To install StudyMoose App tap and then “Add to Home Screen”
Save to my list
Remove from my list
Born in Tokyo in 1925, Hiraoka Kimitake, better known by his pseudonym Yukio Mishima, was a writer whom many critics consider one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century (“Mishima Yukio”). Perhaps his most famous and masterful work was the Sea of Fertility tetralogy he wrote in the late 1960s. The four-part epic follows four of the reincarnations of a being, the first a teenaged boy named Kiyoaki. The other three reincarnations of Kiyoaki are found in the next three books, with Kiyoaki’s dreams connecting them.
The main character is named Honda, who was a childhood friend of Kiyoaki’s. Through the four books, Honda watches Kiyoaki and three of his reincarnations as they grow up and die by the age of twenty.
In Spring Snow, the first book of the tetralogy, the narrative follows Honda and Kiyoaki as teenagers. Kiyoaki is a bored, careless youth who does not seem to have much interest in much of anything. Honda, on the other hand, aspires to attend law school and be a judge, which he achieves by the time of the second book.
Verified writer
Proficient in: Reincarnation
5 (893)
“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”
Throughout Spring Snow, Kiyoaki has many dreams, which he writes down in a dream journal, with no interpretation whatsoever. When Kiyoaki dies of pneumonia at age twenty from traveling to see the woman he loves, Honda receives his dream journal. In the second book, Runaway Horses, Honda is thirty-eight years old and a judge. While visiting Sakurai to attend a kendo match, Honda meets the young Isao Iinuma; soon, Honda has reason to believe Isao is a reincarnation of Kiyoaki.
As he was dying, Kiyoaki told Honda he would see him again, “under the falls” (Spring 389); in Runaway Horses, Honda sees Isao shirtless under a waterfall, revealing three moles, identical to Kiyoaki’s, on his side. Later, one of Kiyoaki’s dreams comes true in Isao (Spring 235-6), further solidifying the fact in Honda’s mind that Isao is Kiyoaki reincarnated (Runaway 250-3). In contrast to Kiyoaki, however, Isao is extremely driven, attempting to bring about political revolution by a series of assassinations, then suicide. The authorities arrest Isao and his co-conspirators before this can happen; however, after they are free, Isao assassinates an important government person and commits seppuku at the young age of twenty.
Kiyoaki’s next reincarnation is in a young Thai princess named Ying Chan. Kiyoaki’s dream journal foretells this in Spring Snow when Kiyoaki dreams of himself as a woman (Spring 82-3). Furthermore, at the end of Runaway Horses, Isao declares he wishes to be reborn a woman, indicating his next reincarnation (Runaway 409). When she is young, Princess Ying Chan insists she is a Japanese boy reborn, and that her home is not in Thailand but rather in Japan. Ying Chan’s family and attendants think she is crazy, so they keep her in a little palace of her own, not allowing her to go on trips with the rest of the royal family. By the time she is a teenager, Ying Chan seems to forget about her previous statements and attempts to live a normal life. Years later, Honda spies on Ying Chan and discovers that she, too, has three moles like Kiyoaki and Isao before her did, positively identifying her as the second reincarnation of Kiyoaki. A fire burns down the building in which Honda and Ying Chan are staying, and Honda loses contact with Ying Chan. A little while later, Honda finds out from her twin sister that Ying Chan died suddenly at the young age of twenty from a cobra bite, continuing the pattern Kiyoaki and Isao have set.
In the fourth book of the tetralogy, The Decay of the Angel, Honda is an old man. He meets Tōru, a teenage orphan, who he discovers to be the third reincarnation of Kiyoaki. In The Decay of the Angel, the reader discovers that Tōru possesses the three moles found on all three former incarnations of himself (Decay 33). When Honda sees the moles, he adopts Tōru at once, believing he is the third reincarnation of Kiyoaki. In contrast to the three other incarnations, however, Tōru is not a very nice boy and is, in fact, quite rude and manipulative to Honda and those around him. Towards the end of the book, Tōru asks to borrow Kiyoaki’s dream journal from Honda, and Honda reluctantly agrees. After a month of having the diary in his possession, Tōru drinks poison, but goes blind instead of dying. After he recovers, Honda asks about the journal, and Tōru reveals that he burned it. When questioned about this, Tōru simply replies, “I never dream” (Decay 208). Since he does not dream, one can infer that perhaps Tōru is the final reincarnation of Kiyoaki and his spirit may finally be at rest.
Dreams play a major part in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy. From Kiyoaki’s dreams in the first book to his reincarnations’ dreams about their own future reincarnations, Mishima skillfully weaves dreams throughout the fabric of the novels. They tie everything together and provide evidence for Kiyoaki’s many reincarnations and identification for each. Without Kiyoaki’s dream journal, Honda may never have known about the many reincarnations. The moles on each one’s side seem to identify the person as a reincarnation, but without the journal, Honda may have simply seen them as a coincidence. From Kiyoaki to Tōru, the number of dreams seems to decrease from many to none at all, perhaps because the dreams were foretelling the future. If that is the case, then each successive reincarnation would have fewer dreams because there is less time and fewer reincarnations in Kiyoaki’s future on Earth about which to dream. Thus, in Kiyoaki’s dream journal and in various statements by Kiyoaki’s reincarnations themselves, the reader can clearly see just how important dreams are to Kiyoaki’s complex story, spanning almost a decade.
The Four Rebirth Of a Human Being As Depicted in Yukio Mishima's Novel Sea Of Fertility. (2024, Feb 19). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-four-rebirth-of-a-human-being-as-depicted-in-yukio-mishimas-novel-sea-of-fertility-essay
👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!
Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.
get help with your assignment
