04/2021 First Snow on Fuji, by Yasunari Kawabata

[Carol]

This month we're reading and discussing two short story collections: First Snow on Fuji and The Bear and the Paving Stone. In this thread, we'll discuss Yasunari Kawabata's First Snow on Fuji, a collection of 9 stories and 1 dramatic work selected by Kawabata, first published in 1958, ten years before he received the Nobel Prize (1968). The English translation, produced by Michael Emmerich, was first published in 2000.

As per the Japan Times, [t]he novels that would eventually be regarded as Kawabata’s masterpieces had already been written, and “First Snow on Fuji” came at a turning point in Kawabata’s career, a time when his international profile was growing, his role as a public figure beginning to impinge on his role as a writer...

The Japan Times review, from 2018, includes zero spoilers: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...

The stories are entitled:

This Country, That Country
A Row of Trees
Nature
Raindrops
The Chrysanthemum in the Rock
First Snow on Fuji
Silence
Her Husband Didn’t
Yumiura
The Boat Women --a play

Who plans to join?

[Kerril]

I got the physical copy sometime last year so I'll be joining.

[Carol]

Kerril wrote: "I got the physical copy sometime last year so I'll be joining."

Excellent! Welcome, Kerril.

[Suzann]

Hi I'd like to join, but I find short stories difficult to get enough focus to have a discussion. Would be wonderful to have an online interest group since my other groups rarely read a Japanese writer!

[Carol]

Suzann wrote: "Hi I'd like to join, but I find short stories difficult to get enough focus to have a discussion. Would be wonderful to have an online interest group since my other groups rarely read a Japanese wr..."

Suzann - I've seen other groups challenged by short story collections, but our members have historically made it work. The upside is, even if you only read - say - 3 - 4 before you lose steam, you can connect on those 3 - 4. Whatever you decide, it's good to see you here.

[Bill]

My copy contains an introduction by the translator, Michael Emmerich, where he says that First Snow on Fuji is the last of Kawabata's mature works before his transition to a public figure. After that transition, Kawabata had far less time to write between his other responsibilities. It's implied (but not directly stated) that these stories were all intended for publication together. We'll have to see if there's any bond between them.

The first story in my volume is This Country, That Country. It's less a story and more a sketch of a handful of characters with the plot de-emphasized. Two couples live next door to each other, and our viewpoint character Takako is having an affair with another man. Takako's husband also comes off very poorly to modern readers, for dominating his wife and then being physically abusive at the climax of the story. Less obviously, and as a product of writing standards of his time, Kawabata calls male characters by their family names and female characters by their personal names; it's something that often grates on me, and is today used far less often.

At the beginning of the story, Takako reads a newspaper article about couples divorcing and remarrying with other couples (permanent wife-swapping, if you will). Does this color how she begins to see her neighbors and their relationship as compared to her own? Is she actually interested in her neighbor before the newspaper puts this idea into her head? Kawabata's writing is too subtle to give us answers to this. More literarily aware readers may see the newspaper article as foreshadowing or as a kind of Chekov's gun, but Kawabata is never that obvious.

[Henk]

I have ordered the book but have no indication when it will be delivered.

[Carol]

My copy is the same as yours, Bill, and I've fixed the ordering above.

I haven't read any of it yet, but I'm intrigued. Wasn't obtaining a divorce not only difficult but not socially accepted at the time This Country, That Country was written?

[Carol]

Henk wrote: "I have ordered the book but have no indication when it will be delivered."

fingers crossed that it's not on a cargo ship ...

[Bill]

The newspaper article she's reading is about couples outside Japan. It's a regular column on "See what weird things foreigners do".

The only other time I've seen such a thing referenced in Japanese literature is in the girls' manga Marmalade Boy from 1992.

[Henk]

Carol wrote: "Henk wrote: "I have ordered the book but have no indication when it will be delivered."

fingers crossed that it's not on a cargo ship ..."

I had't thought about that perspective yet ;-)

[G.G.]

Carol wrote: "My copy is the same as yours, Bill, and I've fixed the ordering above.

I haven't read any of it yet, but I'm intrigued. Wasn't obtaining a divorce not only difficult but not socially accepted at t..."
So far as I am aware, obtaining a divorce has never been difficult in Japan. In the postwar period, so long as both husband and wife are in agreement, all that needs to be done is to submit a "notice of divorce" (rikon todoke) to the local authorities. Social acceptance is another matter, of course.... Likewise, if either husband or wife opposes divorce, negotiations can be protracted.

[Edgar]

Read this in the beginning of February already along with Snow Country and Thousand Cranes. I'll have a look what people think about it.

[Carol]

G.G. wrote: "Carol wrote: "My copy is the same as yours, Bill, and I've fixed the ordering above.

I haven't read any of it yet, but I'm intrigued. Wasn't obtaining a divorce not only difficult but not socially..."

Understood, however, divorce is per se difficult to obtain if the husband and wife must be in agreement to obtain it. lol

[Bill]

The next three stories continue in the same vein: characters and mood, but not much in the way of plot. And that's okay. I'm enjoying them for what they are.

"The Chrysanthemum in the Rock" is a history lesson of sorts, a description of old Japanese tombstones, as the narrator ponders what to do about his own.

In several of these stories so far the main character is an author. I don't think they're all intended to be Kawabata himself, since there was a genre a generation before him that believed in 'writing what you know' and so wrote a lot of stories about starving young authors. He would have grown up on that. Yet I have to wonder if the main character in "The Chrysanthemum in the Rock" is Kawabata, since most of the piece is non-fiction.

I've read through the title story so far, which is also the one I like best so far in this volume. It contains a lot of what I think of when I think of Kawabata: characters whose thoughts and perceptions are at odds with each other, a setup not fully articulated at the beginning, and an understated yet satisfying conclusion.

I hope other people are reading or are planning to read this volume. I look forward to arguing about whether and which of these stories have plots. "First Snow on Fuji" definitely does.

[Carol]

I’m planing to read it, Bill. Probably starting this weekend.

[Alan M]

I'm still waiting for a reasonably priced copy, Bill. I really want to join in ☺️

[Bill]

No rush. I just look forward to discussing it!

[Suzann]

Although Kawabata raises issues that concern what would be guilt or sin in Western Christian countries, I don't get the feeling that the Japanese process the events with Christian guilt. Takako calls herself "bad", but is there a bad that's not sin in the Christian sense?
Could the "bad" be the fear of multiple selves enjoying multiple men that scares her? Fear of lack of emotional control?

[Suzann]

Do the mores of a society--marriage--save individuals from the uncertainty of exploring their emotional selves? Alluding to the activities of foreigners is a little suspect. The Japanese have a well-known pleasure sector, however, the freedom of individuals to explore extra-maritally and outside the pleasure sector seems to be the topic. Dalliances for men seem to be acceptable in all cultures. Are they more acceptable if they're with pleasure women than with neighbors in Japan. I that what's being explored? Or is it purely the emotional awakening of individual potential which is not being judged, but just a human phenomena?

[Carol]

I gave up in the middle of the story immediately following First Snow on Fuji. I don't think it's the lack of plots that caused me to enjoy none of them; it's the lack of any story arc. I would finish each one and pause, unable to reach any conclusion about the point of what I'd read. I have enjoyed Kawabata's short stories in the past, and I enjoy his writing style, but after story after story that struck me as, 'meh,' I am willing to admit I"m DNFing this collection. I can't tell you how happy I was to start Masks and be back in the middle of a story where there's some tension, mystery, relationships that are murky, etc.

[Suzann]

Subtlety is the hallmark of Japanese style. It's not for everyone.

[Carol]

Suzann wrote: "Subtlety is the hallmark of Japanese style. It's not for everyone."

Suzann - I'm a longtime reader and appreciator of Japanese literature, generally, and Kawabata's writing, specifically. Indeed, subtlety is not for everyone, but it is one of the aspects of Kawabata's writing I most appreciate. We'll have to agree to disagree on whether this collection is subtle or fails of its purpose.

[Carol]

Suzann wrote: "Although Kawabata raises issues that concern what would be guilt or sin in Western Christian countries, I don't get the feeling that the Japanese process the events with Christian guilt. Takako cal..."

To this question, I didn't interpret Takako's use of "bad" as bearing any relationship to sin. As you say, sin wouldn't be a particularly relevant concept to Kawabata's readers. I don't know what the Japanese term is that has been translated here as "bad", but the implication was more of a status or activity being disfavored or viewed by her then-current social circle as shameful.

@Bill?

[Bill]

I didn't respond earlier because I didn't want to generalize about the Japanese and what they think or don't think.

There's a conception of Japan as primarily a "shame" culture, where the possibility of having your misdeeds exposed to the public is the greatest deterrent. That certainly has merit, and among other things it leads to a great many cover-ups that eventually spill out into the public.

But to say that "guilt" and "sin" are not present in Japan is an overgeneralization. I'm sure we can each think of a number of Japanese novels where characters feel guilt (deep, internal remorse) over something they've done. The word "tsumi" is often translated as "sin", which I think is a mistake. To me, "tsumi" is more of a crime, i.e. an offense against human law. "Sin" is an offense against divine law, and while Shinto is unlikely to have such sins, Buddhism does.

As to a more general concept of bad, one can also feel bad (do you mean guilt?) over something which is culturally seen as wrong but is neither a crime nor a sin. People everywhere suffer shame and guilt from violating cultural norms.

[Carol]

Bill wrote: "I didn't respond earlier because I didn't want to generalize about the Japanese and what they think or don't think.

There's a conception of Japan as primarily a "shame" culture, where the possibil..."

Thanks for the correction and additional commentary, Bill. Really helpful.

[Jon]

After reading about many people's difficulty finding this book, I searched and found my copy -- amongst boxes of books! I got the hardcover in 1999 when it was released. Kawabata has such a distinct style that when I started re-reading it I instantly "remembered" the book, even though I didn't recall any of the plots of the stories.

[Carol]

Jon wrote: "After reading about many people's difficulty finding this book, I searched and found my copy -- amongst boxes of books! I got the hardcover in 1999 when it was released. Kawabata has such a distinc..."

Very cool, Jon! I don’t ever remember short story plots, so the upside of rereading them is. It’s fresh plus I know I like kawabata’s writing style.