| The Temple of Dawn | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 236289
Category: Book
Author: Yukio Mishima
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Label: Vintage
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0679722424
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.635
EAN: 9780679722427
ASIN: 0679722424
Publication Date: April 14, 1990
Release Date: April 14, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Dramatizes the Japanese experience from the eve of World War II through the degradation of the postwar era.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A weaker link in Mishima's tetralogy July 24, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was, for me, the weakest of the three Sea of Fertility novels I have read. One problem has been commented on by almost every reviewer: the theme of the overall work is reincarnation. But traditional Buddhist philosophy regard the soul, and even the self, as illusions. If this is so, then what is it that is reincarnated? A long and complex essay on this takes up far too much of the novel and probably could be understood only by a reader with extensive previous knowledge of Buddhist philosophy.
A more subtle problem is that this book seems to lack the compassion of the earlier volumes. Part of this is the treatment of Honda himself, and perhaps a natural reflection of the fact that Honda, in the timeline of the overall work, is becoming an old man, combined with Mishima's own horror of old age that influenced his suicide a few years after this book was written. Certainly the contrast between the fading age of Honda and this novel's reincarnation of Kiyoaki, a beautiful young Thai princess, is made frequently and rather heavy-handedly. But in other cases Misihima's cruelty seens clearly gratuitous, particularly the case of a pseudo-intellectual and a would-be poetess who are brought in as characters almost solely so that Mishima can mock them before killing them off. This whole subplot struck me as entirely unworthy of Mishima.
Mishima was a genius, though, and there is much in this book that is impressive, fully equal to the brilliance of the two prequels. The dramatic ending has been justly praised by other reviewers. The recent history of Japan is a major focus of the tetralogy, and the descriptions in this story of Tokyo in ruins during and just after the war are harrowing. And the portrayal of Honda's marriage with Rie, two people who have spent their lives together and are growing old together, tied to each other by familiarity and social custom, yet never really united by love, is poignant and remarkable.
 Moving, shocking, thought-provoking, and superbly elegantly constructed, the height of the "Sea" so far July 22, 2006
In THE TEMPLE OF DAWN, the third book of Yukio Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, we find Shikeguni Honda on business in Thailand. Six years after the death of Isao Iinuma, the former judge is now a successful lawyer, but his interest in practising law is shaken when he meets Ying Chan, a Thai princess who is the second reincarnation of Kiyoaki Matsugae. THE TEMPLE OF DAWN differs greatly from the first two books of the tetralogy. While SPRING SNOW and RUNAWAY HORSES focus mainly on their tragic young men done in by fatal youthful flaws, love and idealism respectively, Honda is the central figure of this volume. All events are filtered through his eyes, and what little we learn about Ying Chan comes from his desperate musings. In its chronology this third volume also differs, for while the first two volumes take place within a span of a couple of years, THE TEMPLE OF DAWN leaps from 1939 through the war years to 1952, and ends with a shocking revelation in 1967.
Honda has changed a lot since we last met him. Right off the bat Mishima tells us that the death of Isao turned Honda from a idealistic man of reason to a nihilist, and nihilism is finally revealed as the big theme of the cycle. Honda continues to change as he grows older in this volume, and this process of growing old, of questioning earlier assumptions, and of searching for some answer to life's mysteries makes for a fascinating plot. Readers will be shocked by the behavior of the protagonist, his wife, and their social circle. This is a novel where every nearly every page punches the reader in the cut, and Mishima appears as much a master of apparently casual revelations as Gene Wolfe. He is also a master of the love story, for love affairs in this book, twisted though they be, come out as much more realistic than Kiyoaki's doomed affection for Satoko.
But beyond the individual personages of the book and their foibles, Mishima wants the reader to consider universal principles of philosophy. Honda spends the war years in a haze, reading through the Buddhist canon and trying to figure it all out as his country is battered around him. While one can enjoy THE TEMPLE OF DAWN without too closely paying attention to ideas of samsara and the self, the novel richly rewards repeat reading. And finally, the book stands out for its amazing ending. I won't give it away, but I will say that Mishima brilliantly alludes to his earlier writings, reinforces his thoughts on "cosmic nihilism", and even pays a tribute to his mentor Yasunari Kawabata.
All in all, this is the finest book of "The Sea of Fertility" that I have read so far, and I really can't recommend it enough. Pick up SPRING SNOW if you haven't yet, and other readers can continue on through this one without fear.
Moving, shocking, thought-provoking, and superbly elegantly constructed, the height of the "Sea" so far July 14, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In THE TEMPLE OF DAWN, the third book of Yukio Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, we find Shikeguni Honda on business in Thailand. Six years after the death of Isao Iinuma, the former judge is now a successful lawyer, but his interest in practising law is shaken when he meets Ying Chan, a Thai princess who is the second reincarnation of Kiyoaki Matsugae. THE TEMPLE OF DAWN differs greatly from the first two books of the tetralogy. While SPRING SNOW and RUNAWAY HORSES focus mainly on their tragic young men done in by fatal youthful flaws, love and idealism respectively, Honda is the central figure of this volume. All events are filtered through his eyes, and what little we learn about Ying Chan comes from his desperate musings. In its chronology this third volume also differs, for while the first two volumes take place within a span of a couple of years, THE TEMPLE OF DAWN leaps from 1939 through the war years to 1952, and ends with a shocking revelation in 1967.
Honda has changed a lot since we last met him. Right off the bat Mishima tells us that the death of Isao turned Honda from a idealistic man of reason to a nihilist, and nihilism is finally revealed as the big theme of the cycle. Honda continues to change as he grows older in this volume, and this process of growing old, of questioning earlier assumptions, and of searching for some answer to life's mysteries makes for a fascinating plot. Readers will be shocked by the behavior of the protagonist, his wife, and their social circle. This is a novel where every nearly every page punches the reader in the cut, and Mishima appears as much a master of apparently casual revelations as Gene Wolfe. He is also a master of the love story, for love affairs in this book, twisted though they be, come out as much more realistic than Kiyoaki's doomed affection for Satoko.
But beyond the individual personages of the book and their foibles, Mishima wants the reader to consider universal principles of philosophy. Honda spends the war years in a haze, reading through the Buddhist canon and trying to figure it all out as his country is battered around him. While one can enjoy THE TEMPLE OF DAWN without too closely paying attention to ideas of samsara and the self, the novel richly rewards repeat reading. And finally, the book stands out for its amazing ending. I won't give it away, but I will say that Mishima brilliantly alludes to his earlier writings, reinforces his thoughts on "cosmic nihilism", and even pays a tribute to his mentor Yasunari Kawabata.
All in all, this is the finest book of "The Sea of Fertility" that I have read so far, and I really can't recommend it enough. Pick up SPRING SNOW if you haven't yet, and other readers can continue on through this one without fear.
Sea of Silence ... August 15, 2005
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is not an intent to (summarize) mishima's sea of fertility... rather it's an approach into analyzing it ... a sort of reading between the lines...
Then ... again, what are we exactly trying to portray?
we would say we are ( intending ) to deliver a semiotic vision of what the sea of fertility represents ... we are not trying to ( read ) it for our reader , rather , we let him read , and help him amidst it , by presenting a cluster of signs , keys , semiotics , call it whatever you want , that would - at the end - clarify the road , and that can be grasped by the reader so he can get a wider vision , and a better comprehension of this gigantic universe , which mishima called ( sea of fertility ) ...
But first, why is this bizarre title (sea of fertility)?
mishima himself is going to answer this question , to give it the first ( leading ) sign , that we should know it doesn't crack secrets for us , but merely provides us with a minimum limit , which we can begin our journey from ..
in a note mishima sent to the famous American criticizer Donald Keene , he clearly admits that the reason he chose this title for his tetralogy is a hint for an area of the same designation on the moon's surface not so far of ( the sea of silence ) ... the reason for this reference is to aim at a ( contradiction ) between this vivid and colorful name , and the wasteland it stands for in real ... we can go further on saying that this title combines the image of universal nihilism with the image of ( sea of fertility ) ...
in summer 1945 mishima wanted to write an immense oeuvre that would sum up Miller's famous trilogy ( the rosy crucifixion ) , and that would stress more and more on that ( dark ) side of art ... to write a novel that would take six years of his life , and that would cover - chronogically - those sixty years from 1912 and on ..
That decision , which was the most important one in mishima's practical life , obliged writing this novel in four volumes , in each an individual story , for each a special protagonist , but these characters would not be totally separated from each other ...
How?
The figure in the first volume is the lad kiwaki, the noble descent of the wealthy family of Matsugai, lives a love story, one of its kind that memory would not forget easily, and his friend Honda stands as an eye witness for this superb experience of his...
From that point on , in every volume that succeeds, we can notice that the hero is merely the first one, but after being (reincarnated), to start a new cycle of life, and to let Honda only figure out the connections that ties these four characters...
Mishima Knew very well that his Tetralogy is a rich threshold for everything he learned as a writer ... he told his friends, that when he finishes it, there is only one thing left for him to do ... (suicide) ... and by taking his own life in November 25th 1970, he fulfilled his final quote: the life of men is short, I want to live forever...
( The sea of fertility ) is not an easy read nor its a happy one , it is a lament melancholic presentation of life ... rendered by an artist ...
Great book, makes you think long after reading it April 1, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not as engrossing as the first two books of the tetrology, The Temple of Dawn meanders through Honda's life in his 50's, as he falls in love with the Princess of Thailand who, he suspects, is the reincarnation of Isao and Iunima, the protagonists of "Spring Snow" and "Runaway Horses".
The book provides for deep reading, and with Mishima's wonderful descriptions and exploration of the mind, it is a book not to be missed.
The story deals with the multilayered emotions of Rie (Honda's wife), Keiko (his neighbor), Makiko (Iunuma's romantic interest in Runaway Horses) and other characters.
With Honda as the main character, the development of his thoughts on life and death are dealt with in detail, which may provide some moments of "skipping", if you're not into that kind of stuff.
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