The Sound of Waves

by

Yukio Mishima

Hatsue Miyata Character Analysis

Hatsue Miyata is the beautiful, brave, sensitive daughter of Terukichi Miyata, one of the wealthiest men on the small island of Uta-jima. At the beginning of the novel, Terukichi calls Hatsue home years after adopting her out into a pearl-diving family on a neighboring island. Shortly after Hatsue returns home, she catches the eye of the young fisherman Shinji Kubo—and soon finds herself having feelings for the humble and thoughtful young man. When Shinji and Hatsue rendezvous at an abandoned watchtower one stormy day, they kiss, embrace, and exchange gifts and declarations of love—but when Chiyoko, the jealous daughter of the lighthouse-keeper and his wife, sees Shinji and Hatsue walking together, she starts a vicious rumor about them having slept together. Hatsue’s rageful father forbids her from seeing Shinji, threatens to marry her off to the cruel Yasuo Kawamoto, and all but forces her to stay in the house day in and day out. She can only communicate with Shinji through letters, yet she never gives up on her hope that one day they will be able to be together. Hatsue is sensitive and emotional yet never self-absorbed or self-pitying. As a young but talented pearl diver, she is attuned to the rhythms of nature, she is fearless when it comes to dangerous pursuits, and she understands the value of hard work. Ultimately, after Terukichi Miyata devises a test through which Shinji can prove his worth, Terukichi allows Hatsue and Shinji to become engaged. Hatsue and Shinji are grateful to be together at last, and, toward the end of the novel, they announce their intent to be one another’s light in the darkness and each other’s shelter in the storm. Intuitive, graceful, and optimistic, the perceptive and thoughtful Hatsue is in many ways the novel’s beating heart.

Hatsue Miyata Quotes in The Sound of Waves

The The Sound of Waves quotes below are all either spoken by Hatsue Miyata or refer to Hatsue Miyata. 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:
Lessons from Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“God, let the seas be calm, the fish plentiful, and our village […] prosperous. […] Let me have much knowledge in the ways of the sea, in the ways of fish, in the ways of boats, in the ways of the weather . . . […] Please protect my gentle mother and my brother, who is still a child. […] Then there's a different sort of request I'd like to make. . . . Some day let even such a person as me be granted a good-natured, beautiful bride . . . say someone like Terukichi Miyata's returned daughter. . . .” […]

Shinji looked up at the star-filled sky and breathed deeply. Then he thought:

“But mightn't the gods punish me for such a selfish prayer?”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata, Terukichi Miyata
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

As they walked along, the girl asked him his name and now, for the first time, he introduced himself. But he went on hurriedly to ask that she not mention his name to anyone or say anything about having met him here: Shinji well knew how sharp the villagers’ tongues could be. Hatsue promised not to tell. Thus their well-founded fear of the village’s love of gossip changed what was but an innocent meeting into a thing of secrecy between the two of them.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Their dry, chapped lips touched. There was a slight taste of salt.

“It’s like seaweed,” Shinji thought.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“What made you so mad?” Shinji asked, looking her full in the face.

“All that talk about you and Chiyoko-san.”

“Stupid!”

“Then there’s nothing to it?”

“There’s nothing to it.”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata (speaker), Chiyoko
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’ll do my best to help make life on our island the most peaceful there is anywhere . . . the happiest there is anywhere. . . . Because if we don’t do that, everybody will start forgetting the island and quit wanting to come back. No matter how much times change, very bad things—very bad ways—will always disappear before they get to our island. . . . The sea—it only brings the good and right things that the island needs . . . and keeps the good and right things we already have here. . . .”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“What would make you quit being ashamed?”

To this the girl gave a truly naive answer, though a startling one: “If you took your clothes off too, then I wouldn't be ashamed.”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata (speaker)
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

All the time the luminous watch of which Yasuo was so proud, strapped above the hand with which he was holding onto the branch of the beech tree, was giving off its phosphorescent glow, faintly but distinctly ticking away the seconds. This aroused a swarm of hornets in the nest fastened to this same branch and greatly excited their curiosity.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto
Related Symbols: Hornets
Page Number: 89-90
Explanation and Analysis:

After a moment Yasuo glanced back and saw that Hatsue had come down from the grove without his knowing it and was following along about two yards behind him. She did not so much as smile. When she saw him stop walking, she stopped too, and when he started on down the steps again, she started too.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“It’s all because I'm poor,” Shinji said.

He was usually not one to let such querulous words pass his lips. And he felt tears of shame springing in his eyes, not because he was poor, but because he had been weak enough to give voice to such a complaint.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:

“I know exactly what you two are thinking. You’re planning to give Yasuo a beating. But you listen to me—that won't do a bit of good. A fool’s a fool, so just leave him alone. Guess it’s hard for Shinji, but patience is the main thing. That’s what it takes to catch a fish.”

Related Characters: Jukichi Oyama (speaker), Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto, Ryuji
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

Double suicide then? Even on this island there had been lovers who took that solution. But the boy’s good sense repudiated the thought, and he told himself that those others had been selfish persons who thought only of themselves. Never once had he thought about such a thing as dying; and, above all, there was his family to support.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata, Shinji’s Mother
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Hatsue got to her feet in silence and went around the rock to receive her prize. And the prize she returned with was the brown, middle-aged handbag, which she pressed into the hands of Shinji’s mother.

The mother's cheeks flushed red with delight.

“But...why?...”

“Because I’ve always wanted to apologize ever since my father spoke so rudely to Auntie that day.” […]

The mother's simple, straightforward heart had immediately understood the modesty and respect behind the girl’s gesture. Hatsue smiled, and Shinji's mother told herself how wise her son had been in his choice of a bride.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata (speaker), Shinji’s Mother (speaker), Shinji Kubo
Related Symbols: Pearl Diving
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

Nature too again smiled on them. When they reached the top they turned around and looked out over the Gulf of Ise. The night sky was filled with stars and, as for clouds, there was only a low bank stretching across the horizon in the direction of the Chita Peninsula, through which soundless lightning ran from time to time. Nor was the sound of the waves strong, but coming regularly and peacefully, as though the sea were breathing in healthy slumber.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:

Out in front of them stretched the unfathomable darkness, where the beam from the lighthouse was making its vast, regular sweeps. […] Shinji […] was lost in thought. He was thinking that in spite of all they’d been through, here they were in the end, free within the moral code to which they had been born, never once having been estranged from the providence of the gods . . . that, in short, it was this little island, enfolded in darkness, that had protected their happiness and brought their love to this fulfillment.. . .

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 182
Explanation and Analysis:

Hatsue touched the picture lightly with her own hand and then returned it. Her eyes were full of pride. She was thinking it was her picture that had protected Shinji. But at this moment Shinji lifted his eyebrows. He knew it had been his own strength that had tided him through that perilous night.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Sound of Waves PDF

Hatsue Miyata Quotes in The Sound of Waves

The The Sound of Waves quotes below are all either spoken by Hatsue Miyata or refer to Hatsue Miyata. 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:
Lessons from Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“God, let the seas be calm, the fish plentiful, and our village […] prosperous. […] Let me have much knowledge in the ways of the sea, in the ways of fish, in the ways of boats, in the ways of the weather . . . […] Please protect my gentle mother and my brother, who is still a child. […] Then there's a different sort of request I'd like to make. . . . Some day let even such a person as me be granted a good-natured, beautiful bride . . . say someone like Terukichi Miyata's returned daughter. . . .” […]

Shinji looked up at the star-filled sky and breathed deeply. Then he thought:

“But mightn't the gods punish me for such a selfish prayer?”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata, Terukichi Miyata
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

As they walked along, the girl asked him his name and now, for the first time, he introduced himself. But he went on hurriedly to ask that she not mention his name to anyone or say anything about having met him here: Shinji well knew how sharp the villagers’ tongues could be. Hatsue promised not to tell. Thus their well-founded fear of the village’s love of gossip changed what was but an innocent meeting into a thing of secrecy between the two of them.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Their dry, chapped lips touched. There was a slight taste of salt.

“It’s like seaweed,” Shinji thought.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“What made you so mad?” Shinji asked, looking her full in the face.

“All that talk about you and Chiyoko-san.”

“Stupid!”

“Then there’s nothing to it?”

“There’s nothing to it.”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata (speaker), Chiyoko
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:

“I’ll do my best to help make life on our island the most peaceful there is anywhere . . . the happiest there is anywhere. . . . Because if we don’t do that, everybody will start forgetting the island and quit wanting to come back. No matter how much times change, very bad things—very bad ways—will always disappear before they get to our island. . . . The sea—it only brings the good and right things that the island needs . . . and keeps the good and right things we already have here. . . .”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“What would make you quit being ashamed?”

To this the girl gave a truly naive answer, though a startling one: “If you took your clothes off too, then I wouldn't be ashamed.”

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata (speaker)
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

All the time the luminous watch of which Yasuo was so proud, strapped above the hand with which he was holding onto the branch of the beech tree, was giving off its phosphorescent glow, faintly but distinctly ticking away the seconds. This aroused a swarm of hornets in the nest fastened to this same branch and greatly excited their curiosity.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto
Related Symbols: Hornets
Page Number: 89-90
Explanation and Analysis:

After a moment Yasuo glanced back and saw that Hatsue had come down from the grove without his knowing it and was following along about two yards behind him. She did not so much as smile. When she saw him stop walking, she stopped too, and when he started on down the steps again, she started too.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“It’s all because I'm poor,” Shinji said.

He was usually not one to let such querulous words pass his lips. And he felt tears of shame springing in his eyes, not because he was poor, but because he had been weak enough to give voice to such a complaint.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo (speaker), Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:

“I know exactly what you two are thinking. You’re planning to give Yasuo a beating. But you listen to me—that won't do a bit of good. A fool’s a fool, so just leave him alone. Guess it’s hard for Shinji, but patience is the main thing. That’s what it takes to catch a fish.”

Related Characters: Jukichi Oyama (speaker), Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata, Yasuo Kawamoto, Ryuji
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

Double suicide then? Even on this island there had been lovers who took that solution. But the boy’s good sense repudiated the thought, and he told himself that those others had been selfish persons who thought only of themselves. Never once had he thought about such a thing as dying; and, above all, there was his family to support.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata, Shinji’s Mother
Page Number: 126
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Hatsue got to her feet in silence and went around the rock to receive her prize. And the prize she returned with was the brown, middle-aged handbag, which she pressed into the hands of Shinji’s mother.

The mother's cheeks flushed red with delight.

“But...why?...”

“Because I’ve always wanted to apologize ever since my father spoke so rudely to Auntie that day.” […]

The mother's simple, straightforward heart had immediately understood the modesty and respect behind the girl’s gesture. Hatsue smiled, and Shinji's mother told herself how wise her son had been in his choice of a bride.

Related Characters: Hatsue Miyata (speaker), Shinji’s Mother (speaker), Shinji Kubo
Related Symbols: Pearl Diving
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

Nature too again smiled on them. When they reached the top they turned around and looked out over the Gulf of Ise. The night sky was filled with stars and, as for clouds, there was only a low bank stretching across the horizon in the direction of the Chita Peninsula, through which soundless lightning ran from time to time. Nor was the sound of the waves strong, but coming regularly and peacefully, as though the sea were breathing in healthy slumber.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:

Out in front of them stretched the unfathomable darkness, where the beam from the lighthouse was making its vast, regular sweeps. […] Shinji […] was lost in thought. He was thinking that in spite of all they’d been through, here they were in the end, free within the moral code to which they had been born, never once having been estranged from the providence of the gods . . . that, in short, it was this little island, enfolded in darkness, that had protected their happiness and brought their love to this fulfillment.. . .

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 182
Explanation and Analysis:

Hatsue touched the picture lightly with her own hand and then returned it. Her eyes were full of pride. She was thinking it was her picture that had protected Shinji. But at this moment Shinji lifted his eyebrows. He knew it had been his own strength that had tided him through that perilous night.

Related Characters: Shinji Kubo, Hatsue Miyata
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis: