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The Sea of Fertility #1
Spring Snow
"A classic of Japanese literature" (Chicago Sun-Times ) and the first novel in the masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, set in 1912 Tokyo, featuring an aspiring lawyer who believes he has met the successive reincarnations of his childhood friend.
It is 1912 in Tokyo, and the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders—rich provincial families unburdened by tradition, whose money and vitality make them formidable contenders for social and political power. Shigekuni Honda, an aspiring lawyer and his childhood friend, Kiyoaki Matsugae, are the sons of two such families. As they come of age amidst the growing tensions between old and new, Kiyoaki is plagued by his simultaneous love for and loathing of the spirited young woman Ayakura Satoko. But Kiyoaki’s true feelings only become apparent when her sudden engagement to a royal prince shows him the magnitude of his passion—and leads to a love affair both doomed and inevitable.
It is 1912 in Tokyo, and the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders—rich provincial families unburdened by tradition, whose money and vitality make them formidable contenders for social and political power. Shigekuni Honda, an aspiring lawyer and his childhood friend, Kiyoaki Matsugae, are the sons of two such families. As they come of age amidst the growing tensions between old and new, Kiyoaki is plagued by his simultaneous love for and loathing of the spirited young woman Ayakura Satoko. But Kiyoaki’s true feelings only become apparent when her sudden engagement to a royal prince shows him the magnitude of his passion—and leads to a love affair both doomed and inevitable.
389 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
About the author
Yukio Mishima
421 books7,538 followersYukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫) was born in Tokyo in 1925. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University’s School of Jurisprudence in 1947. His first published book, The Forest in Full Bloom, appeared in 1944 and he established himself as a major author with Confessions of a Mask (1949). From then until his death he continued to publish novels, short stories, and plays each year. His crowning achievement, the Sea of Fertility tetralogy—which contains the novels Spring Snow (1969), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970), and The Decay of the Angel (1971)—is considered one of the definitive works of twentieth-century Japanese fiction. In 1970, at the age of forty-five and the day after completing the last novel in the Fertility series, Mishima committed seppuku (ritual suicide)—a spectacular death that attracted worldwide attention.
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February 27, 2019
Mishima (1925-1970) was a classic Japanese author. He was a fierce anti-communist who led a band of rebels trying to restore the Emperor. He committed ritual suicide when the plot failed. His best-known work is a tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, of which this book is the first volume.
Class divisions and changing values in Japan due to western influence aree major themes. The main character is the son of a very wealthy family. How wealthy? They have 40 servants and the boy doesn’t know all their names even though some of them who have worked there for years. The family lives in a multi-house compound which includes a western-style home in which they entertain and occasionally have western meals. The boy’s own room is in a Japanese-style house but it’s decorated with western furniture. His mother often dresses and wears her hair in western style. And yet, he has a friend at school whose family, he feels is, more ‘western in outlook’ than his, despite their family’s lack of western trappings in furniture, food and dress.
The boy is very good-looking, dreamy, melancholy, lazy and ambition-less. He’s bright but he figures he’ll get into a university for rich kids because he’s not wasting time studying for exams to get into an academically prestigious school. He’s 18 when the story opens. The end of the Russo-Japanese War, 7 years ago, is a key backdrop to the story. So we know it’s around 1912.
So the boy’s family has money, but it’s not one of Japan’s traditional 28 noble families, like the one next door. So his father creates an alliance between those two families and the boy spends much time at the neighboring residence absorbing the noble ambiance. His father supplies the money; the other family supplies the prestige.
The plot revolves around a love story between this boy and the daughter of the neighboring household. They have known each other all their lives and she has loved him since they were children. But his feelings toward her are on-again, off-again; he mistreats her and pretends he doesn’t care for her. Finally she gives up on him and becomes engaged to a son of a noble family, actually a member of the Emperor’s household.
At this point (she’s is 21; he’s 19), and after the engagement has been approved by the Emperor himself, finally he decides he loves her and begins to pursue her. They begin a sexual relationship and she becomes pregnant. If word of any of this gets out, it would be the equivalent of a national scandal! When the boy’s father learns what is going on, after spending his whole life ass-kissing the emperor and the nobles, to say he is apoplectic is putting it mildly. Never having lifted a hand to his son before, he beats him with a pool cue.
The difficult romance gives the author a chance to discuss the theme of ‘the light of reason vs. the darkness of passions.’ There’s also quite a bit of discussion about Buddhism and reincarnation. But we know all this can only end in tragedy. His friend counsels him that he is throwing his life away almost as if he wants to commit suicide.
There is good writing, such as this passage that I liked: “On a warm spring day, a galloping horse was only too clearly a sweating animal of flesh and blood. But a horse racing through a snowstorm became one with the very elements; wrapped in the whirling blast of the north wind, the beast embodied the icy breath of winter.”
It's a good story. I don’t know if it entices me to read the whole tetralogy, but the second volume is the series, Runaway Horses, is equally highly rated as Spring Snow. (The other two are The temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel.) Probably the author’s best-known work in English is not part of the tetralogy, it’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.
Photo of the Great Buddha of Kamakura featured in the novel from onmarkproductions.com
Photo of the newly restored Marunouchi Building, part of the Shimbasi railroad station featured in the novel.
Photo of the author from Goodreads
Class divisions and changing values in Japan due to western influence aree major themes. The main character is the son of a very wealthy family. How wealthy? They have 40 servants and the boy doesn’t know all their names even though some of them who have worked there for years. The family lives in a multi-house compound which includes a western-style home in which they entertain and occasionally have western meals. The boy’s own room is in a Japanese-style house but it’s decorated with western furniture. His mother often dresses and wears her hair in western style. And yet, he has a friend at school whose family, he feels is, more ‘western in outlook’ than his, despite their family’s lack of western trappings in furniture, food and dress.
The boy is very good-looking, dreamy, melancholy, lazy and ambition-less. He’s bright but he figures he’ll get into a university for rich kids because he’s not wasting time studying for exams to get into an academically prestigious school. He’s 18 when the story opens. The end of the Russo-Japanese War, 7 years ago, is a key backdrop to the story. So we know it’s around 1912.
So the boy’s family has money, but it’s not one of Japan’s traditional 28 noble families, like the one next door. So his father creates an alliance between those two families and the boy spends much time at the neighboring residence absorbing the noble ambiance. His father supplies the money; the other family supplies the prestige.
The plot revolves around a love story between this boy and the daughter of the neighboring household. They have known each other all their lives and she has loved him since they were children. But his feelings toward her are on-again, off-again; he mistreats her and pretends he doesn’t care for her. Finally she gives up on him and becomes engaged to a son of a noble family, actually a member of the Emperor’s household.
At this point (she’s is 21; he’s 19), and after the engagement has been approved by the Emperor himself, finally he decides he loves her and begins to pursue her. They begin a sexual relationship and she becomes pregnant. If word of any of this gets out, it would be the equivalent of a national scandal! When the boy’s father learns what is going on, after spending his whole life ass-kissing the emperor and the nobles, to say he is apoplectic is putting it mildly. Never having lifted a hand to his son before, he beats him with a pool cue.
The difficult romance gives the author a chance to discuss the theme of ‘the light of reason vs. the darkness of passions.’ There’s also quite a bit of discussion about Buddhism and reincarnation. But we know all this can only end in tragedy. His friend counsels him that he is throwing his life away almost as if he wants to commit suicide.
There is good writing, such as this passage that I liked: “On a warm spring day, a galloping horse was only too clearly a sweating animal of flesh and blood. But a horse racing through a snowstorm became one with the very elements; wrapped in the whirling blast of the north wind, the beast embodied the icy breath of winter.”
It's a good story. I don’t know if it entices me to read the whole tetralogy, but the second volume is the series, Runaway Horses, is equally highly rated as Spring Snow. (The other two are The temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel.) Probably the author’s best-known work in English is not part of the tetralogy, it’s The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.
Photo of the Great Buddha of Kamakura featured in the novel from onmarkproductions.com
Photo of the newly restored Marunouchi Building, part of the Shimbasi railroad station featured in the novel.
Photo of the author from Goodreads
September 23, 2018
Yukio Mishima felt the Japanese government needed to return to a system based on the samurai code. He was descended from samarais and believed that this code, advocating complete command of one's body and soul combined with a complete loyalty to the emperor, was necessary for Japan to return to prominence. He formed his own army in 1970 and attempted a coup d'état. With a few friends he overpowered the commandant of the Ichigaya Camp — the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and tied the commandant to a chair. Mishima then stepped onto a balcony outside the commandant's office and gave an impassioned speech to the government troops to join his cause. He was jeered and mocked off the balcony.
He returned to the commandant's office and committed seppuku, a ritual suicide. The friend he had chosen to slice his head from his body at the end of the ritual could not complete his responsibilities and another friend stepped in to end his pain. Mishima had been planning his suicide for almost a year. For those with a more gruesome bent you can find pictures of his severed head on the internet.
Mishima was only 45 on November 25th, 1970. He had been a successful actor, kendo master, and of course writer. Mishima wrote 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays, one libretto, as well as one film. Like Fitzgerald, he dashed off a lot of work for quick cash, but even if those inferior works are discarded, he still had an impressive body of work for a man who died so young. He had just finished the final volume in The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, of which Spring Snow is the first, before his suicide.
Spring Snow is a novel of pride, misplaced loyalty, blackmail, intrigue, lust, selfishness, sacrifice, and misery. It is the story of star crossed lovers, steadfast friends, political mishaps, and conniving servants. The setting is 1912 Tokyo in the inner circle of imperial court. Our hero is Kiyoaki, who was born so beautiful he stirred the blood of women from 8 to 80. He was a young man of 19 whom women wanted and men wanted to be like. Those people too enamored with him soon found themselves rebuffed. Honda, a fellow classmate of Kiyoaki observed this tendency and modified his approach to Kiyoaki forsaking fawning for aloofness. "He knew only too well how Kiyoaki reserved his keenest displeasure for any excessive show of friendship." Now his name is HONDA not HONDO.
It must be the fact that Hondo was one of my favorite John Wayne movies when I was a kid combined with the fact that I really liked Honda, by far my favorite character in the book, that I kept changing his name in my head to Hondo.
Kiyoaki as a young lad of 13 was asked to participate in a ritual ceremony that brought him in close proximity to the princess. He missteps and disrupts the trail of her ermine coat.
"Princess Kasuga's lavish use of French perfume extended to her train, and its fragrance overpowered the musky odor of incense. Some way down the corridor, Kiyoaki stumbled for a moment, inadvertently tugging at the train. The princess turned her head slightly, and, as a sign that she was not at all annoyed, smiled gently at the youthful offender. Her gesture went unnoticed; body perfectly erect in that fractional turn, she had allowed Kiyoaki a glimpse of a corner of her mouth. At that moment, a single wisp of hair slipped over her clear white cheek, and out of the fine-drawn corner of an eye a smile flashed in a spark of black fire. But the pure line of her nose did not move. It as as if nothing had happened...this fleeting angle of the Princess's face--too slight to be called a profile--made Kiyoaki feel as if he had seen a rainbow flicker for a bare instant through a prism of pure crystal."
This scene stays with Kiyoaki for the rest of his life. He considered it one of the most defining moments of his life, which makes it all the more inexplicable why it takes him so long to realize the extraordinary beauty of his life time friend Satoko. Only after his friends at school see her and react extravagantly to her charms does Kiyoaki for the first time see her as a woman and not as an annoying child. She is acerbic, sarcastic, intelligent, and head over heels in love with Kiyoaki. Her wit and his pride contribute to the continued cross purposes of their relationship. Honda proves himself time and time again helping Kiyoaki with insane plans to get unsupervised time with Satoko. He rejects her and then wants her more than ever. "His own heart seemed to him to be much like an arrow stripped of the flashing white feathers that gave it direction."
The minor characters provide twisty plot turns that add inspiring flavor to the plot. Jaw dropping, unexpected moments of blackmail with a dash of spicy intrigue keep the pages turning even when the main characters are off the stage. Beautiful descriptive passages, bits of Zen, and an ending that Shakespeare would certainly approve of lead me to say HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
He returned to the commandant's office and committed seppuku, a ritual suicide. The friend he had chosen to slice his head from his body at the end of the ritual could not complete his responsibilities and another friend stepped in to end his pain. Mishima had been planning his suicide for almost a year. For those with a more gruesome bent you can find pictures of his severed head on the internet.
Mishima was only 45 on November 25th, 1970. He had been a successful actor, kendo master, and of course writer. Mishima wrote 40 novels, 18 plays, 20 books of short stories, and at least 20 books of essays, one libretto, as well as one film. Like Fitzgerald, he dashed off a lot of work for quick cash, but even if those inferior works are discarded, he still had an impressive body of work for a man who died so young. He had just finished the final volume in The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, of which Spring Snow is the first, before his suicide.
Spring Snow is a novel of pride, misplaced loyalty, blackmail, intrigue, lust, selfishness, sacrifice, and misery. It is the story of star crossed lovers, steadfast friends, political mishaps, and conniving servants. The setting is 1912 Tokyo in the inner circle of imperial court. Our hero is Kiyoaki, who was born so beautiful he stirred the blood of women from 8 to 80. He was a young man of 19 whom women wanted and men wanted to be like. Those people too enamored with him soon found themselves rebuffed. Honda, a fellow classmate of Kiyoaki observed this tendency and modified his approach to Kiyoaki forsaking fawning for aloofness. "He knew only too well how Kiyoaki reserved his keenest displeasure for any excessive show of friendship." Now his name is HONDA not HONDO.
It must be the fact that Hondo was one of my favorite John Wayne movies when I was a kid combined with the fact that I really liked Honda, by far my favorite character in the book, that I kept changing his name in my head to Hondo.
Kiyoaki as a young lad of 13 was asked to participate in a ritual ceremony that brought him in close proximity to the princess. He missteps and disrupts the trail of her ermine coat.
"Princess Kasuga's lavish use of French perfume extended to her train, and its fragrance overpowered the musky odor of incense. Some way down the corridor, Kiyoaki stumbled for a moment, inadvertently tugging at the train. The princess turned her head slightly, and, as a sign that she was not at all annoyed, smiled gently at the youthful offender. Her gesture went unnoticed; body perfectly erect in that fractional turn, she had allowed Kiyoaki a glimpse of a corner of her mouth. At that moment, a single wisp of hair slipped over her clear white cheek, and out of the fine-drawn corner of an eye a smile flashed in a spark of black fire. But the pure line of her nose did not move. It as as if nothing had happened...this fleeting angle of the Princess's face--too slight to be called a profile--made Kiyoaki feel as if he had seen a rainbow flicker for a bare instant through a prism of pure crystal."
This scene stays with Kiyoaki for the rest of his life. He considered it one of the most defining moments of his life, which makes it all the more inexplicable why it takes him so long to realize the extraordinary beauty of his life time friend Satoko. Only after his friends at school see her and react extravagantly to her charms does Kiyoaki for the first time see her as a woman and not as an annoying child. She is acerbic, sarcastic, intelligent, and head over heels in love with Kiyoaki. Her wit and his pride contribute to the continued cross purposes of their relationship. Honda proves himself time and time again helping Kiyoaki with insane plans to get unsupervised time with Satoko. He rejects her and then wants her more than ever. "His own heart seemed to him to be much like an arrow stripped of the flashing white feathers that gave it direction."
The minor characters provide twisty plot turns that add inspiring flavor to the plot. Jaw dropping, unexpected moments of blackmail with a dash of spicy intrigue keep the pages turning even when the main characters are off the stage. Beautiful descriptive passages, bits of Zen, and an ending that Shakespeare would certainly approve of lead me to say HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
October 8, 2017
Set near Tokyo in 1912. In Spring Snow Kiyoaki Matsugae is sent as a child be raised on the estate of a Count where he learns all the worst habits of a decadent court. He is slothful, he preens in the knowledge of his superior looks. When 18 years of age he is so self-involved—the familiar disaffectedness of many Mishima protagonists—that even when kissing the woman who loves him he thinks only of how he feels. He's an affected asshole who takes a conscious pleasure in cruelty.
Kioyaki's friend is the upstanding Shigekuni Honda. He adores Kiyoaki. A hard-working young man who loses himself in thoughts of the niceties of European Natural Law and the Laws of Manu, which at the time of the action, the author tells us, were the foundation of Indian law. He also has an abiding interest in historiography, particularly how he and his peers will be viewed by future generations. This dovetails with the theme of reincarnation which links the four books of The Sea of Fertility cycle.
The vast Matsugae estate is imposing. It is still the period of mourning for the late emperor who was called Meiji in life. So the cherry blossom festival as it turns out will be observed, though on a smaller scale than usual. An imperial prince attends with his wife and other visitors. Their route through the blossoms is girded by a red and white curtain, presumably for purposes of privacy. The Western house is filled with geishas. A platform for their cherry blossom dances is built in the garden. Later, there will be a banquet and a film shown based on a Dickens novel.
Amid it all Kiyoaki is adrift. Satoko is there in all her finery but it's somehow not enough. What is he waiting for? In thrall to his own beauty, his pride, Kiyoaki is at odds with himself, contradictory in his impulses. He is lost, no decisiveness—aside from a snowy rickshaw ride with Satoko, which was her idea—comes from him. His is a rapt passivity. Meanwhile, he stubbornly let's go of Satoko when she is courted by an imperial prince, and thinks good riddance.
But he isn't. Unable to read his own emotions, he takes grief for delight; his "strength of will," as he terms it, when tearing up a letter from Satoko unread, he begins to sense may be cowardice, for she is just about to marry the imperial prince. What a muddle he's in. Though an aristocrat he has known social isolation much of his life. Thus, his misreading of people and situations always in a manner that plays to his own falsely elevated sense of self worth.
I won't go into Kiyoaki and Satoko's love affair or the novel's tragic denouement. Suffice it to say that Kiyoaki's comeuppance is quite a spectacle and Honda is there to puzzle over it. The book has a very long fuse. The last 200 pages are far better than the first 200. Despite this uneven start, this is the strongest Mishima novel I have ever read.
This . . . was further proof of the hidden, savage essence of the elegance he had cultivated for so long. (p. 257)
Kioyaki's friend is the upstanding Shigekuni Honda. He adores Kiyoaki. A hard-working young man who loses himself in thoughts of the niceties of European Natural Law and the Laws of Manu, which at the time of the action, the author tells us, were the foundation of Indian law. He also has an abiding interest in historiography, particularly how he and his peers will be viewed by future generations. This dovetails with the theme of reincarnation which links the four books of The Sea of Fertility cycle.
The vast Matsugae estate is imposing. It is still the period of mourning for the late emperor who was called Meiji in life. So the cherry blossom festival as it turns out will be observed, though on a smaller scale than usual. An imperial prince attends with his wife and other visitors. Their route through the blossoms is girded by a red and white curtain, presumably for purposes of privacy. The Western house is filled with geishas. A platform for their cherry blossom dances is built in the garden. Later, there will be a banquet and a film shown based on a Dickens novel.
Amid it all Kiyoaki is adrift. Satoko is there in all her finery but it's somehow not enough. What is he waiting for? In thrall to his own beauty, his pride, Kiyoaki is at odds with himself, contradictory in his impulses. He is lost, no decisiveness—aside from a snowy rickshaw ride with Satoko, which was her idea—comes from him. His is a rapt passivity. Meanwhile, he stubbornly let's go of Satoko when she is courted by an imperial prince, and thinks good riddance.
Devoid of worry or annoyance, free of all anxiety, Kiyoaki at nineteen liked to see himself as a cold and supremely capable young man. He felt that he was now past some watershed in the course of his life. (p. 163)
But he isn't. Unable to read his own emotions, he takes grief for delight; his "strength of will," as he terms it, when tearing up a letter from Satoko unread, he begins to sense may be cowardice, for she is just about to marry the imperial prince. What a muddle he's in. Though an aristocrat he has known social isolation much of his life. Thus, his misreading of people and situations always in a manner that plays to his own falsely elevated sense of self worth.
Long ago he had resolved to recognize his emotions as his only guiding truth and to live his life accordingly, even if meant a deliberate aimlessness. That principle had now brought him to his present sinister feelings of joy, which seemed to be the brink of a racing plunging whirlpool. There seemed to be nothing left but to throw himself into it. (p. 177)
I won't go into Kiyoaki and Satoko's love affair or the novel's tragic denouement. Suffice it to say that Kiyoaki's comeuppance is quite a spectacle and Honda is there to puzzle over it. The book has a very long fuse. The last 200 pages are far better than the first 200. Despite this uneven start, this is the strongest Mishima novel I have ever read.
May 4, 2022
春の雪 [Haru no Yuki] = Spring Snow (The Sea of Fertility, Book 1), Yukio Mishima
Spring Snow is a novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published serially in Shinchō from 1965 to 1967, and then in book form in 1969.
The novel is set in the early years of the Taishō period with the reign of the Emperor Taishō, and is about the relationship between Kiyoaki Matsugae, the son of a rising new rich family, and Satoko Ayakura, the daughter of an aristocratic family fallen on hard times. Shigekuni Honda, a school friend of Kiyoaki's, is the main witness to the events. The novel's themes center on the conflicts in Japanese society caused by westernization in the early 20th century.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ششم ماه آگوست سال2014میلای
عنوان: برف بهاری؛ نویسنده: یوکیو میشیما؛ مترجم: غلامحسین سالمی؛ سمیا صیقلی؛ تهران، نگاه، سال1391؛ در640ص؛ مصور؛ فروست ادبیات مدرن جهان هشت؛ شابک9789643516178؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ژاپن - سده20م
کییوآکی، پسری زیبا، و اشرافزاده است؛ در خانواده ی پولدار «ماتسوگائه» به دنیا آمده، خانواده ی «آیاکورا» خانواده ای از نظر اجتماعی بالا، ولی از نظر مادی نادار هستند؛ پدر «کییوآکی» او را به نزد خانواده «آیاکورا» میفرستد، تا موقعیت اجتماعی آنها برای پسرش سودمند شود؛ خانواده «آیاکورا» دختری بسیار زیبا به نام «ساتوکو» دارند، دختر و پسر عاشق همدیگر میشوند
نقل نمونه متن: (دو شاهزاده ی جوان چیزی بیشتر از یک کنجکاوی معمولی، که ممکن بود نسبت به نمایشنامه های خارجی ابراز کنند، از خود نشان ندادند؛ «کییوآکی» «هوندا» را که بعد از مدرسه همراه او، به خانه شان آمده بود، به آنها معرفی کرد؛ بعد از صرفِ شام، متوجه شد که آنان چندان توجهی به توضیحاتِ دوستش به زبان انگلیسی، درباره ی نمایشنامه ها و چگونگی اجرای آنها از خود نشان نمیدهند؛ در چنین مواقعی، وفاداری و جدیتِ کاملِ «هوندا»، «کییوآکی» را تحتِ تأثیر قرار میداد، و احساسِ دوگانه ناراحتی وجدان و دلسوزی را، در او پدید میآورد؛ مطمئنآ هیچیک از افراد گروهی که آن شب عازمِ تئآتر بودند، علاقه ای به خودِ نمایش نداشتند؛ «کییوآکی» که کاملا در دنیای ذهنی خودش سیر میکرد؛ هر چند امکان داشت «ساتوکو» نامه را خوانده باشد، با اینهمه ممکن بود زیر قولش بزند، و نیاید؛ سر پیشخدمت وارد شد، تا اطلاع دهد که کالسکه منتظر آنان است؛ اسبها شیهه میکشیدند، و هُرمِ نفسهاشان، همچون شعله های سفید رنگی، از منخرینشان بیرون میآمد، تا در آن هوای تیره گونِ زمستانی، با پیچ و تاب به سوی آسمان رود؛ «کییوآکی» لذت میبرد، از اینکه میدید اسبها، در آن هوای سرد زمستان، بوی مُشک آگینشان، کمتر از دیگر مواقع به مشام میرسد، و صدای زنگدارِ برخورد نعلِ سُمهاشان بر زمینِ یخزده، به وضوح شنیده میشود، و آنگونه با غرور، قدرتِ خود را، به تماشا میگذارند.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 13/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Spring Snow is a novel by Yukio Mishima, the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. It was published serially in Shinchō from 1965 to 1967, and then in book form in 1969.
The novel is set in the early years of the Taishō period with the reign of the Emperor Taishō, and is about the relationship between Kiyoaki Matsugae, the son of a rising new rich family, and Satoko Ayakura, the daughter of an aristocratic family fallen on hard times. Shigekuni Honda, a school friend of Kiyoaki's, is the main witness to the events. The novel's themes center on the conflicts in Japanese society caused by westernization in the early 20th century.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ششم ماه آگوست سال2014میلای
عنوان: برف بهاری؛ نویسنده: یوکیو میشیما؛ مترجم: غلامحسین سالمی؛ سمیا صیقلی؛ تهران، نگاه، سال1391؛ در640ص؛ مصور؛ فروست ادبیات مدرن جهان هشت؛ شابک9789643516178؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ژاپن - سده20م
کییوآکی، پسری زیبا، و اشرافزاده است؛ در خانواده ی پولدار «ماتسوگائه» به دنیا آمده، خانواده ی «آیاکورا» خانواده ای از نظر اجتماعی بالا، ولی از نظر مادی نادار هستند؛ پدر «کییوآکی» او را به نزد خانواده «آیاکورا» میفرستد، تا موقعیت اجتماعی آنها برای پسرش سودمند شود؛ خانواده «آیاکورا» دختری بسیار زیبا به نام «ساتوکو» دارند، دختر و پسر عاشق همدیگر میشوند
نقل نمونه متن: (دو شاهزاده ی جوان چیزی بیشتر از یک کنجکاوی معمولی، که ممکن بود نسبت به نمایشنامه های خارجی ابراز کنند، از خود نشان ندادند؛ «کییوآکی» «هوندا» را که بعد از مدرسه همراه او، به خانه شان آمده بود، به آنها معرفی کرد؛ بعد از صرفِ شام، متوجه شد که آنان چندان توجهی به توضیحاتِ دوستش به زبان انگلیسی، درباره ی نمایشنامه ها و چگونگی اجرای آنها از خود نشان نمیدهند؛ در چنین مواقعی، وفاداری و جدیتِ کاملِ «هوندا»، «کییوآکی» را تحتِ تأثیر قرار میداد، و احساسِ دوگانه ناراحتی وجدان و دلسوزی را، در او پدید میآورد؛ مطمئنآ هیچیک از افراد گروهی که آن شب عازمِ تئآتر بودند، علاقه ای به خودِ نمایش نداشتند؛ «کییوآکی» که کاملا در دنیای ذهنی خودش سیر میکرد؛ هر چند امکان داشت «ساتوکو» نامه را خوانده باشد، با اینهمه ممکن بود زیر قولش بزند، و نیاید؛ سر پیشخدمت وارد شد، تا اطلاع دهد که کالسکه منتظر آنان است؛ اسبها شیهه میکشیدند، و هُرمِ نفسهاشان، همچون شعله های سفید رنگی، از منخرینشان بیرون میآمد، تا در آن هوای تیره گونِ زمستانی، با پیچ و تاب به سوی آسمان رود؛ «کییوآکی» لذت میبرد، از اینکه میدید اسبها، در آن هوای سرد زمستان، بوی مُشک آگینشان، کمتر از دیگر مواقع به مشام میرسد، و صدای زنگدارِ برخورد نعلِ سُمهاشان بر زمینِ یخزده، به وضوح شنیده میشود، و آنگونه با غرور، قدرتِ خود را، به تماشا میگذارند.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 13/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
April 8, 2024
In Yukio Mishima's famous tetralogy, "Spring Snow," the first novel is about Kiyoaki, the only son of the new noble Marquis and Marquise Matsugae, owners of a magnificent forty-hectare estate not far from Tokyo.
The Marquis placed his son early on in an aristocratic family, the Ayakura. He will raised in an atmosphere of court nobility near the whimsical and beautiful Satoko Ayakura, who is two years his senior.
Not yet a principal and now at his parents' house, Kiyoaki was 18 years old in 1912 when the Meiji era, marked by the end of Japan's policy of voluntary isolation, ended, and the Taisho era permeable to Western culture began.
Without being effeminate, Kiyoaki is of exceptional beauty, but neither studies nor sports activities interest him. Instead, he would rather be adept at idle musings and keep the details of his night dreams in a diary.
His tutor for six years, the manly Iinuma, is sorry for his lack of spirit and poor academic performance; even his best friend from a less fortunate background, the studious Honda, is often perplexed by such moods.
Although madly in love, Kiyoaki and Satoko have an unfortunate tendency to complicate things. Planned with the help of the matchmaker Tadeshina, Satoko's next, the slightest flirtation is so unspontaneous that it becomes laughable.
The childishness of the two young men is evident, and a misunderstanding one day takes on disproportionate proportions, amplified in time by Kiyoaki's pride.
With his customary skill, Mishima transforms an idyllic relationship with great potential in a few short chapters, which so felt to the reader, into a passionate drama fanned over the weeks by the weight of the conveniences specific to this aristocratic environment.
Friends, let Yukio Mishima take you by the hand to discover the magnificence of the Matsugae estate!
In the fall, you will see the majestic maple trees in their fragrant color.
Perhaps you prefer to wait until spring and take a short boat ride on the lake to the islet in the center of the property while "the first buds grow vertically so that the entire garden seems to stand on the tiptoe"?
You will enjoy "the blossoming cherry trees that intersperse between the pine trees in the long rows of trees on either side of the avenue that leads to the gate for almost a kilometre."
Each fifty-five chapter is a poetic diamond finely crafted by a writer at the top of his art. Together, they form a novelistic work whose beauty, like no other, has upset and satisfied the old reader that I am.
If my library had a small place in the shape of a tabernacle, I would undoubtedly store "Spring Snow," not without having decorated it previously with the eight stars of the barrier of Orion, this famous constellation whose central asterism slumped under a radiant moon.
The Marquis placed his son early on in an aristocratic family, the Ayakura. He will raised in an atmosphere of court nobility near the whimsical and beautiful Satoko Ayakura, who is two years his senior.
Not yet a principal and now at his parents' house, Kiyoaki was 18 years old in 1912 when the Meiji era, marked by the end of Japan's policy of voluntary isolation, ended, and the Taisho era permeable to Western culture began.
Without being effeminate, Kiyoaki is of exceptional beauty, but neither studies nor sports activities interest him. Instead, he would rather be adept at idle musings and keep the details of his night dreams in a diary.
His tutor for six years, the manly Iinuma, is sorry for his lack of spirit and poor academic performance; even his best friend from a less fortunate background, the studious Honda, is often perplexed by such moods.
Although madly in love, Kiyoaki and Satoko have an unfortunate tendency to complicate things. Planned with the help of the matchmaker Tadeshina, Satoko's next, the slightest flirtation is so unspontaneous that it becomes laughable.
The childishness of the two young men is evident, and a misunderstanding one day takes on disproportionate proportions, amplified in time by Kiyoaki's pride.
With his customary skill, Mishima transforms an idyllic relationship with great potential in a few short chapters, which so felt to the reader, into a passionate drama fanned over the weeks by the weight of the conveniences specific to this aristocratic environment.
Friends, let Yukio Mishima take you by the hand to discover the magnificence of the Matsugae estate!
In the fall, you will see the majestic maple trees in their fragrant color.
Perhaps you prefer to wait until spring and take a short boat ride on the lake to the islet in the center of the property while "the first buds grow vertically so that the entire garden seems to stand on the tiptoe"?
You will enjoy "the blossoming cherry trees that intersperse between the pine trees in the long rows of trees on either side of the avenue that leads to the gate for almost a kilometre."
Each fifty-five chapter is a poetic diamond finely crafted by a writer at the top of his art. Together, they form a novelistic work whose beauty, like no other, has upset and satisfied the old reader that I am.
If my library had a small place in the shape of a tabernacle, I would undoubtedly store "Spring Snow," not without having decorated it previously with the eight stars of the barrier of Orion, this famous constellation whose central asterism slumped under a radiant moon.
April 30, 2020
A brilliant first salvo in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy, setting up questions of reincarnation, cultural continuity, and faith while working as a stand-alone novel. I'm curious to continue my journey through these books - they are an odd mixture of the researched nostalgia of the Ferrante series and the self-sufficient decade spanning approach of the Rabbits or the Zuckermans. I always enjoy reading Mishima, but the gentleness and frequent, Austenian (!) humor of Spring Snow surprised me. It's a love story, a hate story, simple in its conceit (a 19 year old man drives away a woman two years older, then realizes he may love her once she's engaged), but full of Mishima floruishes (dead animals, lengthy Mann-like discourses on Buddhism, turbulent longing, constant risk of death.) Most interesting, perhaps, is the fact that the book's supporting character, Honda, is barely in the action, yet will take on the mantle of the series going forward. Ambitious, and a pleasure. It's also a brilliantly researched look at the practices and customs of 1910s Japan.
February 27, 2017
It is hard to put words to the beauty and melancholy that Mishima pours into this first of his great tetralogy. The symbolism, the imagery, the characters - everything here is drawn with a fine pencil and eye for detail. The characters reappear in the following books but not as you might expect. This is one of the great monuments of Japanese literature in the 20th C (my other favourite is Soseki's I am a Cat) and it is truly a pleasure to read and savour.
June 21, 2018
“Spring Snow” is volume one of Yukio Mishima’s tetralogy ‘The Sea of Fertility”. When the book opens the year is 1912 and the setting Meiji Japan, which has given way to "Taisho democracy", an environment is that of a fading Japanese aristocracy resigned to accept into its midst the creep of a westernization of it’s culture.
Adolescent law student Shigekuni Honda is an impassive friend to Kiyoaki Matsugae, a baron's son of distant samurai descent. Honda's future seems preordained. Kiyoaki is a dreamer who is gripped by the sense that life's slippery fineness is running through his fingers and away from him second by second. He longs to chase the impossible, to ‘bend the world’ into the shape of his ideals.
Kiyoaki's desires eventually encounter the beautiful Satoko Ayakura. Although they have been friends since early childhood, they have grown into a mutual indifference of each other. When Satoko gets engaged to a prince, Kiyoaki is suddenly consumed by an inspired passion for her, and the two fall into an illicit affair that proves the undoing of them both. She get pregnant and then gets an abortion. Honda accepts the job of go-between for the lovers, but can only watch as Satoko renounces the world and exiles herself to a remote, wintry nunnery. Kiyoaki drives himself to pneumonia in a hopeless effort to retrieve her. Dying, clutching Honda's hand, Kiyoaki murmurs that they will meet again someday, ‘beneath the falls’.
Although it sounds a bit melodramatic, in truth the book is amazingly well written, with subtleties, implications, and consequences of environment both human and cultural that cause the reader to marvel at Yukio Mishima’s abilities. A master at work.
The closest equivalent I could suggest for compaison is the love story of ‘Romeo an Juliet’ also a story of star crossed lovers. The story is filled with symbolism, imagery and melancholy.
This Knopf hardcover edition was printed in 1972 and is the first American Edition issued as part of a set of all four books. The cycle consisting of:
Vol 1. - Spring Snow
Vol 2 - Runaway Horses
Vol 3 - The Temple Of Dawn
Vol 4 - Five Signs Of A Gods Decay
The series, which Mishima began writing in 1964 and which was his final work, is usually thought of as his masterpiece. Mishima's ritualistic suicide in 1970 will always overshadow his work.
Adolescent law student Shigekuni Honda is an impassive friend to Kiyoaki Matsugae, a baron's son of distant samurai descent. Honda's future seems preordained. Kiyoaki is a dreamer who is gripped by the sense that life's slippery fineness is running through his fingers and away from him second by second. He longs to chase the impossible, to ‘bend the world’ into the shape of his ideals.
Kiyoaki's desires eventually encounter the beautiful Satoko Ayakura. Although they have been friends since early childhood, they have grown into a mutual indifference of each other. When Satoko gets engaged to a prince, Kiyoaki is suddenly consumed by an inspired passion for her, and the two fall into an illicit affair that proves the undoing of them both. She get pregnant and then gets an abortion. Honda accepts the job of go-between for the lovers, but can only watch as Satoko renounces the world and exiles herself to a remote, wintry nunnery. Kiyoaki drives himself to pneumonia in a hopeless effort to retrieve her. Dying, clutching Honda's hand, Kiyoaki murmurs that they will meet again someday, ‘beneath the falls’.
Although it sounds a bit melodramatic, in truth the book is amazingly well written, with subtleties, implications, and consequences of environment both human and cultural that cause the reader to marvel at Yukio Mishima’s abilities. A master at work.
The closest equivalent I could suggest for compaison is the love story of ‘Romeo an Juliet’ also a story of star crossed lovers. The story is filled with symbolism, imagery and melancholy.
This Knopf hardcover edition was printed in 1972 and is the first American Edition issued as part of a set of all four books. The cycle consisting of:
Vol 1. - Spring Snow
Vol 2 - Runaway Horses
Vol 3 - The Temple Of Dawn
Vol 4 - Five Signs Of A Gods Decay
The series, which Mishima began writing in 1964 and which was his final work, is usually thought of as his masterpiece. Mishima's ritualistic suicide in 1970 will always overshadow his work.
January 1, 2018
هذه رباعية جذب الحواس.. هكذا بإختصار/ الغارقين في حب الوصف تستهويهم الأعمال التقليدية عادةً ، والذين ينفرون من الوصف ستجدهم في حياد تام عن مثل هذه الأعمال. ميشيما رجل يتناول الحب وتناسخ الأرواح بدرجة عالية في الوصف وتجسيد الحياة في المكان والزمان. حتى بت لا أعرف أهي رواية تاريخية أم فلسفية أم عاطفية أم مزيج بين ماسبق. رواية مثقلة بالأعراف والعادات والتقاليد والفلكلور الياباني المتجذر في تراث الأمبراطورية وكل هذا بوصف يليق بجلال تاريخ الحدث!!. فهل تحب مثل هذه الأعمال؟.. هذه هي الساعات التي سوف تقضيها مع طبيعة الرواية.
أنا أعشق الوصف. حتى في كتاباتي متهم بذلك.
مثال علي الوصف من الرواية
لذلك أمنح الرواية بعضًا من وقتك يتجاوز النصف وحينها ستشعر بروحك مكانًا وزمان وسط كل هذا الوصف والتشخيص – أعترف أنه بالغ في الوصف في عدة مواقع وأحداث – في الرواية. لكن وبعد نهاية كل السلسلة قلت أن عمل بهذه التاريخية / الحدث وبهذه "الزمكانية" لا يمكن مروره دون كل هذا الوصف. هي ليس قصة حب وكفى.
كان قد نويت وضع القراءات النقدية لكامل السلسلة (بحر الخصب) لكن (وفاة والدي قبل أسبوعين) – رحمه الله – منعني من الكتابة مثلما منعني من عدة أشياء أتمنى إستعادتها سريعًا وإن كان الموت يأخذ معه من أرواحنا جزء لا يمكن إستعادته.
ميزة الأعمال الآسيوية (الصين - اليابان - الهند) تركيزها على الجانب الإنساني والحكمة ولربما هذه ميزة تمتاز بها الكتابة الآسيوية حتى لو صعدنا إلى (روسيا وكذلك العالم العربي) لوجدنا ثمة إختلاف كبير عن الكتابات الأروبية، وحتى من تأثر بطريقة الطرح والكتابة الآسيوية – مع إختلاف طريقة إستخدامها كـ الألماني"هرمان هيسة" في ( كلينجزور في صيفه الأخير ، دميان، سد هارتا، رحلة إلى الشرق) تجد الروح البشرية وسبر عمق النفس عمود هذه الروايات.. هذا هو النتاج الآسيوي
أولى رباعية ميشيما هي هذا الجزء (ثلج الربيع) علمًا أنني قرأت بعدها الجزء الذي يليها (الجياد الهاربة) وكان أكثر روعة منها – هكذا وجدته – ولكن عندما عرفت أنها سلسلة توجّب علي البحث عن بقية السلسلة وكانت البداية هنا.. من خلال الجزء الأول ومابعده في الثاني (الجياد) لا تغادر فكرة السلسلة تسلسل الرواية فثمة قصة تنفصل بها كل رواية وثمة رابط لكل جزء وهنا في "ثلج الربيع" أول الخيط حيث العاشقين كيواكي وس��تو وحكاية عشق (حالمة بدرجة خيالية تشعرك بالملل) بين الطرفين تجرك إلى الجزء الثاني لتبقى معنا روح (كيواكي) في الجزء الثاني فنحن نتكلم عن رواية قائمة قصتها على تناسخ الأرواح.
عندما قربت من نهاية الجزء الأول كنت سعيد أن "الجياد الهاربة" ترقد على رف مكتبتي.
تحية لروح الكاتب لـ
هذا الوصف التاريخي
إتقانه لشخصية (تاديشينا) في الرواية
حفاظه على تصاعد الشخصيات الثانوية والرئيسة
نقله لليابان لغرفتي دون أن أطلب منه
فاصلة مقلقة :
بعد أن أنهيت الرواية كنت اسأل نفسي : كيف تفعل الأنثى ذلك.. كيف عندما تقرر أ�� تجعل رجلًا ما يحبها تفعل ذلك.. نعم تفعل ذلك!!؟.. بينما نحن الرجال نفشل دومًا في هذه المرحلة من النبوغ؟!!
September 10, 2016
A book can be either of two things: a key to open locked doors which lead to unique experiences we have not encountered or are impossible for us to attain; while the other is a mirror to show us who we are or remind us of ourselves and the past we have not forgotten. One stirs excitement, the other nostalgia. This time it took the shape of the latter. The book served as a mirror to me, reminding me of a befuddled young man blind to the workings of his heart, prone to exaggerating the simple nuances in the actions of a woman devoted to him, a woman he doubted because of childish fears. But I am not here to talk of myself, I am here because the pain it stirred in me forces me to write.
Kiyoaki, a beautiful yet lethargic young man, is at odds with his equally beautiful childhood friend Satoko. An inexperienced boy when it comes to the desire inside him, he constantly misinterprets and confuses the actions of the young woman who is thoroughly taken with him. His melancholy attitude doesn’t help his cause and he loathes balefully in the estranged pool of his own work. That is until he learns of Satoko’s engagement with a prince, thus the object of his hatred and bewilderment is snatched from him, suddenly out of reach. It is such a curious thing that when something we have ignored for so long is suddenly unavailable to us, we find it infinitely more desirable. The fickle human heart with its itinerant impulses shifts its gear and so the idea of unattainability forces us to acknowledge the taken for granted, the sudden spotlight makes the dull suddenly novel. And it is in this manner that young Kiyoaki realizes the gravity of his passion for Satoko. Doomed from the very start, an affair begins between the childhood friends. In this shared consciousness of tragedy, their love flourishes.
At the very core of this tragic romance Spring Snow serves as Yukio Mishima’s statement against elegance. Being a military man of action, he felt that the Japanese strayed from the righteous way of the Samurai and have alarmingly become slaves of pleasure, smitten with exterior beauty, apathetic to the real world, too taken by the West, too modern. He envisioned a traditional Japan with its graceful simplicity, austere values, and unceasing nationalism and love for the Emperor. The character Kiyoaki is a warning to the people of Japan, a cautionary tale to show the rottenness that elegance is bound to instill in the indolent souls of its time. This very idea is what prompted Mishima to stage a coup d’état in 1970 to restore power to the Emperor. But he failed and thus committed ritual seppuku. However before his death, he was able to complete his tetralogy, the Sea of Fertility, which features Spring Snow as the first of four books. With this in mind, I believe it to be quite irresponsible to fully interpret an incomplete picture. To understand his real intentions, I have to complete the journey by reading the other three works. Yet as a standalone it is rather fascinating to see something that was meant to alarm, instead take one’s breath away with sheer elegance. And so by embodying the object of his scorn, Mishima ironically succeeds in mirroring the very relationship of Kiyoaki and Satoko.
“The path we’re taking is not a road, Kiyo, it’s a pier, and it ends someplace where the sea begins.”
All at once subtle, tender, and painful, this novel manages to evoke a somber tinge of passion in the otherwise luscious backdrop of Taisho Japan. Indeed, like spring snow, a furtive loveliness envelops the landscape of its pages but intertwined with this beauty is a faint cry of desolation, a quiet deadliness that can only enhance its icy elegance.
Kiyoaki, a beautiful yet lethargic young man, is at odds with his equally beautiful childhood friend Satoko. An inexperienced boy when it comes to the desire inside him, he constantly misinterprets and confuses the actions of the young woman who is thoroughly taken with him. His melancholy attitude doesn’t help his cause and he loathes balefully in the estranged pool of his own work. That is until he learns of Satoko’s engagement with a prince, thus the object of his hatred and bewilderment is snatched from him, suddenly out of reach. It is such a curious thing that when something we have ignored for so long is suddenly unavailable to us, we find it infinitely more desirable. The fickle human heart with its itinerant impulses shifts its gear and so the idea of unattainability forces us to acknowledge the taken for granted, the sudden spotlight makes the dull suddenly novel. And it is in this manner that young Kiyoaki realizes the gravity of his passion for Satoko. Doomed from the very start, an affair begins between the childhood friends. In this shared consciousness of tragedy, their love flourishes.
At the very core of this tragic romance Spring Snow serves as Yukio Mishima’s statement against elegance. Being a military man of action, he felt that the Japanese strayed from the righteous way of the Samurai and have alarmingly become slaves of pleasure, smitten with exterior beauty, apathetic to the real world, too taken by the West, too modern. He envisioned a traditional Japan with its graceful simplicity, austere values, and unceasing nationalism and love for the Emperor. The character Kiyoaki is a warning to the people of Japan, a cautionary tale to show the rottenness that elegance is bound to instill in the indolent souls of its time. This very idea is what prompted Mishima to stage a coup d’état in 1970 to restore power to the Emperor. But he failed and thus committed ritual seppuku. However before his death, he was able to complete his tetralogy, the Sea of Fertility, which features Spring Snow as the first of four books. With this in mind, I believe it to be quite irresponsible to fully interpret an incomplete picture. To understand his real intentions, I have to complete the journey by reading the other three works. Yet as a standalone it is rather fascinating to see something that was meant to alarm, instead take one’s breath away with sheer elegance. And so by embodying the object of his scorn, Mishima ironically succeeds in mirroring the very relationship of Kiyoaki and Satoko.
“The path we’re taking is not a road, Kiyo, it’s a pier, and it ends someplace where the sea begins.”
All at once subtle, tender, and painful, this novel manages to evoke a somber tinge of passion in the otherwise luscious backdrop of Taisho Japan. Indeed, like spring snow, a furtive loveliness envelops the landscape of its pages but intertwined with this beauty is a faint cry of desolation, a quiet deadliness that can only enhance its icy elegance.
March 27, 2012
Mishima, like other great writers, has a way of implanting memories in our heads, echoes of other lives. How this magic happens is a mystery but when it does, you feel somehow denser inside, more solid. Spring Snow left me with that feeling, of having increased my gravity and weight, with the lyrical descriptions, history, characters, ceremonies, letters, political intrigue, birds and emerald rings and emerald snakes, and silk kimonos, and more.
At its heart, this is a doomed love story, about two beautiful people - Kiyoaki Matsugae, and Satoko Ayakura - whose outward beauty match their inner turmoil.
This excerpt from Kiyoaki’s dream diary is an allegory of the story...which is an allegory…within allegory,
And Satoko,
There is a movie, but from the preview it seems to have only caught the surface. But still...
Spring Snow is a masterpiece - or at least the beginning of one, as it is the first in a cycle of four novels called the Sea of Fertility. I hope that the other books are as good as this one, but it’s going to be a hard act to follow.
At its heart, this is a doomed love story, about two beautiful people - Kiyoaki Matsugae, and Satoko Ayakura - whose outward beauty match their inner turmoil.
This excerpt from Kiyoaki’s dream diary is an allegory of the story...which is an allegory…within allegory,
The very night before, he had dreamed of his own coffin, made of unpainted wood. It stood in the middle of an empty room with large windows, and outside, the pre-dawn darkness was shading to a deep blue; it was filled with the sound of birdsong.
A young woman clung to the coffin, her long black hair trailing from her drooping head, her slender shoulders wracked with sobs. He wanted to see her face but could make out no more than her pale, graceful forehead with its delicate peak of black hair.
The coffin was half covered with a leopard-skin bordered in pearls. The first muted glow of the dawn flickered on the row of jewels. Instead of funeral incense, a scent of Western perfume hung over the room with the fragrance of sun-ripened fruit. Kiyoaki seemed to be watching this from a great height, though he was convinced that his body lay inside the coffin.
But sure as he was, he still felt the need to see it there by way of confirmation. However, like a mosquito in the morning light, his wings lost all power and ceased beating in mid-air; he was utterly incapable of looking inside the nailed-down coffin lid. And then, as his frustration grew more and more intense, he woke up.
And Satoko,
...her words had a cold, proud glitter that could not tolerate the intrusion of a third party. In her own mind, she had fashioned their sin into a tiny, brilliant, crystal palace in which she and Kiyoaki could live free from the world around them. A crystal palace so tiny that it would balance on the palm of one’s hand, so tiny that no one else could fit in. Transformed for a fleetingly brief instant, she and Kiyoaki had been able to enter it and now they were spending their last few moments there, observed with extraordinary clarity in all their minute detail by someone standing just outside.
There is a movie, but from the preview it seems to have only caught the surface. But still...
春の雪
Spring Snow is a masterpiece - or at least the beginning of one, as it is the first in a cycle of four novels called the Sea of Fertility. I hope that the other books are as good as this one, but it’s going to be a hard act to follow.
April 24, 2018
4 and a half stars.
When I read a translated book, I'm always very conscious that what I'm reading is not necessarily what the author meant to write: I'm reading a book that's very much like what the author wrote but not really the same. I have no idea what Mishima's book is like in the original Japanese, but if this translation is anything like it, the beauty of the prose in Japanese must be devastating.
The story of Kioyaki and Satoko is, in and of itself, not remarkable: forbidden loves, especially in highly hierarchical and ritualized society, such as Imperial Japan on the cusp of modernization is nothing new, nor are bildungsroman about the often painful transition between boy and man. But the prose! The delicate, poetic and incredibly evocative prose turns this story into a dream-like journey in 1912 Japan, a world fascinated with the West but still holding on to deeply rooted traditions.
It has to be read slowly, to really let oneself bask into the elegant melancholy of Mishima's writing. It is dense at times, but so sensual and crisp that you forget how silly Kioyaki and Satoko are. They are both so beautiful and so spoiled, selfish and conceited that you wish someone would give them a good slap or two until they snapped out of ruining each others' lives. But Mishima writes them in a way that makes it impossible not to want to know what happens to them. It comes as no surprise that there is tragedy at the end of the path they follow. But what an interesting path!
And as gorgeous as the writing is, it reminded me of a really pleasant but too liberally applied perfume: it could get a bit overwhelming, and then I'd have to read the passage again to make sure I knew what was going on.
I will be looking for the rest of the "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, which follows Kioyaki's friend Honda. The deep friendship between the two young men leads Honda to believe he meets successive reincarnations of Kioyaki and tries to save him from his karma. If the other three books are as good as "Spring Snow", they are more than worth the time!
When I read a translated book, I'm always very conscious that what I'm reading is not necessarily what the author meant to write: I'm reading a book that's very much like what the author wrote but not really the same. I have no idea what Mishima's book is like in the original Japanese, but if this translation is anything like it, the beauty of the prose in Japanese must be devastating.
The story of Kioyaki and Satoko is, in and of itself, not remarkable: forbidden loves, especially in highly hierarchical and ritualized society, such as Imperial Japan on the cusp of modernization is nothing new, nor are bildungsroman about the often painful transition between boy and man. But the prose! The delicate, poetic and incredibly evocative prose turns this story into a dream-like journey in 1912 Japan, a world fascinated with the West but still holding on to deeply rooted traditions.
It has to be read slowly, to really let oneself bask into the elegant melancholy of Mishima's writing. It is dense at times, but so sensual and crisp that you forget how silly Kioyaki and Satoko are. They are both so beautiful and so spoiled, selfish and conceited that you wish someone would give them a good slap or two until they snapped out of ruining each others' lives. But Mishima writes them in a way that makes it impossible not to want to know what happens to them. It comes as no surprise that there is tragedy at the end of the path they follow. But what an interesting path!
And as gorgeous as the writing is, it reminded me of a really pleasant but too liberally applied perfume: it could get a bit overwhelming, and then I'd have to read the passage again to make sure I knew what was going on.
I will be looking for the rest of the "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy, which follows Kioyaki's friend Honda. The deep friendship between the two young men leads Honda to believe he meets successive reincarnations of Kioyaki and tries to save him from his karma. If the other three books are as good as "Spring Snow", they are more than worth the time!
December 31, 2021
A love story that reflects the struggles within Japanese culture brought about by the westernization at the beginning of the 20th century – Mishima, you’re a genius. On the surface, the content of the book could be summed up like this: The young Kiyoaki, born into a family that has recently come to accumulate considerable wealth, grew up with Satoko, the daughter of an old aristocratic family struggling with monetary problems. It is only when Satoko gets engaged to an Imperial prince that Kiyoaki realizes that he truly loves her, and they begin a secret love affair that ends tragically.
Of course, that is only the top layer of this intricate poetic work. The author biography at the beginning of the book states that after completing his tetralogy “The Sea of Fertility” (of which “Spring Snow” is the first part) in 1970, Mishima committed ritual suicide. Whoever wrote this is guilty of misleading readers by omission: Before Mishima ritually cut open his stomach and let himself be beheaded by a friend, he tried to stage a coup d’état because he wanted to restore the power of the Emperor. This poet was also a martial artist and bodybuilder who had his own private army, and he wanted to protect traditional Japanese values against westernization. Accordingly, this is not a harmless love story, but a meditation on the differences between Eastern and Western thought, law, culture, and religion.
Kiyoaki’s ancestors used to be samurai, but there is not much warrior spirit left: His parents indulge in Western movies, fashion, and style, and Kiyoaki declares that he will never spill blood. At the same time, the family is still attached to Japanese cultural traditions: They entertain guests with Geishas, they are very proud of their contacts to the Imperial family and, if conflict arises, they mention how this would have been resolved in “the old times”. This tension between East and West is also reflected in the relationship between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Kiyoaki admires her whenever she behaves like a demure, traditional woman, he is intrigued by her physical beauty, her colorful kimonos, her face and neck under her white make-up. But whenever Satoko acts confidently and speaks her mind, Kiyoaki feels insulted and gets angry. When Kiyoaki finally begins a relationship with Satoko after her engagement, he knowingly breaks the rules of Japanese society - well, any society, actually, but here the situation is worsened by the fact that the Emperor sanctioned the marriage to an Imperial prince. Nevertheless, Kiyoaki tells his friend Honda that he would be willing to comply with the rules when forced to face consequences for his transgression, including death. Just as Japanese society as a whole, Kiyoaki and Satoko are torn between the old and the new.
Beyond exploring the impact of westernization by looking at individual and family relationships, Mishima also discusses the change within societal institutions that shape Japan as a whole, namely law and religion. Kiyoaki’s friend Honda is the son of a judge and aims to become one, too. He is fascinated by the differing principles of law that might be applied in different societies, and through his eyes, Mishima displays philosophical tensions such as the imperative of Western law that is based on man’s power of reason and Hindu/Buddhist cosmic law with its doctrine of the transmigration of souls. This becomes crucial as the “Sea of Fertility” tetralogy depicts Kiyoaki being reincarnated in every installment, while Honda grows old and witnesses Kiyoaki’s reincarnations. Adding to that, one could mention that the then-valid Meiji Constitution was based on Prusso-German law and by that was heavily influenced by the West.
And they are more fields in which the theme of the book is played out: Siamese princes who come to Japan and experience culture shock, loyal servants in moral distress, and a reactionary student wrapped up in his own ideas. So although “Spring Snow” might not be as obviously political as “Confessions of a Mask” or “Sun and Steel”, it still is a very typical Mishima book, as it ponders the question what direction Japan should take, and how the decline of tradition and the rise of westernization should be handled. Beautiful prose, fascinating ideas, and must probably be read many times in order to understand the text’s whole genius.
Of course, that is only the top layer of this intricate poetic work. The author biography at the beginning of the book states that after completing his tetralogy “The Sea of Fertility” (of which “Spring Snow” is the first part) in 1970, Mishima committed ritual suicide. Whoever wrote this is guilty of misleading readers by omission: Before Mishima ritually cut open his stomach and let himself be beheaded by a friend, he tried to stage a coup d’état because he wanted to restore the power of the Emperor. This poet was also a martial artist and bodybuilder who had his own private army, and he wanted to protect traditional Japanese values against westernization. Accordingly, this is not a harmless love story, but a meditation on the differences between Eastern and Western thought, law, culture, and religion.
Kiyoaki’s ancestors used to be samurai, but there is not much warrior spirit left: His parents indulge in Western movies, fashion, and style, and Kiyoaki declares that he will never spill blood. At the same time, the family is still attached to Japanese cultural traditions: They entertain guests with Geishas, they are very proud of their contacts to the Imperial family and, if conflict arises, they mention how this would have been resolved in “the old times”. This tension between East and West is also reflected in the relationship between Kiyoaki and Satoko. Kiyoaki admires her whenever she behaves like a demure, traditional woman, he is intrigued by her physical beauty, her colorful kimonos, her face and neck under her white make-up. But whenever Satoko acts confidently and speaks her mind, Kiyoaki feels insulted and gets angry. When Kiyoaki finally begins a relationship with Satoko after her engagement, he knowingly breaks the rules of Japanese society - well, any society, actually, but here the situation is worsened by the fact that the Emperor sanctioned the marriage to an Imperial prince. Nevertheless, Kiyoaki tells his friend Honda that he would be willing to comply with the rules when forced to face consequences for his transgression, including death. Just as Japanese society as a whole, Kiyoaki and Satoko are torn between the old and the new.
Beyond exploring the impact of westernization by looking at individual and family relationships, Mishima also discusses the change within societal institutions that shape Japan as a whole, namely law and religion. Kiyoaki’s friend Honda is the son of a judge and aims to become one, too. He is fascinated by the differing principles of law that might be applied in different societies, and through his eyes, Mishima displays philosophical tensions such as the imperative of Western law that is based on man’s power of reason and Hindu/Buddhist cosmic law with its doctrine of the transmigration of souls. This becomes crucial as the “Sea of Fertility” tetralogy depicts Kiyoaki being reincarnated in every installment, while Honda grows old and witnesses Kiyoaki’s reincarnations. Adding to that, one could mention that the then-valid Meiji Constitution was based on Prusso-German law and by that was heavily influenced by the West.
And they are more fields in which the theme of the book is played out: Siamese princes who come to Japan and experience culture shock, loyal servants in moral distress, and a reactionary student wrapped up in his own ideas. So although “Spring Snow” might not be as obviously political as “Confessions of a Mask” or “Sun and Steel”, it still is a very typical Mishima book, as it ponders the question what direction Japan should take, and how the decline of tradition and the rise of westernization should be handled. Beautiful prose, fascinating ideas, and must probably be read many times in order to understand the text’s whole genius.
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July 24, 2015
Has there ever been a stranger novelist than Yukio Mishima? On the one hand, he was a body-building Nationalist, who advocated bushido, the samurai code; he also, as many know, committed seppuku, which is a ritual form of suicide involving disembowelling and beheading. You don’t, it is fair to say, get that kind of thing with Julian Barnes and Karl Ove Knausgaard.
On the other hand, Mishima was undeniably a cultured man, who spoke English and dressed in the English fashion; he was a bisexual who acted in films and wrote plays as well as novels and short stories. It is almost as though he embodied the conflict – that of the traditional and reserved vs. the modern and progressive – that until very recently so dominated most of the great Japanese literature, and about which his own work, especially Spring Snow, is also concerned.
In what is perhaps a nod to Murasaki Shikibu’s monumental Tale of Genji, Spring Snow is primarily focussed on a preternaturally beautiful young man. As with the shining prince, everyone who meets the central character, Kiyoaki Matsugae, is struck by his attractiveness; and the awareness of his good-looks and the effect it has on other people makes him somewhat spoiled and conceited. Furthermore, although he is the son of a nouveau riche couple, who dress in Western clothes, he was actually raised by a once-prosperous aristocratic family, in order to ensure that he is well versed in traditional Japanese ways and has an elegant bearing. This upbringing means that Kiyoaki is, in a sense, caught between two different eras; he isn’t fully a traditionalist [he doesn’t revere the Emperor, for example], nor is he entirely modern; he is elegant, as his parents desired, but his elegance, and decadence, means that he is unfit for the modern world [for instance, out of indolence he neglects his schooling].
I imagine that it is clear already that my opinion of Kiyoaki is not especially positive. He is not bad per se, but he is tremendously arrogant and self-obsessed. Of course, you could excuse some of his flaws on the basis of his age. Kiyoaki is a teenager and so arrogance and self-obsession are pretty much part of the deal, but, even so, the behaviour of most teenagers does not lead to the ruin of numerous people. I should point out, however, that I do not think that the reader is meant to like him; I believe that, as a product of two conflicting eras, or ways of life, the effete and ineffectual Kiyoaki is, for Mishima, a necessary failure as a human being. For me, it is telling that his servant Iinuma, the one character whose attitude would have, I think, most closely resembled Mishima’s own [in terms of his feelings about loyalty, duty, etc], is disappointed in him, and even, at times, disgusted by him.
As I read the novel for the second time, I was baffled by the popular opinion that it is a moving love story, or even the greatest of all love stories. Yes, it details a troubled relationship between two young people – the aforementioned Kiyoaki and the equally beautiful Satoko, the daughter of the noble family who raised the boy – but it is a strange kind of love that continually rejects someone and then suddenly wants that person at the point at which it has become impossible to have them. Perhaps Satoko does love Kiyoaki, but there is abundant evidence that the same is not true for the young man. For example, the first thing he says to his friend Honda, when an ill-looking Satoko is unresponsive towards him, is “I don’t think Satoko will sleep with me anymore”. Does that sound like love to you? No, it sounds like someone who is a bit of a dick. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve not always been a nice guy where girls are concerned, so you could say I’m in no position to judge. But on the basis of the principle of it takes one to know one I’m calling Kiyoaki out.
Moreover, although there are seemingly insurmountable obstacles to their relationship, I don’t necessarily buy the star-crossed lovers interpretation of the story because the couple, Kiyoaki in particular, cause their own problems and create those obstacles themselves. Having said that, I guess you could argue that fate or destiny is also an obstacle to the couple’s love, and this is certainly not something that Kiyoaki and Satoko can control. As you may know, Spring Snow is part of a tetralogy called The Sea of Fertility. Each book in the series deals with reincarnation and predestination. In Spring Snow, the first volume, there are numerous hints and suggestions that what is happening, specifically to Kiyoaki, is, in a sense, meant to be. For example, he keeps a dream journal, and one of his dreams involves Satoko clinging to his coffin; there are repeated references to his demise, and a general sense of foreboding hangs over the novel.
In this way, Satoko and Kiyoaki’s relationship is tragic, because they never had a chance. However, if you want to appeal to predestination then you can’t really talk about Kiyoaki at all, because without free will he becomes a non-entity. As a reviewer, in order for discussion to be possible, I want to take him on face value.
One may ask then, if Kiyoaki is so unpleasant, and Spring Snow is not the tragic or tear-jerking tale of adolescent love it is billed as, why should you read the book? Well, first of all, it is always engrossing; whether one sympathises with Satoko and Kiyoaki or not, one is, crucially, still interested in their fate. Furthermore, although the narrative isn’t exactly full of high-octane action, Mishima, unlike many of the other historically important Japanese novelists, does serve up a steady amount of excitement and surprise and tension. In contrast, something like Tanizaki’s acclaimed novel The Makioka Sisters may be wonderful, but it is at times interminably slow and uneventful; I can’t imagine that, when reading that book, there are people that have stayed up late into the night, desperate to reach the end of a chapter, so as to find out what happens next, but I can certainly see that being the case with Spring Snow.
I wrote at the beginning of this review that Mishima to some extent embodied the conflict that he wrote about, that of the traditional and the modern ways of life; what is most interesting about Spring Snow is that this conflict, this tension, is not only apparent thematically, it is in the style too. So, while the prose is undeniably graceful, as you would expect from a great Japanese novel, it lacks simplicity; indeed, Mishima’s style, with its extended metaphors, extreme emoting, and psychological depth, is, I would say, closer to Western writers, like Flaubert, Proust, and Dostoevsky, than Kawabata or Tanizaki. I would also argue that Mishima’s characters are easier to understand and relate to for a Western audience; again, one may not like their behaviour, or admire their motivations, but they are more familiar to us; Kiyoaki is a brat, for example, but we all have known brats. Satoko is perhaps more a mystery, more like the enigmatic women you find in Kawabata, but even her actions can be viewed in terms of a young girl having the hots for a great-looking guy.
Yet for all that, the biggest selling point is just how beautiful Spring Snow is; it really is breathtaking at times. As with Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, the prose is actually so beautiful that it is, in a sense, diverting, so that, like when in the company of a beautiful woman one becomes incapable of judging her behaviour, readers tend not to pick up on how unsavoury the behaviour of the characters actually is. Also like Flaubert, Mishima’s prose is sensual, and highly detailed. In my review of Madame Bovary I called the Frenchman a hyperrealist, by which I mean he makes the real or ordinary seem extraordinary, and I would apply the same term to Mishima. There are numerous passages in the text that one could highlight as evidence, but one that particularly struck me was Kiyoaki holding the train of the princess’ dress:
I love that. It isn’t a one-off either, Mishima throws this kind of stuff out by the page. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know he may have been, but he was a wonderful, sensitive writer.
----
THE SEA OF FERTILITY
Volume 2: Runaway Horses https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
On the other hand, Mishima was undeniably a cultured man, who spoke English and dressed in the English fashion; he was a bisexual who acted in films and wrote plays as well as novels and short stories. It is almost as though he embodied the conflict – that of the traditional and reserved vs. the modern and progressive – that until very recently so dominated most of the great Japanese literature, and about which his own work, especially Spring Snow, is also concerned.
In what is perhaps a nod to Murasaki Shikibu’s monumental Tale of Genji, Spring Snow is primarily focussed on a preternaturally beautiful young man. As with the shining prince, everyone who meets the central character, Kiyoaki Matsugae, is struck by his attractiveness; and the awareness of his good-looks and the effect it has on other people makes him somewhat spoiled and conceited. Furthermore, although he is the son of a nouveau riche couple, who dress in Western clothes, he was actually raised by a once-prosperous aristocratic family, in order to ensure that he is well versed in traditional Japanese ways and has an elegant bearing. This upbringing means that Kiyoaki is, in a sense, caught between two different eras; he isn’t fully a traditionalist [he doesn’t revere the Emperor, for example], nor is he entirely modern; he is elegant, as his parents desired, but his elegance, and decadence, means that he is unfit for the modern world [for instance, out of indolence he neglects his schooling].
I imagine that it is clear already that my opinion of Kiyoaki is not especially positive. He is not bad per se, but he is tremendously arrogant and self-obsessed. Of course, you could excuse some of his flaws on the basis of his age. Kiyoaki is a teenager and so arrogance and self-obsession are pretty much part of the deal, but, even so, the behaviour of most teenagers does not lead to the ruin of numerous people. I should point out, however, that I do not think that the reader is meant to like him; I believe that, as a product of two conflicting eras, or ways of life, the effete and ineffectual Kiyoaki is, for Mishima, a necessary failure as a human being. For me, it is telling that his servant Iinuma, the one character whose attitude would have, I think, most closely resembled Mishima’s own [in terms of his feelings about loyalty, duty, etc], is disappointed in him, and even, at times, disgusted by him.
“Iinuma looked down at his face, at the sensitive darting eyes with their long lashes – the eyes of an otter – and he knew that it was hopeless to expect him to swear the enthusiastic oaths of loyalty to the Emperor that a night like this would have invoked in any normal young Japanese boy.”
“Kiyoaki’s eyes were now wide open as he lay on his back staring at the ceiling, and they were filled with tears. And when this glistening gaze turned on him, Iinuma’s distaste deepened.”
As I read the novel for the second time, I was baffled by the popular opinion that it is a moving love story, or even the greatest of all love stories. Yes, it details a troubled relationship between two young people – the aforementioned Kiyoaki and the equally beautiful Satoko, the daughter of the noble family who raised the boy – but it is a strange kind of love that continually rejects someone and then suddenly wants that person at the point at which it has become impossible to have them. Perhaps Satoko does love Kiyoaki, but there is abundant evidence that the same is not true for the young man. For example, the first thing he says to his friend Honda, when an ill-looking Satoko is unresponsive towards him, is “I don’t think Satoko will sleep with me anymore”. Does that sound like love to you? No, it sounds like someone who is a bit of a dick. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve not always been a nice guy where girls are concerned, so you could say I’m in no position to judge. But on the basis of the principle of it takes one to know one I’m calling Kiyoaki out.
Moreover, although there are seemingly insurmountable obstacles to their relationship, I don’t necessarily buy the star-crossed lovers interpretation of the story because the couple, Kiyoaki in particular, cause their own problems and create those obstacles themselves. Having said that, I guess you could argue that fate or destiny is also an obstacle to the couple’s love, and this is certainly not something that Kiyoaki and Satoko can control. As you may know, Spring Snow is part of a tetralogy called The Sea of Fertility. Each book in the series deals with reincarnation and predestination. In Spring Snow, the first volume, there are numerous hints and suggestions that what is happening, specifically to Kiyoaki, is, in a sense, meant to be. For example, he keeps a dream journal, and one of his dreams involves Satoko clinging to his coffin; there are repeated references to his demise, and a general sense of foreboding hangs over the novel.
“There’s no doubt that he’s heading straight for tragedy…I’ve got to use every ounce of my strength to stop him fulfilling his destiny.”
In this way, Satoko and Kiyoaki’s relationship is tragic, because they never had a chance. However, if you want to appeal to predestination then you can’t really talk about Kiyoaki at all, because without free will he becomes a non-entity. As a reviewer, in order for discussion to be possible, I want to take him on face value.
One may ask then, if Kiyoaki is so unpleasant, and Spring Snow is not the tragic or tear-jerking tale of adolescent love it is billed as, why should you read the book? Well, first of all, it is always engrossing; whether one sympathises with Satoko and Kiyoaki or not, one is, crucially, still interested in their fate. Furthermore, although the narrative isn’t exactly full of high-octane action, Mishima, unlike many of the other historically important Japanese novelists, does serve up a steady amount of excitement and surprise and tension. In contrast, something like Tanizaki’s acclaimed novel The Makioka Sisters may be wonderful, but it is at times interminably slow and uneventful; I can’t imagine that, when reading that book, there are people that have stayed up late into the night, desperate to reach the end of a chapter, so as to find out what happens next, but I can certainly see that being the case with Spring Snow.
I wrote at the beginning of this review that Mishima to some extent embodied the conflict that he wrote about, that of the traditional and the modern ways of life; what is most interesting about Spring Snow is that this conflict, this tension, is not only apparent thematically, it is in the style too. So, while the prose is undeniably graceful, as you would expect from a great Japanese novel, it lacks simplicity; indeed, Mishima’s style, with its extended metaphors, extreme emoting, and psychological depth, is, I would say, closer to Western writers, like Flaubert, Proust, and Dostoevsky, than Kawabata or Tanizaki. I would also argue that Mishima’s characters are easier to understand and relate to for a Western audience; again, one may not like their behaviour, or admire their motivations, but they are more familiar to us; Kiyoaki is a brat, for example, but we all have known brats. Satoko is perhaps more a mystery, more like the enigmatic women you find in Kawabata, but even her actions can be viewed in terms of a young girl having the hots for a great-looking guy.
Yet for all that, the biggest selling point is just how beautiful Spring Snow is; it really is breathtaking at times. As with Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, the prose is actually so beautiful that it is, in a sense, diverting, so that, like when in the company of a beautiful woman one becomes incapable of judging her behaviour, readers tend not to pick up on how unsavoury the behaviour of the characters actually is. Also like Flaubert, Mishima’s prose is sensual, and highly detailed. In my review of Madame Bovary I called the Frenchman a hyperrealist, by which I mean he makes the real or ordinary seem extraordinary, and I would apply the same term to Mishima. There are numerous passages in the text that one could highlight as evidence, but one that particularly struck me was Kiyoaki holding the train of the princess’ dress:
“Beautiful, elegant, imposing, she was like a flower at the moment of its perfection…Princess Kasuga’s hair had the blackness and sheen of fine lacquer. Seen from behind her elaborate coiffure seemed to dissolve into the rich white skin-textures of the nape of her neck, leaving single strands against her bare shoulders whose faint sheen was set off by her décolleté…she held herself erect and walked ahead with a firm step, betraying no tremor to her trainbearers, but in Kiyoaki’s eyes that great fan of white fur seemed to glow and fade to the sound of music, like the snow covered peak first hidden, then exposed by a fluid pattern of clouds.”
I love that. It isn’t a one-off either, Mishima throws this kind of stuff out by the page. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know he may have been, but he was a wonderful, sensitive writer.
----
THE SEA OF FERTILITY
Volume 2: Runaway Horses https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
September 4, 2023
4.5/5
الإستطراد البوذي اللي كتبه يوكيو ميشيما في الفصل اللي قبل الأخير ده، ضايقني و خلاني أقلل التقييم، القصة كانت علي وشك الإنتهاء، أنت في قمة ذروتها، إنهيها بدون الإنجراف بعيد عنها، لو كانت الكاهنة حتي إتكلمت في قصة دينية بوذية لها دلالة بشكل حتي لو بعيد بالموضوع كان هيبقي أفضل، لأن كان الغرض هنا أن الكاهنة تفضل مرحبه بهوندا بدون ما تسيبه و تقوم أو تقوله مع السلامة.
تراجيديا من الطراز الأول، و من أروع ما قرأت في الأدب الياباني و الأدب عمومًا.
هذا البناء البطئ في خلال 300 صفحة حتي تصل بالأحداث لنقطة قطع الأنفاس.
بالطبع أنا لا أستغل مثل هذه الفرص، قراءة 240 صفحة في جلسة واحده عندما يعطيني الكاتب الخيط أخيرًا لفعل هذا كما يفعل الآخرون.
و لكني أستطيع إدراك وجودهم، و النقطة هنا كانت عندما قابل كيواكي ساتوكو بعد خطبتها لأول مرة، لم يوجد فرصة بعد ذلك للتوقف عن القراءة من الملل و لو شعرت بالملل بعد هذه النقطة فتحتاج أن تري طبيبًا.
يوجد ما هو غامض و جذاب في شخصية يوكيو ميشيما يمكن بسبب انتحاره علي الطريقة اليابانية التقليدية، مع ان علي حد علمي، ليس هو الأديب الياباني الوحيد الذي مات منتحرًا.
شعرت في الجزء الأخير و محاولات كيواكي لرؤية ساتوكو بحقد الكهنة علي من يعيشوا الحياة و يستمتعوا بها، الكاهنة كانت تدرك أن ساتوكو في الغرفة المجاورة تبكي، كانت تدرك أن مريض السل معرض للموت، و أنه بالفعل زاد أعراض مرضه شده بمحاولته و تضرعاته لرؤية ساتوكو لمرة الأخيرة، و لكن هذا الحقد الذي تستطيع إمساكه بيديك، و لكنك لا تسطيع قتله، لن تجد له نفس لتكتمه و لن تجد له قلب لتغرس فيه نص�� الرحمة ليموت.
و لكن مع ذلك لم أوافق كيواكي علي علاقته بساتوكو علي الإطلاق.
كانت علاقة محكوم عليها بالفشل من البداية، و ما هو الهدف؟
في بداية العلاقة و بالأخص بسبب تركيز يوكيو ميشيما علي الجانب الجنسي منها، أعتقدت أن العلاقة مجرد علاقة جنسية.
و لكنها كانت علاقة حب متبادله.
و هذه معضلة من معضلات العقل العربي بسبب تابوه الجنس عندنا، أين يبدء الحب و أين تبدء الشهوانية، و كيف يمكننا التفريق بين الإثنان و هما جزء لا يتجزء من إجتماع الذكر و الأنثي منذ بدء الحياة؟
أنستطيع أن نحب بدون التفكير بهذا الجانب علي الإطلاق؟
كيف إذًا أن أغلب المتزوجات هن الجميلات لو لم يكن هذا عامل يحرك رغباتنا في الإرتباط من الأساس؟
مما لا شك فيه أن يوكيو ميشيما سابق عصره علي مستوي فكري، فلا يصح للكاتب أن يكون مباشرًا في طريقة تشريحه للمجتمع الذي يعيش فيه، يسقط أدبك درجات لو تدخلت في القصة بإتهام الخطأ و التصفيق لما هو صحيح و تتفق معه.
عندما وجدت ساتوكو تعتزل العالم النسوي بداخلي كره أنها الوحيدة التي يبدوا عليها أنها ستدفع الثمن لجريمة حب أرتكبها إثنان.
و لكن عندما مات كيواكي أيضًا شعرت أن الموازين إعتدلت.
موت روحي و موت مادي، و لا يرجح موت علي موت، فالإثنان إنتهاء للحياة.
الرواية نقد للمجتمع الياباني في هذا الوقت فيما بين سطورها، فقد شعرنا بإخلاص كل من كيواكي و ساتوكو و هل يوجد ما هو أقوي من الحب الذي تستطيع تسليط الضوء به علي المجتمع بأكمله و سمه المتغلغل فيه.
كل هذا البؤس كان يمكن أن لا يحدث، لو لم يكن الجميع يتصرفون علي أن كلمة الإمبراطور كلمة مقدسة من إله لا يمكن الرجوع فيها.
الكثير جدًا يمكن أن يحدث في فترة الخطوبة تلك، المشاعر البشرية متقلبة و تتغير بين يوم و يوم، بين حالة و حالة، و لكن لا نستطيع إلغاء الخطبة لأن الإمبراطور صدق عليها، و علي أغلب الظن، الإمبراطور لم يتطلع حتي علي الطلب و لكن صدق المسئول في القصر الإمبراطوري علي الخطبة، بعد أن رأي درجات النبالة التي سيتزوج بها أمير من أمراءهم.
و الذي علي أغلب الظن واحد من مائة، فالأمراء كما هو واضح كثيرين جدًا و يمكن أن تكون صلة قرابتهم بالإمبراطور بعيدة.
كل شئ هبة من جلالة الإمبراطور، و لن أنسي، مشهد طلاب المدارس في مانغا جن الحافي، و هما متراصين في شوارع هيروشيما المدمرة، لكي يحيوا موكب الإمبراطور سبب هذه الكارثة بتعنته و رفضه الإستسلام من البداية.
يصف لنا يوكيو ميشيما عنوان الرواية الشهيرة ذهول ورعدة
في مشهد قرب النهاية، عندما حضر كيواكي أمسية إلقاء الشعر الإمبراطورية، تأمل في لحظة تعابير وجه الإمبراطور الذي علي أغلب الظن لمن يكن حتي ينظر له و أحس بهذا الإحساس نفسه ذهول و رعدة، أن يكون الإمبراطور مطلع علي دخيلة نفسه، و غاضب عليه لإفساده الزواج الذي حصل علي التصديق الإمبراطوري.
في جزئية نري جانب آخر من المجتمع الياباني وقتها، بعد دخول الصناعة فيه، و من الواضح أن أغلب مالكي المصانع كان يعيشوا حياة غربية بالكامل، كما أنهم ترفعوا عن عادات و تقاليد بلدهم، و أصبحوا ينظروا لها بعنصرية، و شعرت بأن الوضع كهذه العنصرية المضحكة عندنا بين بعض سكان ا��مدن علي سكان الارياف.
كما أيضًا إطلعنا بقدر قليل فلم يكن التركيز الأول للرواية علي النظام الطبقي البشع الذي يهين كرامة الإنسان، كما أنه يهين كرامة النبيل المحظوظ بطبقة عالية فيه، كما ينبغي أن يكون إهانة للطبقة التي تحظي برقم واحد بين هذه الطبقات الحقيرة، ستجد هذا النظام الطبقي من الدرجات أيضًا في الأدب الروسي و بكثرة.
يوكيو ميشيما لا يلجأ إلي الحوار اذا أمكن، و يختصر بالسرد، و أعتقد أن هذا ينفي التهمة اللي وجهها له النقاد علي إستطراداته، انه كان يزيد عدد الكلمات لكي يقبض أكثر، ألم يكن من الأولي كتابة حوار تادشينا و ساتوكو بعد ما حملت كامل، أنا أري أن هذا الجزء السردي وفر علينا ٣ او ٤ صفحات حوار محتمله.
يوجد إختلاف رهيب بين عمل مثل ثلج الربيع، و عمل مثل حكاية جينجي، علي مستويات عديدة، فرق بينهم ست قرون أعتقد، و لكن ما زال يعيش زمن رسائل الحب، و العلاقات السرية، و النساء الخاضعه لسلطة رجال حتي لو فاسدة.
لا تستطيع الهروب مع قراءة الأدب القديم من العبيد، و الخيانات الزوجية التي لا تستطيع أن تعترض عليها الزوجة و الأبناء، و المحظيات و غيرهم.
تغيرنا كثيرًا للأفضل، و لكن هناك مجال كبير لأن نكون أفضل و أفضل، و لكن مع ذلك ميشيما ليس كاتب عنصري مثل أغاثا كريستي، و لا تحتاج دور النشر في المستقبل أن تنقه العصر من أمثال هذه البشاعات التي تقبح من الأدب.
الجيشا كانوا حاضرين في الرواية و منورين، في كامل بهاءهم.
بالرغم من الخلط بين الجيشا كفنانات بارعين في الرقص و الغناء و الألعاب و متحدثين بارعين لتسلية الأمراء و النبلاء، و بين الدعارة اللي بعد قراءة بسيطة واضح انها كانت بتمارس سرًا من مجموعات جيشا أقل حرفية، ضد مبادئهم هم شخصياً، الا ان من قراءتي واضح انهم نفوذهم أسطوري و لهم إحترامهم و لم يعاملوا بعنصرية، الأمير يستعين بالجيشا و يدفعلهم لكي يعلموا ساتوكو لعبة يحبها زوجها المرتقب.
من الكتب التي جدد الكتاب إهتمامي بها هي قراءة حكايات بوذا، لا أعلم في أي كتاب سأجدها، و لكنها أساطير لذيذة كحكايات ألف ليلة و ليلة، تجمع بين الحكمة و الأسطورة.
الإستطراد البوذي اللي كتبه يوكيو ميشيما في الفصل اللي قبل الأخير ده، ضايقني و خلاني أقلل التقييم، القصة كانت علي وشك الإنتهاء، أنت في قمة ذروتها، إنهيها بدون الإنجراف بعيد عنها، لو كانت الكاهنة حتي إتكلمت في قصة دينية بوذية لها دلالة بشكل حتي لو بعيد بالموضوع كان هيبقي أفضل، لأن كان الغرض هنا أن الكاهنة تفضل مرحبه بهوندا بدون ما تسيبه و تقوم أو تقوله مع السلامة.
تراجيديا من الطراز الأول، و من أروع ما قرأت في الأدب الياباني و الأدب عمومًا.
هذا البناء البطئ في خلال 300 صفحة حتي تصل بالأحداث لنقطة قطع الأنفاس.
بالطبع أنا لا أستغل مثل هذه الفرص، قراءة 240 صفحة في جلسة واحده عندما يعطيني الكاتب الخيط أخيرًا لفعل هذا كما يفعل الآخرون.
و لكني أستطيع إدراك وجودهم، و النقطة هنا كانت عندما قابل كيواكي ساتوكو بعد خطبتها لأول مرة، لم يوجد فرصة بعد ذلك للتوقف عن القراءة من الملل و لو شعرت بالملل بعد هذه النقطة فتحتاج أن تري طبيبًا.
يوجد ما هو غامض و جذاب في شخصية يوكيو ميشيما يمكن بسبب انتحاره علي الطريقة اليابانية التقليدية، مع ان علي حد علمي، ليس هو الأديب الياباني الوحيد الذي مات منتحرًا.
شعرت في الجزء الأخير و محاولات كيواكي لرؤية ساتوكو بحقد الكهنة علي من يعيشوا الحياة و يستمتعوا بها، الكاهنة كانت تدرك أن ساتوكو في الغرفة المجاورة تبكي، كانت تدرك أن مريض السل معرض للموت، و أنه بالفعل زاد أعراض مرضه شده بمحاولته و تضرعاته لرؤية ساتوكو لمرة الأخيرة، و لكن هذا الحقد الذي تستطيع إمساكه بيديك، و لكنك لا تسطيع قتله، لن تجد له نفس لتكتمه و لن تجد له قلب لتغرس فيه نص�� الرحمة ليموت.
و لكن مع ذلك لم أوافق كيواكي علي علاقته بساتوكو علي الإطلاق.
كانت علاقة محكوم عليها بالفشل من البداية، و ما هو الهدف؟
في بداية العلاقة و بالأخص بسبب تركيز يوكيو ميشيما علي الجانب الجنسي منها، أعتقدت أن العلاقة مجرد علاقة جنسية.
و لكنها كانت علاقة حب متبادله.
و هذه معضلة من معضلات العقل العربي بسبب تابوه الجنس عندنا، أين يبدء الحب و أين تبدء الشهوانية، و كيف يمكننا التفريق بين الإثنان و هما جزء لا يتجزء من إجتماع الذكر و الأنثي منذ بدء الحياة؟
أنستطيع أن نحب بدون التفكير بهذا الجانب علي الإطلاق؟
كيف إذًا أن أغلب المتزوجات هن الجميلات لو لم يكن هذا عامل يحرك رغباتنا في الإرتباط من الأساس؟
مما لا شك فيه أن يوكيو ميشيما سابق عصره علي مستوي فكري، فلا يصح للكاتب أن يكون مباشرًا في طريقة تشريحه للمجتمع الذي يعيش فيه، يسقط أدبك درجات لو تدخلت في القصة بإتهام الخطأ و التصفيق لما هو صحيح و تتفق معه.
عندما وجدت ساتوكو تعتزل العالم النسوي بداخلي كره أنها الوحيدة التي يبدوا عليها أنها ستدفع الثمن لجريمة حب أرتكبها إثنان.
و لكن عندما مات كيواكي أيضًا شعرت أن الموازين إعتدلت.
موت روحي و موت مادي، و لا يرجح موت علي موت، فالإثنان إنتهاء للحياة.
الرواية نقد للمجتمع الياباني في هذا الوقت فيما بين سطورها، فقد شعرنا بإخلاص كل من كيواكي و ساتوكو و هل يوجد ما هو أقوي من الحب الذي تستطيع تسليط الضوء به علي المجتمع بأكمله و سمه المتغلغل فيه.
كل هذا البؤس كان يمكن أن لا يحدث، لو لم يكن الجميع يتصرفون علي أن كلمة الإمبراطور كلمة مقدسة من إله لا يمكن الرجوع فيها.
الكثير جدًا يمكن أن يحدث في فترة الخطوبة تلك، المشاعر البشرية متقلبة و تتغير بين يوم و يوم، بين حالة و حالة، و لكن لا نستطيع إلغاء الخطبة لأن الإمبراطور صدق عليها، و علي أغلب الظن، الإمبراطور لم يتطلع حتي علي الطلب و لكن صدق المسئول في القصر الإمبراطوري علي الخطبة، بعد أن رأي درجات النبالة التي سيتزوج بها أمير من أمراءهم.
و الذي علي أغلب الظن واحد من مائة، فالأمراء كما هو واضح كثيرين جدًا و يمكن أن تكون صلة قرابتهم بالإمبراطور بعيدة.
و قد اعتقد من يحيطون بالأمير أن اللقاءات المتعددة بين الشابين، الذين كان زواجهما أمراََ مسلماً به، لا يمكن أن يأتي من ورائها ما يفيد، بل قد تؤذن بورطة.
ما إن يقترح زواج و يحظى بالتصديق الإمبراطوري، لا يعود هناك مجال للتراجع، و رفصه إنما يعني رفض هبة من جلالة الإمبراطور.
كل شئ هبة من جلالة الإمبراطور، و لن أنسي، مشهد طلاب المدارس في مانغا جن الحافي، و هما متراصين في شوارع هيروشيما المدمرة، لكي يحيوا موكب الإمبراطور سبب هذه الكارثة بتعنته و رفضه الإستسلام من البداية.
يصف لنا يوكيو ميشيما عنوان الرواية الشهيرة ذهول ورعدة
في مشهد قرب النهاية، عندما حضر كيواكي أمسية إلقاء الشعر الإمبراطورية، تأمل في لحظة تعابير وجه الإمبراطور الذي علي أغلب الظن لمن يكن حتي ينظر له و أحس بهذا الإحساس نفسه ذهول و رعدة، أن يكون الإمبراطور مطلع علي دخيلة نفسه، و غاضب عليه لإفساده الزواج الذي حصل علي التصديق الإمبراطوري.
في جزئية نري جانب آخر من المجتمع الياباني وقتها، بعد دخول الصناعة فيه، و من الواضح أن أغلب مالكي المصانع كان يعيشوا حياة غربية بالكامل، كما أنهم ترفعوا عن عادات و تقاليد بلدهم، و أصبحوا ينظروا لها بعنصرية، و شعرت بأن الوضع كهذه العنصرية المضحكة عندنا بين بعض سكان ا��مدن علي سكان الارياف.
كما أيضًا إطلعنا بقدر قليل فلم يكن التركيز الأول للرواية علي النظام الطبقي البشع الذي يهين كرامة الإنسان، كما أنه يهين كرامة النبيل المحظوظ بطبقة عالية فيه، كما ينبغي أن يكون إهانة للطبقة التي تحظي برقم واحد بين هذه الطبقات الحقيرة، ستجد هذا النظام الطبقي من الدرجات أيضًا في الأدب الروسي و بكثرة.
إن الهجران الأكثر أهمية للعالم يأتي بعد التخلي الرسمي عنه.
يوكيو ميشيما لا يلجأ إلي الحوار اذا أمكن، و يختصر بالسرد، و أعتقد أن هذا ينفي التهمة اللي وجهها له النقاد علي إستطراداته، انه كان يزيد عدد الكلمات لكي يقبض أكثر، ألم يكن من الأولي كتابة حوار تادشينا و ساتوكو بعد ما حملت كامل، أنا أري أن هذا الجزء السردي وفر علينا ٣ او ٤ صفحات حوار محتمله.
يوجد إختلاف رهيب بين عمل مثل ثلج الربيع، و عمل مثل حكاية جينجي، علي مستويات عديدة، فرق بينهم ست قرون أعتقد، و لكن ما زال يعيش زمن رسائل الحب، و العلاقات السرية، و النساء الخاضعه لسلطة رجال حتي لو فاسدة.
لا تستطيع الهروب مع قراءة الأدب القديم من العبيد، و الخيانات الزوجية التي لا تستطيع أن تعترض عليها الزوجة و الأبناء، و المحظيات و غيرهم.
تغيرنا كثيرًا للأفضل، و لكن هناك مجال كبير لأن نكون أفضل و أفضل، و لكن مع ذلك ميشيما ليس كاتب عنصري مثل أغاثا كريستي، و لا تحتاج دور النشر في المستقبل أن تنقه العصر من أمثال هذه البشاعات التي تقبح من الأدب.
الجيشا كانوا حاضرين في الرواية و منورين، في كامل بهاءهم.
بالرغم من الخلط بين الجيشا كفنانات بارعين في الرقص و الغناء و الألعاب و متحدثين بارعين لتسلية الأمراء و النبلاء، و بين الدعارة اللي بعد قراءة بسيطة واضح انها كانت بتمارس سرًا من مجموعات جيشا أقل حرفية، ضد مبادئهم هم شخصياً، الا ان من قراءتي واضح انهم نفوذهم أسطوري و لهم إحترامهم و لم يعاملوا بعنصرية، الأمير يستعين بالجيشا و يدفعلهم لكي يعلموا ساتوكو لعبة يحبها زوجها المرتقب.
من الكتب التي جدد الكتاب إهتمامي بها هي قراءة حكايات بوذا، لا أعلم في أي كتاب سأجدها، و لكنها أساطير لذيذة كحكايات ألف ليلة و ليلة، تجمع بين الحكمة و الأسطورة.
February 19, 2022
بالاخره جلد اول تموم شد باید بگم قبلش ترسیدم کمی سخت خوان باشه،بخاطر اینکه ادبیات ژاپن کلاسیک هست ومن زیاد آشنایی بااین ادبیات نداشتم.اما چقدر لذت بردم گاهی توصیفات خیلی زیاد میشوند اما ملال آور برام نبودند.
انشالا بتونم جلدهای بعدیشو بخونم 🥲🤍
انشالا بتونم جلدهای بعدیشو بخونم 🥲🤍
October 4, 2016
“Oddly enough, living only for one’s emotions, like a flag obedient to the breeze, demands a way of life that makes one balk at the natural course of events, for this implies being altogether subservient to nature. The life of the emotions detests all constraints, whatever their origin, and thus, ironically enough, is apt eventually to fetter its own instinctive sense of freedom.”
- Yukio Mishima, Spring Snow
After finishing this supreme piece of fiction (the first of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility ), I had the irresistible urge to revisit Gore Vidal's 1971 essay The Death of Mishima published about 8 months after the Japanese author had performed seppuku following a failed coup d'état attempt. It was this essay which prompted me to seek out the work of Mishima. A certain passage greatly struck me, and succinctly explained just what it is about Mishima's sensibility that manages to evoke such a strong reaction in me :
"Yet Mishima wanted a life of the flesh, of action, divorced from words. Some interpreted this to mean that he dreamed of becoming a sort of warlord, restoring to Japan its ancient military virtues. But I think Mishima was after something much simpler: the exhaustion of the flesh in physical exercise, in bouts of love, in such adventures as becoming a private soldier for a few weeks in his middle age or breaking the sound barrier with a military jet. Certainly Mishima did not have a political mind. He was a Romantic Artist in a very fin de siècle French way. But instead of deranging the senses through drugs, Mishima tried to lose his conscious mind (his art) through the use and worship of his own flesh and that of others. Finally, rather than face the slow bitter dissolution of the incarnate self, he chose to die."
It is this desperate longing for a renewed sense of -and respect for- masculinity in all its facets that makes Mishima such an intriguing cultural figure. After Japan's humiliating defeat in WW II the country was forced to metaphorically castrate itself, and over the last couple of decades the Western powers in a lesser degree have as well, but in that case it came about through a series of sociocultural shifts.
Spring Snow of course has a lot more themes on offer. In that respect it is quite a dense read, but one that is greatly aided by Mishima's richly lyrical, sensuous prose. Michael Gallagher must be commended for this brilliant translation, for I felt deprived of none of its intricacies. I was constantly taken aback by Mishima's flawless portrayals of distinctive, unforgettable characters and their emotional states. While quite a traditional writer, he is incredibly meticulous, like a Japanese Nabokov.
Part historical document, part philosophical/spiritual meditation, part love story (in fact two love stories, if you count Kyoaki and Honda's incredibly moving friendship), it is difficult not to find something to derive pleasure from in Spring Snow. In this regard I consider it a nigh perfect springboard for further exploration of Japanese culture during this era. It is simply fascinating, and almost challenges its foreign reader to delve deeper.
If I'd have to hazard a guess, I predict me finishing the entire tetralogy will enhance this first, immensely gratifying tasting even more. How fortunate a discovery, this. Pure joy.
- Yukio Mishima, Spring Snow
After finishing this supreme piece of fiction (the first of the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility ), I had the irresistible urge to revisit Gore Vidal's 1971 essay The Death of Mishima published about 8 months after the Japanese author had performed seppuku following a failed coup d'état attempt. It was this essay which prompted me to seek out the work of Mishima. A certain passage greatly struck me, and succinctly explained just what it is about Mishima's sensibility that manages to evoke such a strong reaction in me :
"Yet Mishima wanted a life of the flesh, of action, divorced from words. Some interpreted this to mean that he dreamed of becoming a sort of warlord, restoring to Japan its ancient military virtues. But I think Mishima was after something much simpler: the exhaustion of the flesh in physical exercise, in bouts of love, in such adventures as becoming a private soldier for a few weeks in his middle age or breaking the sound barrier with a military jet. Certainly Mishima did not have a political mind. He was a Romantic Artist in a very fin de siècle French way. But instead of deranging the senses through drugs, Mishima tried to lose his conscious mind (his art) through the use and worship of his own flesh and that of others. Finally, rather than face the slow bitter dissolution of the incarnate self, he chose to die."
It is this desperate longing for a renewed sense of -and respect for- masculinity in all its facets that makes Mishima such an intriguing cultural figure. After Japan's humiliating defeat in WW II the country was forced to metaphorically castrate itself, and over the last couple of decades the Western powers in a lesser degree have as well, but in that case it came about through a series of sociocultural shifts.
Spring Snow of course has a lot more themes on offer. In that respect it is quite a dense read, but one that is greatly aided by Mishima's richly lyrical, sensuous prose. Michael Gallagher must be commended for this brilliant translation, for I felt deprived of none of its intricacies. I was constantly taken aback by Mishima's flawless portrayals of distinctive, unforgettable characters and their emotional states. While quite a traditional writer, he is incredibly meticulous, like a Japanese Nabokov.
Part historical document, part philosophical/spiritual meditation, part love story (in fact two love stories, if you count Kyoaki and Honda's incredibly moving friendship), it is difficult not to find something to derive pleasure from in Spring Snow. In this regard I consider it a nigh perfect springboard for further exploration of Japanese culture during this era. It is simply fascinating, and almost challenges its foreign reader to delve deeper.
If I'd have to hazard a guess, I predict me finishing the entire tetralogy will enhance this first, immensely gratifying tasting even more. How fortunate a discovery, this. Pure joy.
February 19, 2016
Başyapıt!!!
Uzun zamandır okurken bu kadar etkilendiğim bir kitap hatırlamıyorum. Yukio Mişima benim için en özel yazarlardan bir tanesi. O yüzden eserleri yavaşça ve üzerinde çok düşünerek okumayı seviyorum. Buna rağmen tekrar okumak için yerinmeyeceğim isimlerin başında geliyor. Kawabata'nın lirizmi Japon Edebiyatının zirvesi gibi lans edilse de; bence Japon Edebiyatının zirvesi Mişima'dır. İlk kitap Bahar Karları'ndan anladığım üzere de, yazarında en iyi işleri olarak gördüğü Bereket Denizi Dörtlemesi, bu zirvenin tepe noktasını oluşturuyor.
Mişima sadece yazdıkları ile değil, insan olarak yaptıkları ve düşündükleri ile de halen tartışılan bir yazar. Ancak bununla yazdıklarını sentezlemesi olağanüstü. "Bahar Karları" yazarın birçok şeye bakış açısını gözler önüne seriyor. Aslında hayatının son döneminde olgunlaştırdığı intiharının tasarısını bir nevi romanda alttan alttan belli ediyor. Çok keskin düşünceleri olan yazarların, karakterleri ile; ölümünden sonra özdeşleştirilmesi, bence yazarın yaşarken fark edilmemiş güçlü karakterine işaret ediyor. Mişima bunun en büyük örneği.
Kitap Meiji Dönemi sonrası, Taisho Dönemin de geçen bir aşk öyküsünü anlatıyor. Ön planda aşk öyküsü olsa da arka planda Japon halkına sert eleştiriler getiriliyor. Binlerce yıllık bir kültür uygarlığının, batı etkisindeki yozlaşması en güçlü olarak kendini Taisho Döneminde göstermişti. Bu da 1911 -1926 yılları civarını kapsıyor. Öyküde bu aralıkta geçiyor. Mişima toplumun daha çok üst kesimindeki yozluğu ve saygısızlığı ayrıntıları ile ortaya koyuyor. Mişima'nin batı eleştirisi Cuniçiro Tanizaki'nin gibi değil. Ateşli bir şekilde Japon köklerine ve siyasal ideolojisine bağlı olan Mişima, kültürel ve üstünkörü bir endişeden çok tözsel, tinsel bir endişe duyuyor. Endişe değil anksiyetik bir saplantı dememiz daha doğru olabilir. Bunu edebiyat dışındaki yazınları ve filmlerinde de görmek mümkün. Faşiştlikle suçlanan yazarın; ideolojini algılayabilmek için japon geleneklerine ve tarihine göre bir empati kurmak lazım. Buda ülkenin bütün kodlarına hakim olmadan çok zor.
Karakter Honda'nın bazı diyaloglarında Mişima'nın filozof tarafını görmekte mümkün. Doktrinlere bakış açısı ve bunu öznelleştirmesi beni özellikle en çok etkileyen kısımlar oldu. Sheaskpearevari bir merkezi olan öykünün, trajik biçimde sonlandırıldığı; okuyucuya gösterilirken, aslında arkada yok olan bir uygarlığın can çekişmesini anlatır gibidir Mişima.
Üzerine çok şey söylenebilecek bir roman. Kesinlikle geleneksel Japon romancılığının bana göre zirvesi!
5/5
Uzun zamandır okurken bu kadar etkilendiğim bir kitap hatırlamıyorum. Yukio Mişima benim için en özel yazarlardan bir tanesi. O yüzden eserleri yavaşça ve üzerinde çok düşünerek okumayı seviyorum. Buna rağmen tekrar okumak için yerinmeyeceğim isimlerin başında geliyor. Kawabata'nın lirizmi Japon Edebiyatının zirvesi gibi lans edilse de; bence Japon Edebiyatının zirvesi Mişima'dır. İlk kitap Bahar Karları'ndan anladığım üzere de, yazarında en iyi işleri olarak gördüğü Bereket Denizi Dörtlemesi, bu zirvenin tepe noktasını oluşturuyor.
Mişima sadece yazdıkları ile değil, insan olarak yaptıkları ve düşündükleri ile de halen tartışılan bir yazar. Ancak bununla yazdıklarını sentezlemesi olağanüstü. "Bahar Karları" yazarın birçok şeye bakış açısını gözler önüne seriyor. Aslında hayatının son döneminde olgunlaştırdığı intiharının tasarısını bir nevi romanda alttan alttan belli ediyor. Çok keskin düşünceleri olan yazarların, karakterleri ile; ölümünden sonra özdeşleştirilmesi, bence yazarın yaşarken fark edilmemiş güçlü karakterine işaret ediyor. Mişima bunun en büyük örneği.
Kitap Meiji Dönemi sonrası, Taisho Dönemin de geçen bir aşk öyküsünü anlatıyor. Ön planda aşk öyküsü olsa da arka planda Japon halkına sert eleştiriler getiriliyor. Binlerce yıllık bir kültür uygarlığının, batı etkisindeki yozlaşması en güçlü olarak kendini Taisho Döneminde göstermişti. Bu da 1911 -1926 yılları civarını kapsıyor. Öyküde bu aralıkta geçiyor. Mişima toplumun daha çok üst kesimindeki yozluğu ve saygısızlığı ayrıntıları ile ortaya koyuyor. Mişima'nin batı eleştirisi Cuniçiro Tanizaki'nin gibi değil. Ateşli bir şekilde Japon köklerine ve siyasal ideolojisine bağlı olan Mişima, kültürel ve üstünkörü bir endişeden çok tözsel, tinsel bir endişe duyuyor. Endişe değil anksiyetik bir saplantı dememiz daha doğru olabilir. Bunu edebiyat dışındaki yazınları ve filmlerinde de görmek mümkün. Faşiştlikle suçlanan yazarın; ideolojini algılayabilmek için japon geleneklerine ve tarihine göre bir empati kurmak lazım. Buda ülkenin bütün kodlarına hakim olmadan çok zor.
Karakter Honda'nın bazı diyaloglarında Mişima'nın filozof tarafını görmekte mümkün. Doktrinlere bakış açısı ve bunu öznelleştirmesi beni özellikle en çok etkileyen kısımlar oldu. Sheaskpearevari bir merkezi olan öykünün, trajik biçimde sonlandırıldığı; okuyucuya gösterilirken, aslında arkada yok olan bir uygarlığın can çekişmesini anlatır gibidir Mişima.
Üzerine çok şey söylenebilecek bir roman. Kesinlikle geleneksel Japon romancılığının bana göre zirvesi!
5/5
May 16, 2020
The world is your oyster, or is it?
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
Echoes - Pink Floyd
-------
Spring Snow = Neige de printemps
First novel in the Sea of fertility tetralogy, Spring Snow tells the story of the love between young marquis Kiyoaki Matsugae and young countess Satoko Ayakura. However, this is not your typical impossible love story as the marriage is possible between them .
Also, the book explores the path taken by law student Shigekuni Honda, following the intricacies of Roman law on the one hand, Hinduist and Buddhist cosmogony on the other hand.
-------
Themes :
This book feels to me as though Mishima was paying a tribute to the novel as a genre, as Spring Snow contains many threads at once, following many characters arcs and literary traditions :
- An ill-fated love-story.
- Something akin to a comedy by Molière or Beaumarchais, filled with subplots involving letters, crafty valets or housekeepers, schemes and revenge...
- A vivid portrayal of post-Meiji, Taisho era Japan, less than a decade after the Russian-Japanese war (1904-5). Its new social hierarchy, materialized by the frayed relationship between Marquis Matsugae (Kiyoaki's father) and Count Ayakura (Satoko's father, a member of the ancient aristocracy), and embodied by conflicted Kiyoaki, raised by both families.
- The swift, mimetic occidentalization of the elite.
- Memories, representation and self-image.
- Fate, dreams, desire and Kiyoaki's fascination for death, present throughout the story via symbols and echoes, taken as omens and prophetic signs throughout the story.
- Changing times. How to have a significant part in the history of a new era? Devote oneself to passions not to be a mere plaything in the tide of History? Merge, Coalesce into beauty not to merge into the commonplace and kitsch?
- Dialogues tackling the subject of will, fate and the illusion of chance, expounding ideas from Hosso Buddhism, some about transmigration.
- Stylistically, Yukio Mishima achieves a sort of tightly knit tapestry, a consistent network of echoing reflections.
------
My opinion on the story :
As far as I am concerned, this is a fairly outstanding book, offering some endearing characters, convincing conflictual relationships, fascinating thoughts and contemplations.
One drawback for me : Kiyoaki seems a bit too unflinchingly determined not to answer Satoko's calls and letters for a significant length of time. Again, that certainly serves the story as it gives a telling example of how self-absorbed and obsessed he can be. Still, I didn't felt attached to Kiyoaki as much as I did concerning Honda.
Kōfuku-ji Temple, Nara
----
Suggested books :
For their common oblique treatment of the story, subjectivity...
Rashomon and Other Stories
Regarding the character of proud, self-absorbed Kiyoaki, his contrariness/waywardness, his masochism:
No Longer Human
The Double
Under the Volcano
As to Honda's philosophical musings and spiritual journey :
See part 2, introductory discussion about history, free will and determinism in
War and Peace
About the occidentalization of Japan :
L'école de la chair = The School of Flesh - Yukio Mishima
La Mort en été = Death in Midsummer - Yukio Mishima
About the occidentalization of other cultures :
Petersburg Tales
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
Istanbul: Souvenirs D'une Ville
About how our misconceptions model how we imagine ourselves and others,
How no to merge into the commonplace and kitsch :
Immortality
On another secluded hero :
Siddharta
Speaking of incestual-like relationships :
Jude the Obscure
Wuthering Heights
About passion and convents :
The Letters of a Portuguese Nun
Soundtrack :
The Ocean - Mesopelagic: Into the Uncanny
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
An echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
Echoes - Pink Floyd
-------
Spring Snow = Neige de printemps
First novel in the Sea of fertility tetralogy, Spring Snow tells the story of the love between young marquis Kiyoaki Matsugae and young countess Satoko Ayakura. However, this is not your typical impossible love story as the marriage is possible between them .
Also, the book explores the path taken by law student Shigekuni Honda, following the intricacies of Roman law on the one hand, Hinduist and Buddhist cosmogony on the other hand.
-------
Themes :
This book feels to me as though Mishima was paying a tribute to the novel as a genre, as Spring Snow contains many threads at once, following many characters arcs and literary traditions :
- An ill-fated love-story.
- Something akin to a comedy by Molière or Beaumarchais, filled with subplots involving letters, crafty valets or housekeepers, schemes and revenge...
- A vivid portrayal of post-Meiji, Taisho era Japan, less than a decade after the Russian-Japanese war (1904-5). Its new social hierarchy, materialized by the frayed relationship between Marquis Matsugae (Kiyoaki's father) and Count Ayakura (Satoko's father, a member of the ancient aristocracy), and embodied by conflicted Kiyoaki, raised by both families.
- The swift, mimetic occidentalization of the elite.
- Memories, representation and self-image.
- Fate, dreams, desire and Kiyoaki's fascination for death, present throughout the story via symbols and echoes, taken as omens and prophetic signs throughout the story.
- Changing times. How to have a significant part in the history of a new era? Devote oneself to passions not to be a mere plaything in the tide of History? Merge, Coalesce into beauty not to merge into the commonplace and kitsch?
- Dialogues tackling the subject of will, fate and the illusion of chance, expounding ideas from Hosso Buddhism, some about transmigration.
- Stylistically, Yukio Mishima achieves a sort of tightly knit tapestry, a consistent network of echoing reflections.
------
My opinion on the story :
As far as I am concerned, this is a fairly outstanding book, offering some endearing characters, convincing conflictual relationships, fascinating thoughts and contemplations.
One drawback for me : Kiyoaki seems a bit too unflinchingly determined not to answer Satoko's calls and letters for a significant length of time. Again, that certainly serves the story as it gives a telling example of how self-absorbed and obsessed he can be. Still, I didn't felt attached to Kiyoaki as much as I did concerning Honda.
Kōfuku-ji Temple, Nara
----
Suggested books :
For their common oblique treatment of the story, subjectivity...
Rashomon and Other Stories
Regarding the character of proud, self-absorbed Kiyoaki, his contrariness/waywardness, his masochism:
No Longer Human
The Double
Under the Volcano
As to Honda's philosophical musings and spiritual journey :
See part 2, introductory discussion about history, free will and determinism in
War and Peace
About the occidentalization of Japan :
L'école de la chair = The School of Flesh - Yukio Mishima
La Mort en été = Death in Midsummer - Yukio Mishima
About the occidentalization of other cultures :
Petersburg Tales
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
Istanbul: Souvenirs D'une Ville
About how our misconceptions model how we imagine ourselves and others,
How no to merge into the commonplace and kitsch :
Immortality
On another secluded hero :
Siddharta
Speaking of incestual-like relationships :
Jude the Obscure
Wuthering Heights
About passion and convents :
The Letters of a Portuguese Nun
Soundtrack :
The Ocean - Mesopelagic: Into the Uncanny
January 11, 2022
Muhteşemdi.
June 11, 2018
'L'età a cui s'addice la primavera'
"Neve di primavera" è il primo volume della tetralogia chiamata 'Il mare della fertilità', ciclo che comprende le ultime opere dello scrittore giapponese Mishima.
Si tratta di un romanzo bellissimo, un capolavoro letterario di grande lievità e splendore. Tutto pare essere stato lasciato decantare e, ora, riflesso in cristallo purissimo.
Siamo nel 1910/12, ovviamente in Giappone, nel raffinato ambiente aristocratico. Protagonisti due diciottenni/ventenni (Kiyoaki e Honda) e una ragazza (Sotoko).
La realtà vissuta si carica progressivamente di tensione, ma sempre in una dimensione di contenuta malinconia, quasi se anche le emozioni più forti e le situazioni più drammatiche fossero filtrate attraverso un'atmosfera di composto equilibrio interiore.
La relazione con la natura è costantemente presente a riflettere, come in acque trasparenti, gli stati d'animo, a farci scorgere uno spiraglio sulle emozioni che altrimenti resterebbero celate ; in tanta lievità anche i moti del cuore paiono non passare inosservati : sotto la pergola di glicini, sul volto delle donne "si stagliava, al pari di un elegante riflesso di morte, l'ombra color lilla dei fiori" ; "quando poi la madre (...) aprì il ventaglio d'oro, questo, sotto i riflessi rossi delle foglie d'acero, si ammantò di scarlatto" ; "...sentì un debole rumore, simile a quello prodotto dal bocciolo di un susino nel momento in cui si schiude".
Dettagli come questi conferiscono alla narrazione un tono di leggiadria che ben si addice alla ventata di giovinezza che in ogni pagina si avverte.
Il lettore, al termine del romanzo in cui non mancano dolore e morte, si sente avvolto dall'uniforme seppur variegata atmosfera della tenue malinconia che si distende sull'opera intera.
Molte le belle immagini che qui Mishima dispensa a piene mani. Una per tutte, che si espande per un intero capitolo : la corsa senza meta in risciò, durante la quale Sotoko e Kiyoaki si scambiano i primi baci (per lui i primi in assoluto), avvolti in una bufera di neve, i cui fiocchi turbinano nell'aria e si posano sui loro corpi , quando essi, in un'esaltazione anche estetica, aprono il telo che li riparava.
"Neve di primavera" è il primo volume della tetralogia chiamata 'Il mare della fertilità', ciclo che comprende le ultime opere dello scrittore giapponese Mishima.
Si tratta di un romanzo bellissimo, un capolavoro letterario di grande lievità e splendore. Tutto pare essere stato lasciato decantare e, ora, riflesso in cristallo purissimo.
Siamo nel 1910/12, ovviamente in Giappone, nel raffinato ambiente aristocratico. Protagonisti due diciottenni/ventenni (Kiyoaki e Honda) e una ragazza (Sotoko).
La realtà vissuta si carica progressivamente di tensione, ma sempre in una dimensione di contenuta malinconia, quasi se anche le emozioni più forti e le situazioni più drammatiche fossero filtrate attraverso un'atmosfera di composto equilibrio interiore.
La relazione con la natura è costantemente presente a riflettere, come in acque trasparenti, gli stati d'animo, a farci scorgere uno spiraglio sulle emozioni che altrimenti resterebbero celate ; in tanta lievità anche i moti del cuore paiono non passare inosservati : sotto la pergola di glicini, sul volto delle donne "si stagliava, al pari di un elegante riflesso di morte, l'ombra color lilla dei fiori" ; "quando poi la madre (...) aprì il ventaglio d'oro, questo, sotto i riflessi rossi delle foglie d'acero, si ammantò di scarlatto" ; "...sentì un debole rumore, simile a quello prodotto dal bocciolo di un susino nel momento in cui si schiude".
Dettagli come questi conferiscono alla narrazione un tono di leggiadria che ben si addice alla ventata di giovinezza che in ogni pagina si avverte.
Il lettore, al termine del romanzo in cui non mancano dolore e morte, si sente avvolto dall'uniforme seppur variegata atmosfera della tenue malinconia che si distende sull'opera intera.
Molte le belle immagini che qui Mishima dispensa a piene mani. Una per tutte, che si espande per un intero capitolo : la corsa senza meta in risciò, durante la quale Sotoko e Kiyoaki si scambiano i primi baci (per lui i primi in assoluto), avvolti in una bufera di neve, i cui fiocchi turbinano nell'aria e si posano sui loro corpi , quando essi, in un'esaltazione anche estetica, aprono il telo che li riparava.
April 27, 2020
رباعية بحر الخصوبة.....يوكيو ميشيما
ت/ كامل يوسف حسين
ان هذه الرباعية( ثلج الربيع- الجياد الهاربة-معبد الفجر- سقوط الملاك) ملحمة حقيقية بكل معنى الكلمة، ملحمة اتخذت من الانسان والمجتمع موضوعها الأساسي، فتعمقت فيه وانغمست في تشريح كل منهما، لتخرج لنا في النهاية نص متكامل، يجمع بين الروحانية الشديدة في تصوير المجتمع الياباني بطقوسه وعاداته، وبين واقعية لتصرفات الإنسان لتمزج في النهاية بين هذا وذاك بكل اتساق.
من الصعب ان نقول كلاما كثيرا عن هذه الملحمة، لتدفقها الشديد في الوصف وتعمقها في بيان الطقوس والعادات، ولكنه في النهاية ستشعر أنك قد عشت في اليابان عند انتهاءك منها، حاربت معهم، وحضرت معاركهم ومسابقاتهم، وشربت الساكي الساخن، وبارزت بأحد سيوفهم الشهيرة، والأهم هي نظرتهم للأشياء فنظرة الياباني لأبسط الأمور تختلف كليا عن باقي الأجناس.
قد يكون الموت هو بطل الرواية الخفي(وهذا طبعا مفهوم عند شخصية استثنائية كميشيما)، ظلال الخسارة الفادح من الفقد، دائما في خاطر الشخصية صديق توفي، أو ذكرى مرتبطة بموت أحدهم، ليعايش تلك التفاصيل مرة أخرى ونجده يسير في حياته مدفوعا بمصير الخسارة إلى الأبد.
الرباعيىة ملهمة فعلا، في تفاصيلها الكثيرة والحالة التي كنت فيها عند القراءة، ذكرتني بقراءة الأخوة كرامازوف من حيث التأثير والمعايشة مع الشخصيات( وتُقرأ بالترتيب لأن كل جزء منها يحتوي على إشارات وإحالات لأحداث سابقة).
مناسبة جدا للقراءة في رمضان، هادئة ووديعة وبها جو صوفي ممتع مريح، وترجمتها متقنة جدا، سلسة وواضحة، كعادة العظيم كامل يوسف حسين.
ت/ كامل يوسف حسين
ان هذه الرباعية( ثلج الربيع- الجياد الهاربة-معبد الفجر- سقوط الملاك) ملحمة حقيقية بكل معنى الكلمة، ملحمة اتخذت من الانسان والمجتمع موضوعها الأساسي، فتعمقت فيه وانغمست في تشريح كل منهما، لتخرج لنا في النهاية نص متكامل، يجمع بين الروحانية الشديدة في تصوير المجتمع الياباني بطقوسه وعاداته، وبين واقعية لتصرفات الإنسان لتمزج في النهاية بين هذا وذاك بكل اتساق.
من الصعب ان نقول كلاما كثيرا عن هذه الملحمة، لتدفقها الشديد في الوصف وتعمقها في بيان الطقوس والعادات، ولكنه في النهاية ستشعر أنك قد عشت في اليابان عند انتهاءك منها، حاربت معهم، وحضرت معاركهم ومسابقاتهم، وشربت الساكي الساخن، وبارزت بأحد سيوفهم الشهيرة، والأهم هي نظرتهم للأشياء فنظرة الياباني لأبسط الأمور تختلف كليا عن باقي الأجناس.
قد يكون الموت هو بطل الرواية الخفي(وهذا طبعا مفهوم عند شخصية استثنائية كميشيما)، ظلال الخسارة الفادح من الفقد، دائما في خاطر الشخصية صديق توفي، أو ذكرى مرتبطة بموت أحدهم، ليعايش تلك التفاصيل مرة أخرى ونجده يسير في حياته مدفوعا بمصير الخسارة إلى الأبد.
الرباعيىة ملهمة فعلا، في تفاصيلها الكثيرة والحالة التي كنت فيها عند القراءة، ذكرتني بقراءة الأخوة كرامازوف من حيث التأثير والمعايشة مع الشخصيات( وتُقرأ بالترتيب لأن كل جزء منها يحتوي على إشارات وإحالات لأحداث سابقة).
مناسبة جدا للقراءة في رمضان، هادئة ووديعة وبها جو صوفي ممتع مريح، وترجمتها متقنة جدا، سلسة وواضحة، كعادة العظيم كامل يوسف حسين.
December 8, 2016
bahar karları, japonya’nın yirminci yüzyılını anlatan bereket denizi dörtlemesinin ilk romanı. 1912 yılında başlıyor: 45 yıllık imparator meiji döneminin bittiği, geleneksel değerlere bağlı soylulara karşı yeni bir zengin sınıfının yükseldiği, batılılaşmanın hız kazandığı bir dönem. bu dönemi bir aşk hikayesi etrafında okuyoruz ve fakat herhangi bir tarihi roman okuma deneyiminden farklı bir tarafı var bu okumanın. romanın yazarı mişima’nın batılılaşmaya karşı radikal muhalefet yürüttüğünü ve bereket denizi dörtlemesini tamamlar tamamlamaz arkadaşlarıyla birlikte bir askeri birliği işgal edip japonya’nın geleneksel değerlerine dönmesi için hazırladığı manifestoyu okuduktan sonra seppuku yaparak intihar ettiğini biliyoruz. romanın meselesinin yazarının hayatının meselesi olduğu çarpıcı bir durum söz konusu.
soru şu belki: mişima taraf olduğu, hayatını ortaya koyduğu meseleyi yazar kimliğiyle ve bir roman çerçevesi içinde nasıl anlatıyor? cevap: şaşırtıcı derecede incelik ve zarafetle. incelik ve zarafet içinde müthiş bir yoğunluk ve güçle. mişima’nın inceliği, zarafeti asla basit/hafif bir roman yapmıyor bahar karları’nı. bilakis öfkeli, şiddetli, sert bir roman bahar karları. fakat mişima doğrudan yazarak göstermiyor bunu. mişima hissettiriyor, sezdiriyor. ilginç bir nokta mesela, hikaye içinde bir erdem olarak zarafeti geleneksel değerlere bağlı soylu sınıfa ait kişilerin karakterlerinde, kabalığı-doğrudanlığı ise yeni zengin sınıfa ait kahramanların karakterlerinde görmek. bir diğer nokta hikaye içindeki sona gidişle, mişima’nın kendi hayatındaki sona gidişteki paralellik. dörtlemenin tamamının varlık nedeni, bu yazınsal prova belki de, bu yazınsal prova da yazarın şiddetli sonunun inceliği.
sonuç olarak incelikli, aynı zamanda güçlü-yoğun anlatımı, karakter derinlikleri, doğaya bakıştaki şiirsellik, hikayeyi büyüten, genişleten detaylarıyla birlikte bahar karları, kendi içinde bütünlüğe sahip olduğu düşünülürse, başyapıt seviyesinde bir roman. ayrıca japonya tarihi ve kültürüne ilişkin sahici bir okumaya olanak veriyor. sahiciden kasıt, mişima’nın günümüzdeki çoğu yazar gibi ülkesinin kültürünü basitleştirip hafifleştirerek, şirinleştirerek batılı okura satmak gibi bir amacının olmaması. her japon yazarın yazdığı romana japon romanı denemeyeceğini biliyoruz maalesef.
soru şu belki: mişima taraf olduğu, hayatını ortaya koyduğu meseleyi yazar kimliğiyle ve bir roman çerçevesi içinde nasıl anlatıyor? cevap: şaşırtıcı derecede incelik ve zarafetle. incelik ve zarafet içinde müthiş bir yoğunluk ve güçle. mişima’nın inceliği, zarafeti asla basit/hafif bir roman yapmıyor bahar karları’nı. bilakis öfkeli, şiddetli, sert bir roman bahar karları. fakat mişima doğrudan yazarak göstermiyor bunu. mişima hissettiriyor, sezdiriyor. ilginç bir nokta mesela, hikaye içinde bir erdem olarak zarafeti geleneksel değerlere bağlı soylu sınıfa ait kişilerin karakterlerinde, kabalığı-doğrudanlığı ise yeni zengin sınıfa ait kahramanların karakterlerinde görmek. bir diğer nokta hikaye içindeki sona gidişle, mişima’nın kendi hayatındaki sona gidişteki paralellik. dörtlemenin tamamının varlık nedeni, bu yazınsal prova belki de, bu yazınsal prova da yazarın şiddetli sonunun inceliği.
sonuç olarak incelikli, aynı zamanda güçlü-yoğun anlatımı, karakter derinlikleri, doğaya bakıştaki şiirsellik, hikayeyi büyüten, genişleten detaylarıyla birlikte bahar karları, kendi içinde bütünlüğe sahip olduğu düşünülürse, başyapıt seviyesinde bir roman. ayrıca japonya tarihi ve kültürüne ilişkin sahici bir okumaya olanak veriyor. sahiciden kasıt, mişima’nın günümüzdeki çoğu yazar gibi ülkesinin kültürünü basitleştirip hafifleştirerek, şirinleştirerek batılı okura satmak gibi bir amacının olmaması. her japon yazarın yazdığı romana japon romanı denemeyeceğini biliyoruz maalesef.
May 17, 2008
Once you start reading Mishima, and becoming absorbed with his characters, you are caught in a web that resembles the web he reveals his own characters are enmeshed in. His characters are so tragic, yet so ordinary; so privileged, yet so doomed; so foolish, yet so much more introspective than you. Spring Snow was one of the best books I have ever read. Mishima is like a surgeon; the tip of his needle or scalpel so fine, so pointed, that he can isolate the most fleeting, awkward, and yet noble emotion, gesture, or thought, and hold it up to you like a jewel, and allow you to view it from all sides and savor it. And he does not hold these gems up to show you how ugly they are; what is so beautiful about his writing is that even the ugliest, basest, most "human", emotion, he gives nobility and honor, so that his characters seem deific, holy... like we should see ourselves. You become his fools, and you enjoy letting their hurt become yours because you have become more honest, and more truly yourself through the process of reading him... An exquisite book, haunting.
March 1, 2021
شاید کتاب برف بهاری نوشته یوکیو می شیما را بتوان هم مانند ستایشی از ژاپن قدیم و رسمها و سنت های پر شمارآن دانست و هم ستایشی از عشق ، عشقی که فرجامی ندارد.
داستان کتاب در اوایل قرن بیستم و تقریبا 50 سالی بعد از امپراطور میجی و مدرنیزاسیون ژاپن می گذرد ، اما آقای می شیما گویا علاقه چندانی به ژاپن مدرن ندارد ، او استاد توصیف هنرهای ژاپنی ایست ، خانه های سنتی ژاپن ، که به جای فرش ، تاتامی دارند و به جای دیوار فوسوما ، با درهایی کشویی به نام شوجی که معمولا به باغی آن هم از نوع ژاپنی با برکه و ماهی و لاک پشت باز می شوند . نویسنده استاد توصیف این زیبایی هاست ، او زیبایی های طبیعت ، مثلا یک شکوفه گیلاس را با چیرگی تمام توصیف می کند ، او دست خواننده را می گیرد و او را با خود به فضای رویایی ژاپن آن روزگار می برد ، روزگاری که به جای اتوموبیل ، ریکشا ها حرکت می کردند و کیمونو های زیبا ورنگارنگ به همراه گتا ، آشیدو گتا ، تکنو گتا و زوری ها که به جای کفش پوشیده می شدند محیطی خیالی و زیبا آفریده بودند .
می شیما عاشق و فریفته این محیط است ، داستان او هم تاکید فراوان بررسوم کهن ژاپن و احترام به امپراطور و بزرگداشت جنگ با روسیه را دارد و هم از عشقی می گوید که بین سنت و مدرنیته و شور جوانی مانده است . می شیما همه را توصیف می کند ، بین زیبایی های انسان با طبیعت رابطه می سازد به گونه ای که خواننده ممکن است از این همه توصیف و تشبیه خسته شود ، اما توضیحات می شیما دوره ای از فرهنگ ژاپن را وصف می کند که شاید برای کمتر کسی آشنا باشد .
داستان کتاب در اوایل قرن بیستم و تقریبا 50 سالی بعد از امپراطور میجی و مدرنیزاسیون ژاپن می گذرد ، اما آقای می شیما گویا علاقه چندانی به ژاپن مدرن ندارد ، او استاد توصیف هنرهای ژاپنی ایست ، خانه های سنتی ژاپن ، که به جای فرش ، تاتامی دارند و به جای دیوار فوسوما ، با درهایی کشویی به نام شوجی که معمولا به باغی آن هم از نوع ژاپنی با برکه و ماهی و لاک پشت باز می شوند . نویسنده استاد توصیف این زیبایی هاست ، او زیبایی های طبیعت ، مثلا یک شکوفه گیلاس را با چیرگی تمام توصیف می کند ، او دست خواننده را می گیرد و او را با خود به فضای رویایی ژاپن آن روزگار می برد ، روزگاری که به جای اتوموبیل ، ریکشا ها حرکت می کردند و کیمونو های زیبا ورنگارنگ به همراه گتا ، آشیدو گتا ، تکنو گتا و زوری ها که به جای کفش پوشیده می شدند محیطی خیالی و زیبا آفریده بودند .
می شیما عاشق و فریفته این محیط است ، داستان او هم تاکید فراوان بررسوم کهن ژاپن و احترام به امپراطور و بزرگداشت جنگ با روسیه را دارد و هم از عشقی می گوید که بین سنت و مدرنیته و شور جوانی مانده است . می شیما همه را توصیف می کند ، بین زیبایی های انسان با طبیعت رابطه می سازد به گونه ای که خواننده ممکن است از این همه توصیف و تشبیه خسته شود ، اما توضیحات می شیما دوره ای از فرهنگ ژاپن را وصف می کند که شاید برای کمتر کسی آشنا باشد .
May 8, 2016
Hands down, my favorite Japanese novel to date!!!
I can only but sigh finishing reading this masterpiece by Yukio Mishima. I am much overwhelmed by this beautifully poignant book that will surely tugs the heart of any reader.
So gorgeously written that demands to be read slow (not because one is intimidated to do so but it is such a beauty to relish every word written, I call it the "Mishima magic") and, indeed, Proustian in its rendition- as universal and constant as the waves of the sea, the introspection of the protagonist have much gone deep, lyrical, profound. Some of the chapters are as allusive, meditative and poetic like a kōan.
I particularly love the dialogues from Prince Pattanadid about everything sacred has the substance of dreams and memories, and so we experience the miracle of what is separated from us by time or distance suddenly being made tangible. For once the dreams and memories are beyond our grasp, the object is sanctified, once touched, we easily desecrates it. How strange man is! His touch defiles and yet he contains the source of miracles!
The book has the intimacy of Akutagawa's "Rashōmon" yet at an epic proportion. The subtleties only the Japanese can write is suffused within the pages of this book.
The characters of Kiyoake and Satoko will live with me forever...Such youthful vivacity, love and promise... The book is also philosophical and ironically comic at some of the most critical parts of the story which greatly balanced the book to veer away from being melodramatic, such as Honda's musings and Tadeshina, who reminds me of Mrs. Rupa Mehra, one of the most enduring characters in the literary world from Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy".
Just as one may think that this book is only a youthful, budding love story, no... Mishima, the master storyteller, weaves a tough and timeless basketwork- with complex twistings and braids made of wood, it holds the basket in form, as a whole. Seemingly simple, this book serves as the torii gate that will open the epic "Runaway Horses", the second book in the series "The Sea of Fertility" with such vast, sheer work of genius!
The most beautiful, melancholic and touching love story I've ever read and devoured with such heartache and will remain so for a very long time.
I can only but sigh finishing reading this masterpiece by Yukio Mishima. I am much overwhelmed by this beautifully poignant book that will surely tugs the heart of any reader.
So gorgeously written that demands to be read slow (not because one is intimidated to do so but it is such a beauty to relish every word written, I call it the "Mishima magic") and, indeed, Proustian in its rendition- as universal and constant as the waves of the sea, the introspection of the protagonist have much gone deep, lyrical, profound. Some of the chapters are as allusive, meditative and poetic like a kōan.
I particularly love the dialogues from Prince Pattanadid about everything sacred has the substance of dreams and memories, and so we experience the miracle of what is separated from us by time or distance suddenly being made tangible. For once the dreams and memories are beyond our grasp, the object is sanctified, once touched, we easily desecrates it. How strange man is! His touch defiles and yet he contains the source of miracles!
The book has the intimacy of Akutagawa's "Rashōmon" yet at an epic proportion. The subtleties only the Japanese can write is suffused within the pages of this book.
The characters of Kiyoake and Satoko will live with me forever...Such youthful vivacity, love and promise... The book is also philosophical and ironically comic at some of the most critical parts of the story which greatly balanced the book to veer away from being melodramatic, such as Honda's musings and Tadeshina, who reminds me of Mrs. Rupa Mehra, one of the most enduring characters in the literary world from Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy".
Just as one may think that this book is only a youthful, budding love story, no... Mishima, the master storyteller, weaves a tough and timeless basketwork- with complex twistings and braids made of wood, it holds the basket in form, as a whole. Seemingly simple, this book serves as the torii gate that will open the epic "Runaway Horses", the second book in the series "The Sea of Fertility" with such vast, sheer work of genius!
The most beautiful, melancholic and touching love story I've ever read and devoured with such heartache and will remain so for a very long time.
December 18, 2019
فلتنهمر يا ثلج العشق على أفئدة المغرمين في ربيع العمر، فنحن نعلم جيداً المبتدأ وندرك كذلك الخاتمة. ستتساقط رقاقاتك الهشة على المحبين فتنتعش أرواحهم وتزهر، ثم لاتلبث أن تعصف بهم وتكتسح أحلامهم حتى يغدو ذلك القلب المُخضر قالبا من جليد أو جلمودا من صخر.
نتحدث عن الجزء الأول من رباعية تعتبر من عيون الأدب الياباني، فمكانتها في الأدب الياباني كمكانة ثلاثية القاهرة في الأدب العربي، وإن لم يُجمع كل النقاد على عظمتها.
نحن بصدد رواية يابانية جداً، كلاسيكية جداً. يابانية من حيث أنها مزدانة بالكيمونوات، حافلة بزيارات المعابد ومآثر الساموراي، لا تكف عن تقديس الإمبراطور وتقدير التراث الأسري واحترام الفارق الطبقي. كما أنها كلاسيكية من حيث اللغة المنفلوطية، والسرد الخطي التقليدي والوتيرة الرتيبة. ليست هذه مواصفات الرواية المفضلة لي ولكن...
الرواية في مجملها رومانسية مكتملة الأركان، ولكنها أيضا تؤرخ لبعض جوانب حقبة ميجي وتخوض في فلسفة الحياة والموت والولاء...إلخ. ستروق الرواية أيضا لمن يحبون وصف الطبيعة من ثلج وأشجار قيقب -لا أعرف ماهيتها-وموج بحر وحدائق مذهلة. الشخصيات بسيطة ومتوقع ردود أفعالها سوى كيواكي -بطل الرواية- وهو يتمتع بشخصية ثلاثية الأبعاد، مركبة، تجعلك تمقتها وتتعاطف معها في الوقت نفسه. هناك أيضا شخصية الوصيفة تاديشينا الماكرة/الطيبة. غير هذا وذاك، لم أجد أي من عناصر الرواية مبهرا. سأحاول المضي في التحدي الشخصي وإتمام الرباعية إن شاء الله.
التقييم ثلاث نجوم ونصف.
نتحدث عن الجزء الأول من رباعية تعتبر من عيون الأدب الياباني، فمكانتها في الأدب الياباني كمكانة ثلاثية القاهرة في الأدب العربي، وإن لم يُجمع كل النقاد على عظمتها.
نحن بصدد رواية يابانية جداً، كلاسيكية جداً. يابانية من حيث أنها مزدانة بالكيمونوات، حافلة بزيارات المعابد ومآثر الساموراي، لا تكف عن تقديس الإمبراطور وتقدير التراث الأسري واحترام الفارق الطبقي. كما أنها كلاسيكية من حيث اللغة المنفلوطية، والسرد الخطي التقليدي والوتيرة الرتيبة. ليست هذه مواصفات الرواية المفضلة لي ولكن...
الرواية في مجملها رومانسية مكتملة الأركان، ولكنها أيضا تؤرخ لبعض جوانب حقبة ميجي وتخوض في فلسفة الحياة والموت والولاء...إلخ. ستروق الرواية أيضا لمن يحبون وصف الطبيعة من ثلج وأشجار قيقب -لا أعرف ماهيتها-وموج بحر وحدائق مذهلة. الشخصيات بسيطة ومتوقع ردود أفعالها سوى كيواكي -بطل الرواية- وهو يتمتع بشخصية ثلاثية الأبعاد، مركبة، تجعلك تمقتها وتتعاطف معها في الوقت نفسه. هناك أيضا شخصية الوصيفة تاديشينا الماكرة/الطيبة. غير هذا وذاك، لم أجد أي من عناصر الرواية مبهرا. سأحاول المضي في التحدي الشخصي وإتمام الرباعية إن شاء الله.
التقييم ثلاث نجوم ونصف.
September 27, 2022
Yukio Mishima seems more reserved in Spring snow, but I don't know if this is a quality. I prefer the more direct tone from his previous works, especially as it matches better his violent, elegant prose. Still, this isn't bad at all. As the first entry in his tetralogy, it tells a complete ( love) story, but the novel is so rich in character development, that I am really curious about the implications of such an end. I think that the book is less political than Mishima intended, but maybe I don't see all the ramifications yet.
March 31, 2015
Description: Tokyo, 1912. The closed world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders - rich provincial families, a new and powerful political and social elite.
Kiyoaki has been raised among the elegant Ayakura family - members of the waning aristocracy - but he is not one of them. Coming of age, he is caught up in the tensions between old and new, and his feelings for the exquisite, spirited Satoko, observed from the sidelines by his devoted friend Honda. When Satoko is engaged to a royal prince, Kiyoaki realises the magnitude of his passion.
The first book in The Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Translated from the Japanese by Michael Gallagher.
Opening: WHEN CONVERSATION at school turned to the Russo-Japanese War, Kiyoaki Matsugae asked his closest friend, Shigekuni Honda, how much he could remember about it.
I have no yearning to read anything other than this first book to get a sense of the author and his politics, and just why he felt that to go back to the mediaeval way of the Samurai was ::a::good::thing:: The particular reason to read this now is that it is Spring - and snow is falling.
As we move through the story there are divinations of things to come from the Dream Diaries, and a black dog at the top of a waterfall, an occurence which is said to augur badly. Yes, many carrots of things to come further down the line.
Yukio Mishima started weight training in 1955. His rigorous weekly regimes continued until his death. Mishima also become an avid and skillful practitioner of kendo. Despite his earlier flight from military service, Yukio Mishima would be known for his political support for a re-militarized Japan. Yukio Mishima became a part of the Ground Self Defense Force and went through the training process in 1967. In 1968, Yukio Mishim uses his reputation and his martial training to found the Tatenokai or the Shield Society. This paramilitary organization swore their loyalty to the abstract notion of the Voices of the Heroic Dead. Mishima supported Japanese Nationalism but was greatly angered by Emperor Hirohito’s renunciation of imperial divinity.
In 1958, Yukio Mishima married Yoko Sugiyama. The following year, Yoko gave birth to a daughter named Noriko and four years later Yoko gave birth to a son named Ichiro. Yukio Mishima frequented gay bars. But many people (including Mishima’s widow) have tried to obfuscate the fact of his homosexual activities. This obfuscation has failed to prevent many of Mishima’s male lovers from coming forward. Yukio Mishima’s children have joined in the effort to prevent Mishima’s full sexuality from becoming apparent by suing people who acknowledge these relationships.
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March 20, 2024
زمن الرواية: في بداية عصر تايشو، عام ، أكتوبر1912 وتنتهي في مارس 1914
الموضوع الرئيسي: الصراع بين الحداثة (العصرنة) والحفاظ على التقاليد اليابانية والطقوس القديمة وهذا الصراع التاريخي ناتج عن غربنة اليابان بعد انفتاحها على العالم الخارجي. يمثل هذا الصراع شخصية 'ماتسو جاي كيواكي' الرئيسية وهو شاب يبلغ من العمر 18 عامًا
شخصيات رئيسية أخرى: 'هوندا' الصديق المثقف. وحبيبة كيواوي، 'سوتاكو' التي كانت صديقة طفولته. تنتمي إلى عائلة نبيلة تواجه أزمة مالية، بينما هو من عائلة برجوازية غنية تحاول الوصول إلى مستوى اجتماعي أرقى. هناك أيضًا شخصية 'إينوما' وهو معلم كيواكي والمسؤول عنه، أكبر منه بـحوالي 6سنوات
كيواكي لديه سجل لتسجيل أحلامه وهو شخصية حالمة
العنوان مستوحى من نزهة سرية عملوها في فترة هطول الثلج في فصل الربيع
كيواكي مضطرب وحائر بين حبه لذاته وللآخرين وهو لديه صفات متناقضة مع صديقة ولكنهما في علاقة صداقة جميلة
انا لا اعرف ماذا سأقول، كتبت الكثير من الملاحظات حينما كنت اقراها واحتفظت بالكثير من الاقتباسات وطبعا يجب أن أعيد قراءتها حينما انهي الرباعية بالكامل. هذه الرواية تمنيت لسنوات أن أقراها وها أنا أنهينا قبل ثواني
سوف أعمل مراجعة فيديو لها في الشهر القادم وطبعا ساواصل قراءة رباعية الخصوبة
يوكيو ميشيما هو حبيبي ❤
ملخص الرواية: صدرت عام 1969 بعدما كانت تصدر في سلاسل
رواية رومانسية/ تاريخية، تروي قصة حب مؤثرة بين الشاب الحساس ماتسوجاي وصديقة طفولته سوتاكو. تتميز الرواية بالحوارات الفكرية بين الشخصيات والمقاطع التي تصف طبيعة المجتمع الياباني والتفاصيل الدينية والتاريخية
أحببت علاقة الصداقة بين ماتسوجاي وكي واكي ... علاقتهم جميلة جدا ولكن علاقة العشق بين ماتسوجاي وسوتاكو درامية وتراجيدية.
"لو أني لقيت حتفي راغمة في تلك اللحظة عينها لمت سعيدة. إن سعادتي في قبضتي يديك. فاحرص عليها." ص127
"ما من شيء في الأمور المتعلقة بالإنسان يمكن الركون إلى وقوعه على نحو ما أريد له." ص133
" في غالب الأحوال تتغير حياة إنسان بأسرها بسبب لحظة تردد." ص133
الموضوع الرئيسي: الصراع بين الحداثة (العصرنة) والحفاظ على التقاليد اليابانية والطقوس القديمة وهذا الصراع التاريخي ناتج عن غربنة اليابان بعد انفتاحها على العالم الخارجي. يمثل هذا الصراع شخصية 'ماتسو جاي كيواكي' الرئيسية وهو شاب يبلغ من العمر 18 عامًا
شخصيات رئيسية أخرى: 'هوندا' الصديق المثقف. وحبيبة كيواوي، 'سوتاكو' التي كانت صديقة طفولته. تنتمي إلى عائلة نبيلة تواجه أزمة مالية، بينما هو من عائلة برجوازية غنية تحاول الوصول إلى مستوى اجتماعي أرقى. هناك أيضًا شخصية 'إينوما' وهو معلم كيواكي والمسؤول عنه، أكبر منه بـحوالي 6سنوات
كيواكي لديه سجل لتسجيل أحلامه وهو شخصية حالمة
العنوان مستوحى من نزهة سرية عملوها في فترة هطول الثلج في فصل الربيع
كيواكي مضطرب وحائر بين حبه لذاته وللآخرين وهو لديه صفات متناقضة مع صديقة ولكنهما في علاقة صداقة جميلة
انا لا اعرف ماذا سأقول، كتبت الكثير من الملاحظات حينما كنت اقراها واحتفظت بالكثير من الاقتباسات وطبعا يجب أن أعيد قراءتها حينما انهي الرباعية بالكامل. هذه الرواية تمنيت لسنوات أن أقراها وها أنا أنهينا قبل ثواني
سوف أعمل مراجعة فيديو لها في الشهر القادم وطبعا ساواصل قراءة رباعية الخصوبة
يوكيو ميشيما هو حبيبي ❤
ملخص الرواية: صدرت عام 1969 بعدما كانت تصدر في سلاسل
رواية رومانسية/ تاريخية، تروي قصة حب مؤثرة بين الشاب الحساس ماتسوجاي وصديقة طفولته سوتاكو. تتميز الرواية بالحوارات الفكرية بين الشخصيات والمقاطع التي تصف طبيعة المجتمع الياباني والتفاصيل الدينية والتاريخية
أحببت علاقة الصداقة بين ماتسوجاي وكي واكي ... علاقتهم جميلة جدا ولكن علاقة العشق بين ماتسوجاي وسوتاكو درامية وتراجيدية.
"لو أني لقيت حتفي راغمة في تلك اللحظة عينها لمت سعيدة. إن سعادتي في قبضتي يديك. فاحرص عليها." ص127
"ما من شيء في الأمور المتعلقة بالإنسان يمكن الركون إلى وقوعه على نحو ما أريد له." ص133
" في غالب الأحوال تتغير حياة إنسان بأسرها بسبب لحظة تردد." ص133
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