The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

by

Yukio Mishima

Yoriko Kasuga Character Analysis

Yoriko Kasuga is a popular actress and regular customer at Fusako Kuroda’s clothing store, Rex. Fusako treats Yoriko kindly but secretly resents her because Yukio is naive and desperate for attention. In particular, Yoriko constantly complains that she doesn’t win acting awards and has no friends besides Fusako. When they go out for lunch in the second half of the novel, Yoriko tells Fusako that her ex-fiancé tried to steal her money and recommends that Fusako hire a private detective to investigate Ryuji so that he doesn’t do the same. This offends Fusako, who decides to get back at Yoriko indirectly by provoking her jealousy: she hires the detective, who proves that Ryuji is honest, then calls Yoriko and tells her. In the novel overall, Yoriko serves as a character foil who highlights Fusako’s femininity, desires, and insecurities. For one, Yoriko represents a feminine ideal of innocence, youth, and beauty that Fusako both deplores and secretly hopes to achieve. Fusako is far more elegant, competent, and respectable than Yoriko, but Fusako knows that men do not necessarily appreciate these traits in women. Like Fusako, she supports herself and her family, but feels incomplete and lonely without a man. The difference is that Fusako carefully manages and hides her insecurities, whereas Yoriko is overwhelmed by her own.

Yoriko Kasuga Quotes in The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

The The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Yoriko Kasuga or refer to Yoriko Kasuga. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Glory, Heroism, and Death Theme Icon
).
Part 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

If Ryuji were really an opportunist with all kinds of dreadful secrets, I would never have fallen in love with him. Yoriko may be a gullible fool, but I happen to have a sound sense of what’s good and what’s bad. The thought was equivalent to a denial of that unaccountable summer passion, yet the whispering inside her began suddenly to seethe, to swell until it threatened to burst out.

Related Characters: Fusako Kuroda (speaker), Ryuji Tsukazaki, Yoriko Kasuga
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea PDF

Yoriko Kasuga Quotes in The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

The The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Yoriko Kasuga or refer to Yoriko Kasuga. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Glory, Heroism, and Death Theme Icon
).
Part 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

If Ryuji were really an opportunist with all kinds of dreadful secrets, I would never have fallen in love with him. Yoriko may be a gullible fool, but I happen to have a sound sense of what’s good and what’s bad. The thought was equivalent to a denial of that unaccountable summer passion, yet the whispering inside her began suddenly to seethe, to swell until it threatened to burst out.

Related Characters: Fusako Kuroda (speaker), Ryuji Tsukazaki, Yoriko Kasuga
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis: