Episode 5 — The Temple of the Golden Pavilion — Part 2
In part two of The Golden Pavilion, Mizoguchi witnesses a stunningly erotic act at Nanzenji Temple, becomes perplexed by a Zen riddle, and is goaded into abusing a prostitute by an American GI. We also meet the novel's consummate Dostoevskyan nihilist: Kashiwagi.
This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, translated by Ivan Morris. Copyright © 1959 by Ivan Morris. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author’s estate.