The Temple of Dawn

Bangkok, 1941. Honda, now a successful lawyer, meets the child princess Ying Chan, who claims memories of Japan and whom he believes to be another reincarnation of Kiyoaki. Legal work in Thailand leads him into comparative study of Buddhism and a journey through India, where philosophy, desire and wartime uncertainty complicate his wish for demonstrable proof.

After the Pacific War and Allied occupation, the narrative resumes in prosperous early-1950s Japan. Ying Chan arrives as a university student, and Honda’s spiritual inquiry degenerates into voyeurism and possession. By placing wartime Asia beside postwar rebuilding, the novel tests whether reincarnation offers genuine continuity or merely supplies an elaborate language for Honda’s obsession.