A young man leaves a girl for the first time in his life and in this unusual situation for him wants to fully enjoy his power. Another young man in the student sports club hopes to achieve the highest mastery in the art of swordsmanship. Jesus Christ appears to a young shepherdess, and he leads the children on a crusade. A shy housekeeper silently worships a university professor and poet for years, and one day he invites her with him on a pilgrimage to Buddhist temples, where the secret of his inescapable sadness is revealed to her... Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) is a literary star of the 20th century, the most widely read Japanese author in the world , the owner of a brilliant talent, famous both for his works of the widest range and variety of genres (novels, plays, stories, essays), and for his stunning biography (obsession with bodybuilding, far-right political views, hara-kiri after an unsuccessful attempt at a monarchical coup). His collection of short stories, Fountains in the Rain, are stories written by an infinitely insightful and ruthless observer, a mosaic that is composed of everyday and dark human passions - the desire for power, narcissism, machismo, vulnerability and fear of self-discovery. Almost all the stories in this collection are published in Russian for the first time.