In Yukio Mishima's "The Sea of Fertility" Volume 4 "The Decay of the Angel", Shigekuni Honda as a lawyer, who has reached old age, realizes that he has a few days left to live,
and leaves the Miyako Hotel in Keage, Kyoto to Gesshu-ji Temple in Obitoke, Nara to see Satoko Ayakura as the chief priest, the former imperial fiancee and also his frend's lover.
On the way to the meeting, he passed by this Daigo area.The writing style of "The Decay of the Angel"is relatively even-toned and rushed,
although it is slightly apart from the so-called Mishima-like "decorative" style, in this episode you can feel the flow of time relatively leisurely.
In fact, Yukio Mishima went on an interview trip from Keage, Kyoto to Ensho-ji temple in Obitoke, Nara on 22nd July 1970, and it was recorded in his "creative notebook".
"Snack bar with parking lot" was called "Snack Swamp", and existed in front of the former Kyoto City Eastern Clean Center for a long time until more than ten years ago, but now there is a condominium.
In addition, "Bamboo leaves drooping over the expressway" is thought to be a bamboo grove drooping over the outer ring road in Iga, Momoyama-cho, Fushimi Ward(The photo at the right above).
Although,it was written that car had entered into Uji-city, in acturally, we enter into Naramachi Uji city soon after passing "Snack Swamp", but we re-enter Fushimi Ward Kyoto city after passing Naramachi Uji city.
It is presumed that "At the edge of a cliff, a dumping ground for cars" was probably along the Aiba River near Ohuke hausing complex and the Ishida Mori Higashi Intersection of the Outer Ring Road.
At leaset in the 1980s, this riverside embankment looked like a junkyard.
The Yamashina Minamizume (now Yamashina Station Exit) and Daigo districts are considered to be new and rugged landscapes that can be seen anywhere in Japan,
but even today, "new building materials and roofs of blue glaze tiles" remain.
There are still remnants of the Showa 40's.(1965 to 1975)
The Yamashina-Daigo area appears as a transit point in "The Sea of Fertility", but it is not even well known, so I wrote it here.
The depiction of the final chapter, including the depiction of Kizu, Obitoke and the garden of Ensho-ji temple is attractive as "the last summer". (Author: Keishiro Murata)
《Reference on trivia》
Nobuko Arimoto/A Research of Manuscript on "The Sea of Fertility" - Around of the final episode - /Hiroshima univ.Bulletin of the Research Center for the Technique of Representation vol.5 *Title was translated by Keishiro Murata
Yasuhiro Ozawa/The Structure of The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel/ Bulletin of College of Education, University of the Ryukyus Issue Number 34, p. 181-207, Issue Date 1989-03 : 181-207
《Photo》
"Bamboo leaves drooping over the expressway" at Iga, Momoyama-cho, Fushimi Ward
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