoko epitomizes the haunting beauty that Kiyoaki reveres, but struggles to repress. Central t