Darkness and Brightness : An Essay on Mishima Yukio\u27s \u22The Temple of the Golden Pavilion\u22

Mishima\u27s \u22The Temple of the Golden Pavilion\u22 has been understood as a logical analysis of a case of arson ever since it was published, and read as a work lacking emotional sympathy. I try to show Mizoguchi\u27s way of thinking -his tendency to see constructions as people, and at the same time his idea that a living thing that can observe is a winner, and an inanimate thing that is observed is a loser. This paper is an attempt to show that \u22The Temple of the Golden Pavilion\u22 is a work which arouses emotional sympathy, through its presentation of Mizoguchi\u27s awareness that the temple is really Uiko herself