The Sound of Waves

Yukio Mishima / 冷欣Shaanxi Normal University Press · ChinaApr 2021

Rating 4.5
Word count
84K words
Chapters
20
ISBN
9787569520293

Tags

Contemporary Romance Fate and FortuneInnocent LoveComing of AgeTender SentimentPoetic NarrativeTraditional AestheticsPostwar JapanJapanese IslandOcean ImageryNature Rhythm

Summary

A pure and beautiful love story set on a small seaside island in Japan. Shinji, a hardworking and brave young fisherman, meets Hatsue, an ama diver who has returned from elsewhere, and the two gradually fall for each other. Chiyoko, who has long loved Shinji, is jealous, while the local wealthy young man Yasuo tries every means to win Hatsue. After rumors spread by others and opposition from their elders, Shinji and Hatsue remain devoted to each other. Later, on a voyage at sea, Yasuo shows cowardice in a crisis, while Shinji risks his life to save Hatsue's father's ship, earning praise and respect, passing the test and gaining acceptance. The two lovers are finally united.

Editor's review

The Sound of Waves is a rare bright work in Yukio Mishima's oeuvre. Set in an island fishing village, it tells how the young fisherman Shinji and the ama diver Hatsue hold fast to their love amid gossip, jealousy and opposition from their elders. The novel renders the sweat of labor, the salt of the sea breeze and youthful shyness with clean, forceful prose. Its characters are sharply divided between good and bad yet never flat: Yasuo's cowardice and greed are exposed at the critical moment, while Shinji proves his character by risking death to save the ship. This structure of "test—recognition—union" has the plain rhythm of a folk tale; it reads smoothly and offers a ready way to observe another side of Mishima's imagination of health, order and beauty. Leng Xin's translation is lucid, making it a good entry point to Mishima and a useful contrast after reading darker texts such as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It can be finished in a commute or a half-day weekend; afterward, consider the relationship between the sea imagery and the moral judgments of the characters.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the main storyline straight through first, then revisit the ship-rescue scene and note how the earlier gossip and the elders' attitudes are set up.
  2. Mark the imagery of the sea, storms and ships separately, and observe how they correspond to the characters' moral states.
  3. If you have read The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, compare the two books' different treatments of "beauty" and "health" in a short review.
  4. After reading Leng Xin's translation, compare a passage with the original or another translation to feel the difference in rhythm.

About the publisher

Shaanxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1985

Shaanxi Normal University Press is a comprehensive publisher that gives equal weight to humanistic scholarship and general reading, with publishing directions covering law, world classics, social psychology, classic works, mystery and detective fiction, and foreign literature. In law, it offers theoretical translations such as Hegel's Philosophy of Right; in literature, it publishes Chinese and foreign classics including Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, Don Quixote, Six Records of a Floating Life, and The Complete Sherlock Holmes, with translators such as Jia Wenhao, Jia Wenyuan, and Jia Lingyi. It also publishes in social psychology and biography, such as The Neurotic Personality of Our Time and Beethoven. The library currently holds 210 titles; public information is limited, yet the overall profile shows a publishing character that balances academic depth with popular readability.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 潮骚
  3. 第一章
  4. 第二章
  5. 第三章
  6. 第四章
  7. 第五章
  8. 第六章
  9. 第七章
  10. 第八章
  11. 第九章
  12. 第十章
  13. 第十一章
  14. 第十二章
  15. 第十三章
  16. 第十四章
  17. 第十五章
  18. 第十六章
  19. 附：《潮骚》解说（节选）
  20. 死岛

FAQ

I have never read Yukio Mishima. Can I start with this book? Yes. The narrative line is clear, the relationships are simple, and the language does not depend on complex philosophical background, making it one of Mishima's more accessible works. If you become curious about his dark aesthetic afterward, turning to The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and other works will provide a clear contrast.
Does the "test" plot in the story feel clichéd? The ship-rescue episode does have a plain folk-tale structure, but its point is not suspense; it exposes the characters' true natures at a critical moment. Yasuo's cowardice contrasts with Shinji's sense of responsibility and also gives Hatsue's father a credible reason to change his attitude. Read it as the closing movement of the moral evaluation.
Do I need to know about Japanese fishing villages to read this book? No prior knowledge is necessary. The novel's descriptions of fishing labor, ama diving and island relationships are enough to support the reading. For deeper understanding, you can briefly look up material on Japanese ama divers and fishing-village communities afterward, then return to the passages on the elders' opposition and the spread of gossip.

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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.

冷欣 Author

Leng Xin is an author whose work centers on mystery and suspense; public information about the author is limited, and biographical details are currently unavailable. Judging from the eight titles held in the catalog, the writing is closely connected with Japanese mystery literature. Representative works include The Sound of the Tide, The Beast in the Shadows, The Black Lizard, The Phantom Tower, The Female Demon, and Triple Vortex, along with the six-volume Collected Mystery Stories of Edogawa Ranpo and the anthology Ranpo's Gallery of Strange Figures: The Odd Volume. These titles largely revolve around Edogawa Ranpo's world of bizarre mystery, while also touching on modern romance and foreign literature, suggesting a style that emphasizes eerie atmosphere, criminal psychology, and plot reversals. The available material is not yet enough to trace a full writing career, but readers can sense the author's narrative choices and tastes in suspense through these works.