Tōru Yasunaga, a manipulative and sadistic orphan.

Isao Iinuma, a nationalist and violent extremist.

The friend's successive reincarnations are: This results in both personal and professional embarrassment for Honda, and eventually destroys him. Each of the novels depicts what Honda comes to believe are successive reincarnations of his schoolfriend Kiyoaki Matsugae, and Honda's attempts to save them from the early deaths to which they seem to be condemned by karma. The viewpoint of all four books is that of Shigekuni Honda, a law student in Spring Snow who eventually becomes a wealthy retired judge in The Decay of the Angel. The main timeline of the story stretches from 1912 to 1975. Its title refers to the Mare Fecunditatis, a lunar mare. The series, which Mishima began writing in 1964 and which was his final work, is usually thought of as his masterpiece. The four novels are Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971). It’s a good piece of neo-noir, worth seeking out.įor more Tadanori Yokoo, see some of the recent posts by Will at A Journey Round My Skull.The Sea of Fertility ( 豊饒の海, Hōjō no Umi ) is a tetralogy of novels written by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Ken Takakura reprised his gangster persona in that film, along with Robert Mitchum. By convoluted coincidence, Schrader received his start in Hollywood ten years earlier with a co-written screenplay, The Yakuza, which Sidney Pollack directed. Yokoo regarded Mishima as a major influence and further cemented the relationship by making an appearance in Paul Schrader’s 1985 film, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

One of these from 1966 is dedicated to Mishima, while the one above shows actor Ken Takakura in one of his many yakuza roles. Searching around earlier turned up a nice collection of poster works by the great Japanese collage artist, Tadanori Yokoo. The Ballad To a Severed Little Finger (1966). The French twist the title into “forbidden loves” and in so doing lose Mishima’s punning subtlety.

I included this photograph in the very first posting which examines the recurrence of Flandrin’s Jeune Homme Assis au Bord de la Mer but this is the first time I’ve seen it used on a book cover. Wilhelm von Gloeden‘s version of the Flandrin pose as it appears on the cover of a 1989 Gallimard edition of Forbidden Colours by Yukio Mishima.

Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima