---
product_id: 5670043
title: "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Vintage International)"
price: "R579"
currency: ZAR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/5670043-the-temple-of-the-golden-pavilion-vintage-international
store_origin: ZA
region: South Africa
---

# The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Vintage International)

**Price:** R579
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Vintage International)
- **How much does it cost?** R579 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/5670043-the-temple-of-the-golden-pavilion-vintage-international)

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## Description

desertcart.com: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: 9780679752707: Yukio Mishima, Ivan Morris, Nancy Wilson Ross, Fumi Komatsu: Books

Review: Every Mishima novel is its own unique, integral universe. This is a true story. - It's said that even the most exalted auteurs are mainly rewriting their one driving vision in various incarnations. Hitchcock, Truffaut, Melville, Godard come to mind. Even though I'm necessarily viewing Yukio Mishima's ouevre through the refracted lens of various English translators, in my ongoing binge I am coming to the realization that, like Stravinsky, Mishima remakes his language, his choreography, his orchestration, his POV, his most intrinsic philosophy, his narrative trajectory wholly invested and recreated in each unique work. The Temple of The Golden Pavilion is a novel based on true events. Mizoguchi is a Zen acolyte, son of a Buddhist priest, apprenticed at the Golden Pavilion. We are witness to his coming-of-age, pathologically, beginning from an abusive act of ultimately inhumane hypocracy from his father, through his Travis Bickle trajectory into evangelistic mania and ultimate catastrophe. (Don't make the same mistake I did by reading Nancy Wilson Ross' inadequate introduction; just read from Mishima's beginning.) Not since Joseph Heller's extraordinary incipient descent in Something Happened have I read such a compelling and repelling narration of incipient madness. The tyranny of beauty, the purity of evil, the pervasive sense of 'unease', so clearly in kinship with the German 'unheimlich': uncanny; the uncontrollable trembling of the hands indicative of psychosis only given voice and witness by Mariko, this Taxi Driver's Whore With a Heart of Gold; the inviolate and indestructible quality of human life and the immortality and fragility of symbols and structures. The crazier he gets, the more hallucinatory and beautiful the prose becomes. Beginning in a place of utter, ascetic and emotionless inception, Mishima escalates Mizoguchi's perverse but inexorable pursuit of knowledge into an ecstasy, an unfettered erotic and evangelical incendiary impulse.
Review: The master at work - Writers like Mishima resonate through history. He is also a man who spoke his mind and backed up those thoughts with action. If he said he was going to do something, he did it, including killing himself at the end of the writing of the Sea or Fertility. His writings will live forever

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #58,117 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #16 in Japanese Literature #864 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #3,767 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 645 Reviews |

## Images

![The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Vintage International) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61jTljcQBiL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Every Mishima novel is its own unique, integral universe. This is a true story.
*by C***Y on October 18, 2019*

It's said that even the most exalted auteurs are mainly rewriting their one driving vision in various incarnations. Hitchcock, Truffaut, Melville, Godard come to mind. Even though I'm necessarily viewing Yukio Mishima's ouevre through the refracted lens of various English translators, in my ongoing binge I am coming to the realization that, like Stravinsky, Mishima remakes his language, his choreography, his orchestration, his POV, his most intrinsic philosophy, his narrative trajectory wholly invested and recreated in each unique work. The Temple of The Golden Pavilion is a novel based on true events. Mizoguchi is a Zen acolyte, son of a Buddhist priest, apprenticed at the Golden Pavilion. We are witness to his coming-of-age, pathologically, beginning from an abusive act of ultimately inhumane hypocracy from his father, through his Travis Bickle trajectory into evangelistic mania and ultimate catastrophe. (Don't make the same mistake I did by reading Nancy Wilson Ross' inadequate introduction; just read from Mishima's beginning.) Not since Joseph Heller's extraordinary incipient descent in Something Happened have I read such a compelling and repelling narration of incipient madness. The tyranny of beauty, the purity of evil, the pervasive sense of 'unease', so clearly in kinship with the German 'unheimlich': uncanny; the uncontrollable trembling of the hands indicative of psychosis only given voice and witness by Mariko, this Taxi Driver's Whore With a Heart of Gold; the inviolate and indestructible quality of human life and the immortality and fragility of symbols and structures. The crazier he gets, the more hallucinatory and beautiful the prose becomes. Beginning in a place of utter, ascetic and emotionless inception, Mishima escalates Mizoguchi's perverse but inexorable pursuit of knowledge into an ecstasy, an unfettered erotic and evangelical incendiary impulse.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The master at work
*by C***L on December 24, 2024*

Writers like Mishima resonate through history. He is also a man who spoke his mind and backed up those thoughts with action. If he said he was going to do something, he did it, including killing himself at the end of the writing of the Sea or Fertility. His writings will live forever

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Lovely, disturbing
*by F***N on January 11, 2013*

Disturbing, because The Temple delves deeply into the mind and motivations of a sick individual, making understandable if not nearly inevitable, his horrible destructive deed. The fact that the plot parallels the true story of the Temple of The Golden Pavilion's destruction (in 1950)makes the story all the more chilling and suspenseful. Ultimately,this novel will usher the thoughtful reader into areas of self reflection concerning the nature of beauty, unattainable perfection, and the harshness of life. Lovely, because Mashima is adroit at immersing the reader into a serene and beautiful world, even if it is one seen trough the eyes of a problematic individual. Several reviewers mentioned 'repetitive" or "heavy" - I think that most readers of Japanese writing will not find this so, rather The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion paints a picture of a whole life seen through the eyes of one person, so the perceptions are necessarily narrow. The story unfold through the eyes of an isolated, lonely and flawed young man, who despite his speech impediment has many privileges, and several opportunities to overcome his self doubt. This is not an uplifting book. Some of Mashima's other works are more of a joy to read; I definitely would not recommend this book as your first Japanese nor your first Mashima novel. Some suggestions: the sweet, hopeless love story with a hidden edge, Spring Snow, or the lyrical and poetic Sound Of The Waves.

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*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-02-08*