I was inspired to read some of the writing by Yukio Mishima I hadn't yet read after recently reading Marguerite Yourcenar's book, Mishima: A Vision of the Void. So I read The Sound Of The Waves (1954). It is a simple love story between two young people from a small island who become star crossed lovers due to the economic discrepancies of the two families. Hatsue's family is one of the more wealthy, while Shinji's family lives modestly-dependent on his salary as a fisherman and his mother's contributions as a seafood diver. Knowing Mishima's politics and beliefs I can see this as a celebration of the traditional values of Japan. The villain and Shinji's rival is the vulgar Yasuo who display his wealth with a wristwatch and acts as if everything is his entitlement. Shinji is soft spoken, strong, pure, and heroic-a vital samurai of sorts. In fact Hatsue's father makes this speech after Shinji has proved himself worthy working on one of his ships:
The only thing that really counts in a man is his get-up-and-go. If he's got get-up-and-go he's a real man, and those are the kind of men we need here on Uta-jima. Family and money are all secondary. Don't you think so Mistress Lighthouse-Keeper? And that what he's got-Shinji-get-up-and-go.
That being said it is enjoyable as a look back at a not so distant past of small island life in Japan. I see it as analogous to Donald Richie's endlessly fascinating The Inland Sea, which also captures this forgotten way of living.
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