is a 1965 short story collection by the Japanese writer

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

. The title story is the tale of a Professor's visit to three Kumano shrines, accompanied by his shy and submissive middle-aged housekeeper, and his reasons for doing so. The collection was translated into English by

John Bester John Bester (1927-2010), born and educated in England, was one of the foremost translators of modern Japanese fiction. He was a graduate of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. Works * ''Classic Bonsai of Japan'' (Ne ...

, whose work was praised for rendering "Mishima's complex Japanese into fluent and faithful English", and received the inaugural Noma Prize for Translation. The contents were selected by Bester from stories published by Mishima spanning from the 1940s to the mid 1960s.

Synopsis

"Fountains in the Rain"

On a rainy day, the teenage Akio breaks up with his girlfriend in a tea shop in the

Marunouchi Building The is a skyscraper located in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. Construction of the 180-metre, 37-story skyscraper was finished in 2002. Tenants * 1st basement: retail stores, cafes, restaurants, printing & copying store and banks (ATMs) * 1st floor ...

. His girlfriend breaks down into floods of tears, but only later does he discover that she was crying about something else.

"Raisin Bread"

An autobiographical story about a group of young, fashionable people in the '50s who attend a party near a beach.

"Sword"

Describes the relationship between the captain of the university

kendō is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread t ...

team, Kokubu Jiro, and his younger admirer, Mibu.

"Sea and Sunset"

The story of an old French shepherd from the

Cévennes , etymology= , photo=Point Sublime-Gorges du Tarn-Frankreich.jpg , photo_caption=The Gorges du Tarn , country= France , subdivision2= , subdivision2_type=Départements , parent= Massif Central , area_km2= , length_km= , length_orient ...

named Anri who had participated in the children's crusade. Now living in medieval

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

, he describes the visions of Christ he experienced to a deaf and dumb boy after climbing a hill behind the Zen temple of Kenchoji.

"Cigarette"

The narrator reminisces about the time he first smoked cigarettes when he was a schoolboy. First published in 1946, this early story brought Mishima recognition in the Japanese literary world.

"Martyrdom"

A story about a group of schoolboys living in a dormitory that revolves around a stolen copy of ''

Plutarch's Lives Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...

''.

"Acts of Worship"

Poet and professor of literature Fujimiya and his housekeeper Tsuneko visit three Kumano shrines, where Professor Fujimiya buries three combs, each inscribed with a syllable of a woman's name: Kayoko. Fujimiya explains that when he was young he was in love with a girl named Kayoko, but her parents had forced them to break up. After he left to go to university, Kayoko died of an illness, and Fujimiya vowed to remain single for the rest of his life. Before she died, Kayoko suggested they visit the three shrines of Kumano, and Fujimiya replied, half-joking, that he would take her when he was sixty. So now having reached that age, he brought the combs bearing her name to the Kumano mountains.

References

1965 short story collections Short story collections by Yukio Mishima Shinto in fiction {{Japan-lit-stub