Runaway Horses
Runaway Horses (奔馬, Honba) is a 1969 novel by Yukio Mishima, the second in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy. Mishima did much research to prepare for this novel, visiting locations recorded in the book and studying historical information about the Shinpūren Rebellion collected by previous researchers, including Ishihara Shiko'o. Japanese critics initially reviewed Runaway Horses negatively.
According to Araki Seishi, Mishima didn't care whether or not Runaway Horses sold well, and deliberately selected a featureless wasōbon-like cover design. Araki was concerned that the forbiddingly blank cover would result in younger generations not bothering to read it. However, Shinchosha ultimately included a more decorative design on the dust jackets of the first published edition.
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