"The completion of this great novel - 'The Sea of Fertility' - makes me feel that the end of the world has come..." wrote Yukio Mishima in October 1970. In November, he was dead after a ritual suicide.

Comprised of four parts, 'The Sea of Fertility' represents the blossoming of Mishima's unique genius. 'Spring Snow' is a gentle and touching love story. In 'Runaway Horses', its bloody sequel, the protagonist is a far-right terrorist. In 'The Temple of Dawn', a Thai princess is mystically connected with the heroes of the previous works. 'The Decay of the Angel' is a work equally captivating and erotic as the previous ones, but it is imbued with a farewell sadness.

On November 25, 1970, Yukio Mishima, at the peak of his brilliant literary career, shocked the world with his ritual suicide. In his works, Mishima often refers to themes of suicide and premature death, and he frequently expressed the desire to die young. He completed this tetralogy, his final work, on the morning of the day of his death. Shortly before his suicide, he wrote to his friends that he felt empty, having given all his beliefs and feelings for his life to this gigantic endeavor, which was later praised as a masterpiece.