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Work #333 · Late (the major late work, completed the day of his 1970 ritual suicide)

The Sea of Fertility

Yukio Mishima
1965-70 (Spring Snow 1965-67, Runaway Horses 1967-68, The Temple of Dawn 1968-70, The Decay of the Angel 1970-71) · Japanese
Four-novel tetralogy · 20th-century Japanese literature

Mishima's 1965-70 tetralogy — completed the day of his ritual suicide, the major late work covering 20th-century Japan through reincarnation

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute The Sea of Fertility (Late (the major late work, completed the day of his 1970 ritual suicide))
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 Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Cosmic-ordering
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
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 cyclical-reincarnational time across four lives spanning 20th-century Japan.

Space

The Sea of Fertility

The Japanese national-cultural space across the century.

Matter

The Sea of Fertility

The embodied bodies across four reincarnations.

Observer

The Sea of Fertility

The protagonist across four lives; Honda as the singular continuing witness.

Energy

The Sea of Fertility

The energies of tradition, decay, ritual purpose, modernist dissolution.

Information

The Sea of Fertility

The 20th-century Japanese cultural-historical record.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Sea of Fertility

Mishima's ritual suicide on the day of the tetralogy's completion inflects all subsequent readings.