Isao is a young, engaging patriot, & a fanatical believer in the ancientsamuraiethos. He turns terrorist, organising a violent plot against the new industrialists, who he believes are threatening the integrity ofJapan &usurping theEmperor’srightful power. As the conspiracy unfolds & unravels,Mishimabrilliantly chronicles the conflicts of a decade that saw the fabric ofJapaneselife torn apart.°°°Thesecondnovel in the masterful tetralogy,The Sea of Fertility—& “a modern masterpiece” (The Baltimore Sun)—narrated by a judge inOsakawho believes he has met the successive reincarnation of his childhood friendKiyoaki Matsugae.In 1932,Shigeuki Hondahas become a judge inOsaka. Convinced that a young rightist revolutionary, Isao, is the reincarnation of his friendKiyoaki,Hondacommits himself to saving the youth from an untimely death. Isao, driven to patriotic fanaticism by a father who instilled in him the ethos of the ancient samurai, organizes a violent plot against the new industrialists who he believes are usurping theEmperor’srightful power & threatening the very integrity of the nation.Runaway Horsesis the chronicle of a conspiracy — a novel about the roots & nature ofJapanesefanaticism in the years that led to war.