Clear all
Work #1078 · Last

The Sea of Fertility

Yukio Mishima
1965-71 (four-volume tetralogy) · Japanese
Tetralogy of four novels · Twentieth-century Japanese literature

Mishima's final tetralogy — completed the day of his 1970 ritual suicide, tracing reincarnation across twentieth-century Japan

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Sea of Fertility (Last)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Cyclical
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Cosmic-ordering
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Sea of Fertility

The 1912-75 span of twentieth-century Japan; the longer cyclical-reincarnational time across the four lives.

Space

The Sea of Fertility

Twentieth-century Japan in its successive cultural moments.

Matter

The Sea of Fertility

The four embodied lives; the same karmic seed differently incarnated.

Observer

The Sea of Fertility

Honda as continuous witness across the four lives.

Energy

The Sea of Fertility

The karmic-aesthetic energies that organise the tetralogy.

Information

The Sea of Fertility

The reincarnational pattern; the cultural-historical content of each volume.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Sea of Fertility

Mishima's political-cultural positions — ultranationalism, ritual suicide — make the tetralogy difficult to read separately from his death. The reception has been variously divided.