Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) — a star of 20th-century literature, the most widely read Japanese author in the world, a holder of brilliant talent, renowned for both his works of the broadest range and diversity of genres (novels, plays, stories, essays) and his astonishing biography (an obsession with bodybuilding, far-right political tendencies, seppuku after a failed coup attempt). "The House of Kyoko" — the story of four young people, regulars of a salon (or parishioners of a temple), ruled by the hostess (or priestess) Kyoko. These four are four facets of the author himself: a finely sensitive innocent artist; an energetic boxer obsessed with sports; an unappreciated narcissistic actor, mesmerized by his beauty; and a businessman who, pretending to be a careerist, professes nihilism, despises reality, and believes in the inevitable end of the world. And with them is Kyoko — their mirror, their guide through the hell of modernity, the mistress of the house where all of them find refuge and can open their souls. It is the early 1950s — the post-war period in Japan has ended, prosperity is already taking root and gradually sprouting from the ruins, but all five distrust modernity and, looking from Kyoko's balcony, see only ruins. The new era — a wall, a dead end, "a giant void, shapeless and colorless, like a reflection of the summer sky in a mirror," as critics wrote; a decade and a half later, the same intonation will be sounded by Hubert Selby Jr. The four guests and Kyoko will briefly find success, but with success come inevitable falls, disappointments, and death. One day the doors of Kyoko's house will close. The end of the world is unavoidable. We all still live in its forecourt. The translation of this novel into English is eagerly awaited by fans to this day, and we have published it in Russian for the first time.