The Sea of Fertility: A Cycle of Four Novels by Mishima is a clear exploration of life and its contradictions, encapsulated in a tetralogy whose title references lunar geography. It juxtaposes the fecundity of earthly existence with the empty void of the cosmic realm, embodying themes of being and oblivion. Mishima, who claimed to pour all his life’s knowledge into these works, completed the series with the final book on the very day of his death.
The first book, Spring Snow, echoes the timeless tragedy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, painting a touching tale of forbidden love between Kiyo Matsugae and Satoko Ayakura. The main action stretches from October 1912 to March 1914.
The second book Runaway Horses, set between June 1932 and December 1933, tells the story of young Isao Iinuma, a rightist reactionary trained in the samurai code by his father.
In The Temple of Dawn he lawyer Honda visits Thailand on a business trip and encounters a young girl whom he believes to be his schoolfriend's second reincarnation. Eleven years later she travels to Japan to study and he befriends her in the hope of learning more. The main narrative takes place between 1941 and 1952.
In The Decay of the Angel, the last book of Sea of Fertility tetralogy, Shikeguni Honda, a retired judge, adopts a teenage orphan, Tōru Yasunaga, whom he believes to be a dead schoolfriend's third successive reincarnation. In this book, which is also accepted as the testament of Yukio Mishima, Shigekuni Honda observes the evolution of Japan in the 20th century.
