The Literature Book

263

See also: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki 93

I

n the decades leading up to

World War II, Japan was an

aggressive military state,

occupying parts of China. Its

strict code of literary censorship

tightened even further during

wartime. The relaxing of these

restrictions at the end of the war

saw a flowering of literary voices.

Freedom and diversity

Many of the “first generation” of

postwar writers (those whose first

work was published in 1946–47)

focused on the subject of wartime

experiences. However, with the

appearance of a second generation

(1948– 49), and a third (1953–55),

the only theme that united the

authors was the freedom that

allowed them to flourish. This

resulted in a period of intense

creativity and productivity.

Yukio Mishima (1920–1970), was

of the second generation, and The

Temple of the Golden Pavilion is

often said to be his finest work. It

tells the fact-based story of an ugly,

stuttering young monk who comes

to hate all beauty, especially the

550-year-old Zen temple in Kyoto,

decorated in gold leaf. Initially,

it represents to the monk the

transitory nature of life and

beauty, but comes to dominate his

thoughts as a bullying presence,

and one that he cannot escape. The

novel was extremely popular—a

compelling study of madness that

leads to destruction, but also a

meditation on beauty itself, of

which one of the most beautiful

aspects is Mishima’s prose. ■

POSTWAR WRITING

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TOUCH

ETERNITY WITH ONE HAND

AND LIFE WITH THE OTHER

THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILION (1956),

YUKIO MISHIMA

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Postwar Japanese writers

BEFORE

1946 Ha ruo Umeza k i’s

collection of short stories

Sakurajima is published. The

tales, from which he became

known, touch on aspects of

Japanese life in World War II,

such as kamikaze pilots.

1951 Shoˉ hei Oˉoka’s most

famous novel, Fires on the

Plain, is published. Like

Umeza k i’s Sakurajima, it

reflects the author’s wartime

experiences, including Japan’s

defeat by US forces on Leyte

island in the Philippines.

AFTER

1962 K oˉ b oˉ A b e ’ s n o v e l

The Woman in the Dunes

is a bleak and disturbing

tale about an amateur

entomologist who is held

captive in an escape-proof

shack at the bottom of a

pit of sand in a remote village.

It is no exaggeration

to say that the first real

problem I faced in my life

was that of beauty.

The Temple of the

Golden Pavilion

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