Runaway Horses (奔馬, Honba) was published by Shinchosha in 1969, the second volume of The Sea of Fertility. Honda, now a middle-aged judge, encounters Iinuma Isao — a twenty-year-old kendo champion and ultra-nationalist who bears the three moles that mark him as Kiyoaki’s reincarnation. Where Kiyoaki was passive and aesthetic, Isao is active and political: he is planning to assassinate a group of industrialists whom he sees as corrupting the Emperor’s divine sovereignty.
Isao’s plot is based on the real League of Blood Incident of 1932 and the broader tradition of patriotic terrorism in modern Japanese history — the young officers’ rebellions that culminated in the February 26 Incident of 1936. Mishima presents Isao’s fanaticism with an empathy that disturbed many readers, particularly given Mishima’s own 1970 coup attempt and suicide.
The novel’s philosophical argument: where Spring Snow explored beauty as an end in itself (Kiyoaki’s aestheticism), Runaway Horses explores action as an end in itself — the samurai ethic of purity through violence. Isao achieves his assassination and immediately commits seppuku at sunrise overlooking the sea — his death is the novel’s affirmative climax, not its tragedy.
Collecting Runaway Horses
First edition (Shinchosha, Tokyo, 1969): Japanese text.
First English edition (Knopf, New York, 1973): Translated by Michael Gallagher.
Market values:
- Knopf first English edition, fine in jacket: $60–$150
- Japanese first edition: $150–$400
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate-to-strong appreciation.
The Activist
Runaway Horses (奔馬, 1969) is the second volume of The Sea of Fertility. Set in the 1930s, it follows Isao Iinuma, a right-wing fanatic whom the aging Honda (the tetralogy’s recurring character) recognizes as the reincarnation of Kiyoaki from Spring Snow. Isao plots the assassination of corrupt industrialists in the name of imperial purity. The novel is Mishima’s most nakedly political work, and its protagonist’s fanaticism clearly echoes Mishima’s own increasingly extreme political views. It is the most action-driven of the four novels, and its violent conclusion is devastating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this reflect Mishima’s own politics? Unmistakably. Mishima formed a private militia (the Shield Society) and was increasingly drawn to the ultranationalist ideology that drives Isao. The novel can be read as both a portrait of fanaticism and a partial self-portrait.