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Yukio Mishima

RUNAWAY HORSES Hardcover – May 12 1973

Japanese edition by Yukio Mishima (Author)

4.4 237 ratings

Book 2 of 4: The Sea of Fertility

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Book 2 of 4

The Sea of Fertility
Print length

421 pages
Language

Japanese, English
Publisher

Knopf
Publication date

May 12 1973
ISBN-10

0394466187
ISBN-13

978-0394466187
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Yukio Mishima
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf; First Edition (May 12 1973)
Language ‏ : ‎ Japanese, English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 421 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394466187
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394466187
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 695 g

Best Sellers Rank: #1,739,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #724 in Japanese Literature

Customer Reviews:
4.4 237 ratings

About the author

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Yukio Mishima

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Yukio Mishima (三島由紀夫 Mishima Yukio?) is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡公威 Hiraoka Kimitake?, January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968 but the award went to his fellow countryman Yasunari Kawabata. His works include the novels Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and the autobiographical essay Sun and Steel. His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change. Mishima was active as a nationalist and founded his own right-wing militia. He is remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état attempt, known as the "Mishima Incident".

The Mishima Prize was established in 1988 to honor his life and works.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Shirou Aoyama (http://www.bungakukan.or.jp/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

237 global ratings

5 star		60%
4 star		29%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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ciaran mc loughlin

Beautifully written capturing a sense of time and place, characters vividly portrayed with depth and feeling. Themes of life, love, morality and mortality explored with skill and empathy.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 25, 2017

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Beautifully written capturing a sense of time and place, characters vividly portrayed with depth and feeling. Themes of life, love, morality and mortality explored with skill and empathy.

One person found this helpful

Laura

Of Loyalty

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on September 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

The Runaway Horses is even more ravishing than Spring Snow.

Set 20 years after the tragic events ending the last novel, this volume opens gloomily with Honda as a judge. The story progresses through a series of occurrences that will leave Honda to doubt his initial composed, rational understanding of the world as he encounters young Isao Iinuma, none other than the sun of Kyioaki's previous tutor, Iinuma.

The story juxtaposes love and reason, passion and tranquility, as Honda learns to heed mysterious signs connecting Iinuma to the long-gone Kyioaki. In a struggle to redeem himself after feeling he had let down his friend two decades ago, Honda abandons his career as a judge to serve young Iinuma in a fight for freedom.

Freedom from corruption, freedom from greed, from all worldly desires, are synonymous to complete loyalty to the Emperor in Iinuma's heart.

Isao's speech during his hearing reverberates the pure spirit of Japan, led by an Emperor descendent from the Goddess of the Sun, to whom the people, his children, will forever pledge allegiance. In his monologue, Isao explains how we would like to tear down the clouds that harm the pure rays of sun emitted by His Majesty -- in other words, he aims to destroy the corruption that eroded the purity of the Japanese spirit and that separated the Emperor from his disciples. Isao sees the rising zaibatsu, modern firms that in their restlessness for money impoverished Japan, as the source of all evil. They are to blame for having viciously corrupted the politicians who should have been the force behind the Imperial Will and acted as intermediaries between the Emperor and his children, the people of Japan.

Striking these conglomerates, in Isao's view, will restore Japan's health and sanity. Following the path of the activist Wang Yang-ming, Isao believes that "To know and not to act is not to know." This comes at a cost, despoiling the doers of their virtue, of their purity, like a luminous vase crumbling under countless cracks furrowed all over its surface. The price to pay is seppuku. Only then will the corrupt and those pure who soiled their hands with corrupt blood -- an allegory explained by Isao to Prince Toin as a present of rice offered to the Emperor which, one way or the other, must lead to the death of the person who bestowed the gift -- be purified and rise to heaven in full glory. Only then can the sun shine freely beyond the clouds and reach the destitute people of Japan, and embellish them with its pure rays of eternal light.

One person found this helpful

uncle tom

milennial genius

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 4, 2020

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The characters are all fascinating excepting the child fanatics. As the plot unfolds its a page turner. It has ups and downs but M's downs get a ten from me. My regret is that I don't know Japanese. I think all translations from Japanese are pedestrian. There must be a reason for the canned nature. I will never know it. I want to believe in Mishima.

One person found this helpful

CarolRabbit

Engaging, thought provoking, beauty in every sentence.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 1, 2013

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I have just started reading Yukio Mishima's books and find The Sea of Fertility beautifully written, fascinatingly descriptive of Japan and the era, plus an engaging saga. I couldn't wait for the arrival of the second book in the series, Runaway Horses, and purchased the Kindle edition (starting it immediately)! I recommend this book (and author) to all readers and especially to those who want and expect more than just a momentary escape from tedium. Mishima delivers on all fronts and leaves the reader with intriguing thoughts and questions.

One person found this helpful

E.Hun

My favorite of the 4 book series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 29, 2013

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As the title says, my fav! Ending is superb.

The sea of Fertility is nothing short of a masterpiece. Mishima crucified himself in his work (SOF), and then did the same in real life.

If you have not read Spring Snow yet, read that first before reading this book...If you have read Spring Snow, then why in the hell are you reading reviews of this book!? Get it, continue the journey!

7 people found this helpful

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RUNAWAY HORSES Hardcover – May 12 1973

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