spring snow Author:yukio mishima Spring Snow , a complete and self-contained novel, is the first book of Mishima's tetralogy. It is set in 1912, in Tokyo, in the closed circles of the Imperial Court and the ancient aristocracy, a hermetic world beginning to be breached by newcomers - the rich provincial families whose money and vitality, unhindered by burdens of tradition, make... more » them formidable contenders for the prize of social and political power. The son of the Matsugae family of the new elite becomes obsessed with the aristocratic Ayakyras' exquisite and spirited daughter. Her engagement to a a royal prince shows him the magnitude of his passion and leads to a love affair as doomed as it was fated.« less