The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Item Details

New York, Alfred Knopf, 1959, Hardcover

First American Edition, Very Good

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima. Alfred A Knopf. 1959 First American edition stated. Original unclipped dust jacket. Translated from the Japanese by Ivan Morris; Introduction by Nancy Wilson Ross; and Drawings by Fumi Komatsu. The book is a fictionalized account of the real-life 1950 burning of the historic Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto by a disturbed Buddhist acolyte. The protagonist is Mizoguchi, an impoverished, physically frail, and severely stammering Zen acolyte. Mizoguchi develops a consuming, obsessive fixation on the flawless beauty of the Golden Pavilion, which eventually feels like an insurmountable barrier to living freely in the world. Believing that true possession or liberation can only come through destruction, he sets the temple ablaze in July 1950, survives an attempted suicide, and resolves to keep living. Kimitake Hiraoka (1925 – 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima, was a Japanese novelist, playwright, short story writer, actor, martial artist, model, and the leader of an attempted coup d’état that culminated in his {seppuku} or suicide by harakiri. He is considered one of the most important postwar stylists of the Japanese language. 262 pages. Book and jacket are both very good. See images.