The Temple of Dawn (暁の寺, Akatsuki no Tera) was published by Shinchosha in 1970. The novel is divided into two parts: in the first, set in 1941 Bangkok, Honda — now a successful lawyer — encounters a seven-year-old Thai princess, Ying Chan, who claims to be Japanese and speaks of memories that match Isao’s life and death. In the second part, set in postwar Japan in the 1950s, Ying Chan is a young woman studying in Tokyo.
Honda has become wealthy and obsessed: he builds a swimming pool at his new house with a carefully designed peephole through which he can watch Ying Chan bathing, hoping to see the three moles that would confirm her identity as Kiyoaki’s third reincarnation. His spiritual quest — the attempt to understand the mechanism of reincarnation — has curdled into voyeurism. The man who began the tetralogy as a noble witness has become a pathetic fetishist.
Mishima uses the Thai setting to explore Buddhist concepts of reincarnation through Hindu-Buddhist temple architecture (the “Temple of Dawn” is Wat Arun in Bangkok). The novel is the most philosophically discursive of the four volumes — extended passages on Yogacara Buddhist consciousness theory and the Alaya-vijnana (storehouse consciousness) that supposedly carries karma between lives.
Collecting The Temple of Dawn
First edition (Shinchosha, Tokyo, 1970): Japanese text.
First English edition (Knopf, New York, 1973): Translated by E. Dale Saunders and Cecilia Segawa Seigle.
Market values:
- Knopf first English edition, fine in jacket: $50–$120
- Japanese first edition: $100–$300
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Philosopher
The Temple of Dawn (暁の寺, 1970) is the third volume of The Sea of Fertility. Honda, now a wealthy lawyer, travels to Thailand and encounters a young princess he believes is the reincarnation of Isao. The novel is divided into two halves: a vivid, sensual section set in Bangkok (Mishima traveled extensively in Southeast Asia), and a philosophical section exploring Buddhist transmigration and Hindu theology. Many readers find it the weakest of the four novels — the philosophical digressions can feel heavy — but the Bangkok passages are among Mishima’s most vivid travel writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this considered the weakest volume? The extensive Buddhist philosophy in the second half interrupts the narrative momentum. However, the theological questions are essential to understanding the tetralogy’s devastating final volume.