The Sound of Waves

Name: The Sound of Waves
ISBN: 9787541156120

Yukio Mishima / 烨伊Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaDec 2021

4.3

Word count: 67K words
Chapters: 18
ISBN: 9787541156120

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Summary

The Sound of Waves is Yukio Mishima's representative work of youthful literature. It was selected for the Japanese Ministry of Education's designated middle school language textbook and was the first winner of the Shinchosha Literature Prize. After traveling in Greece, Mishima resolved to use Longus's fine pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloe as a model and write a Japanese-style romance in praise of simple, sincere love. That is how The Sound of Waves came to be. "The sound of waves" refers to the sound of the tide beating against the shore; the book tells a pure, song-like love story set on the island of歌岛. Shinji, an 18-year-old fisherman, meets Hatsue, a beautiful girl who has just returned from elsewhere, and they fall in love at first sight. He later learns that Hatsue is the daughter of the wealthy Miyata Terukichi, who had sent her to be raised elsewhere. Through repeated encounters they come to love each other without knowing it, yet they never overstep the bounds of propriety. Yasuo, a rich young man from the island, also likes Hatsue. Yasuo spreads rumors about Shinji and Hatsue on the island, which angers Hatsue's father and leads him to forbid them to see each other. Later, Hatsue's father entrusts the captain of his company's motorized sailing ship to take Shinji and Yasuo out to sea and test their performance. On the way back the ship runs into danger; at the critical moment Yasuo proves cowardly, while Shinji steps forward and, at the risk of his life, turns the situation around and saves one of Hatsue's father's boats. Shinji's conduct wins Hatsue's father's approval and admiration, and the two lovers are finally united. The author's depiction of youth heightens the purity of love.

Editor's review

The Sound of Waves is Yukio Mishima's representative work of youthful literature, written after his travels in Greece and modeled on a pastoral romance. It was selected for the Japanese Ministry of Education's designated middle school language textbook and was the first winner of the Shinchosha Literature Prize. Set on the island of Uta-jima, it tells of the fisherman Shinji and the returning girl Hatsue, who fall in love at first sight; facing the rich young man Yasuo's rumors and Hatsue's father's ban, Shinji steps forward during a crisis at sea and ultimately wins recognition. Unlike the bleak obsession of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, this novel is bright and plain, writing labor, the sound of the tide, and love with clean force, and its depiction of young men's and women's feelings heightens the purity of love. Ye Yi's translation is clear and lucid, well suited as an introduction to another side of Mishima. While reading, pay attention to the everyday details of island life and the characters' actions rather than looking too hard for symbols; the book's restrained handling of moral norms is also key to understanding the relationships.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to try Yukio Mishima but worry his work is bleak and heavy
Readers who enjoy pure love stories and life in island fishing villages
Readers interested in Japanese youth literature and textbook-level works
Literature lovers who want a bright work to see another side of Mishima

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer complex psychological suspense or strong dramatic conflict
Serious literature readers expecting deep social critique and historical reflection
Readers with little interest in plain pastoral love narratives

Reading tips

Start with a basic sense of daily life in the fishing village of Uta-jima, then enter Shinji and Hatsue's meeting, and feel how the setting shapes the characters.
Note how Shinji and Yasuo behave differently during the crisis at sea; this is the key passage for understanding the novel's values.
After finishing, compare it with The Temple of the Golden Pavilion to see how Mishima dealt with "beauty" and "action" in two ways around the same period.
If time is short, focus on Shinji and Hatsue's several encounters and the ending to grasp the narrative tone of pure love and restrained morality.

About the publisher

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literary and art publishing institution. It mainly publishes books on contemporary and modern literature, foreign literature, poetry and prose, music and art, and literary theory. Judging from the books in the database, the house places considerable emphasis on classic works and foreign literature. Representative titles include Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Its translator resources include Deng Jiawan, Shi Zhongge, Du Yunci, and Zhu Shenghao. Common categories include social fiction, classic works, foreign literature, world classics, literary appreciation, and classical poetry, reflecting a publishing profile that balances Chinese and foreign literary classics with literary appreciation.

版权信息
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
三岛由纪夫年表

FAQ

Is The Sound of Waves suitable for middle school students?

Yes. It was selected for the Japanese Ministry of Education's designated middle school language textbook; its language is clear, and the plot centers on love and growth among young people in a fishing village, with emotions handled in a restrained, clean way. Middle school students can treat it as an introduction to Japanese youth literature and island life, though the book touches on ideas of love and engagement, so discussion with teachers is suggested.

What does the title "The Sound of Waves" mean?

"The sound of waves" refers to the sound of the tide beating against the shore. The novel is set in the fishing village of Uta-jima, where the sound of the tide runs through daily life and also sets off the plain, natural emotional atmosphere. The title does not point to dramatic plot but invites readers to notice the echo between the island setting and the characters' moods.

Is its style very different from The Temple of the Golden Pavilion?

Very different. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is written in the first person about obsession, beauty, and destruction, with a bleak psychology and dense imagery; The Sound of Waves is bright and plain, about the pure love and working life of young people in a fishing village, with a brisk narrative pace. Reading the two together gives a fuller view of Mishima's range.

Why does Shinji and Hatsue's love withstand the test?

The novel places the test in concrete action: facing Yasuo's rumors and Hatsue's father's ban, Shinji does not argue but risks his life in the crisis at sea to save the boat. This action wins Hatsue's father's approval and brings their relationship recognition. The work emphasizes not romantic declarations but the credibility earned through labor and responsibility.

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About the author

Yukio Mishima Author · Japan · 1925–1970

Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) was a Japanese novelist and playwright, born Hiraoka Kimitake in Tokyo and a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. He established his literary standing with Confessions of a Mask in 1949, and went on to explore beauty, desire and death in a coolly refined and intensely aesthetic style. His major works include The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, The Sound of Waves and the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility, whose volumes Spring Snow, Runaway Horses and The Decay of the Angel are available in Chinese. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. On 25 November 1970 he committed seppuku at a Self-Defense Forces base, and his life and writing have remained a subject of public discussion. The library holds 84 of his works, mostly under foreign literature, young adult literature and classics.

烨伊 Author

Ye Yi is a translator and editor in the field of foreign literature in Chinese publishing. Public information about the author is limited, and details such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded. Judging from the thirty works held in the collection, Ye Yi's translation work centers mainly on Japanese and modern Western literature, involving major writers such as Yasunari Kawabata, Osamu Dazai, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Representative translations include the collected edition of Kawabata's works, Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, and The Izu Dancer; Dazai's No Longer Human and a trilogy of his works; Fitzgerald's later collection The Afternoon of a Writer; and The Art of Junji Ito: The Birth of Horror. The translations span classic fiction, author-focused anthologies, and essays on manga creation, covering both literary fiction and popular reading, and present a relatively concentrated profile within the translation and publication of foreign literature and general biography.