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{{short description|1954 novel by Yasunari Kawabata}}
'''''The Sound of the Mountain''''' (''Yama no Oto'') is a ] by Japanese writer ], serialized between 1949 and 1954. Its translation into English by ] was first published in 1970, earning Seidensticker the ] for Translation the following year. It was made into a ] movie directed by ] in 1954 starring ], ], ], ].
{{about|the novel|the eponymous film|Sound of the Mountain}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The Sound of the Mountain
| title_orig = 山の音<br />Yama no oto
| orig_lang_code = ja
| translator = ]
| author = ]
| image = TheSoundOfTheMountain.jpg
| caption = First English-language edition
| country = Japan
| language = ]
| genre =
| publisher =
| pub_date = 1949–1954
| english_pub_date = 1970 (])<ref name="knopf" />
| media_type = Print (])<ref name="knopf" />
}}


{{Nihongo|'''''The Sound of the Mountain'''''|山の音|Yama no oto|lead=yes}} is a novel by Japanese writer ], serialized between 1949 and 1954, and first published as a standalone book in 1954 by ], ].<ref name="knopf">{{cite book|title=The Sound of the Mountain (Impressum) |last=Kawabata |first=Yasunari |translator-last=Seidensticker |translator-first=Edward G. |publisher=Vintage International |year=1996 |location=New York |isbn=0-679-76264-7}}</ref><ref name="kotobank">{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%B3-690549 |title=山の音 (The Sound of the Mountain) |website=Kotobank |language=ja |access-date=22 July 2021}}</ref>
==Plot summary==


==Plot==
The novel centers upon the Ogata family of ], and its events are witnessed from the perspective of its aging patriarch, Shingo, a businessman close to retirement who works in ]. Although only sixty-two years old at the beginning of the novel, Shingo has already begun to experience temporary lapses of memory, to recall strange and disturbing dreams upon waking, and occasionally to hear sounds heard by no one else, including the titular noise which awakens him from his sleep one night, ''"like wind, far away, but with a depth like a rumbling of the earth."'' Shingo takes the sound to be an omen of his impending death, as he had once coughed up blood (a possible sign of ]) a year before, but had not sought medical consultation and the symptom subsequently went away.
Shingo Ogata, a 62-year-old businessman living in ] and working in ], is close to retirement. He is experiencing temporary lapses of memory, recalling strange and disturbing dreams upon waking, and hearing sounds, including the titular noise which awakens him from his sleep, "like wind, far away, but with a depth like a rumbling of the earth." Shingo takes the sound to be an omen of his impending death. At the same time, he is repeatedly confronted with the passing away of friends and former fellow students.


Although he does not outwardly change his daily routine, Shingo begins to observe and question more closely his relations with the other members of his family, who include his wife Yasuko, his ]ing son Shuichi (who, in traditional ], lives with his wife in his parents' house), his daughter-in-law Kikuko, and his married daughter Fusako, who has left her husband and returned to her family home with her two young daughters. Shingo realizes that he has not truly been an involved and loving husband and father, and perceives the marital difficulties of his adult children to be the fruit of his poor parenting. Shingo observes and questions his relations with the other family members. He married his wife Yasuko after the untimely death of her older sister, whose beauty Shingo adored, considering both Yasuko and their daughter Fusako to be rather unattractive. Shingo has both fatherly and subtle erotic feelings for his daughter-in-law Kikuko, who calmly endures his son Shūichi's affair with another woman. When Fusako leaves her husband and returns to the family home with her two little children, Shingo starts to perceive the marital difficulties of his son and daughter as the result of not fulfilling his role as a father. In addition, Fusako blames him for marrying her to a man she did not want, and for preferring Kikuko over her.


Shingo's secretary Eiko helps him to find Shūichi's mistress Kinuko, a war widow, and learns of his son's mean and abusive behaviour towards her. Not only is Shūichi reluctant to his father's request to end the affair and treat his wife Kikuko with more respect, he even borrows money from his mistress to pay for Kikuko's abortion. Shingo is devastated, speculating if Shūichi's and Kikuko's unborn child might have been the reincarnation of Yasuko's older sister. Shūichi eventually leaves Kinuko when she expects a child, which she claims to be from another man and wants to keep. In the newspaper, Shingo and his family read about the suicide attempt of Fusako's husband, whom Fusako is about to divorce.
To this end, he begins to question his secretary, Tanizaki Eiko, about his son's affair, as she knows Shuichi socially and is friends with his mistress, and he quietly puts pressure upon Shuichi to quit his infidelity. At the same time, he uncomfortably becomes aware that he has begun to experience a fatherly yet erotic attachment to Kikuko, whose quiet suffering in the face of her husband's unfaithfulness, physical attractiveness, and filial devotion contrast strongly with the bitter resentment and homeliness of his own daughter, Fusako. Complicating matters in his own marriage is the infatuation that as a young man he once possessed for Yasuko's older sister, more beautiful than Yasuko herself, who died as a young woman but who has again begun to appear in his dreams, along with images of other dead friends and associates.


==Characters==
The novel may be interpreted as a meditation upon ] and its attendant decline, and the coming to terms with one's mortality that is its hallmark. Even as Shingo regrets not being present for his family and blames himself for his children's failing marriages, the natural world, represented by the mountain itself, the cherry tree in the yard of his house, the flights of birds and insects in the early summer evening, or two pine trees he sees from the window of his commuter train each day, comes alive for him in a whole new way, provoking meditations on life, love, and companionship.
* Shingo Ogata
* Yasuko, Shingo's wife
* Shūichi, Shingo's son
* Kikuko, Shūichi's wife
* Fusako, Shingo's daughter
* Eiko Tanazaki, Shingo's secretary
* Kinuko, Shūichi's mistress (shortened to Kinu in the English translation with the author's permission, to avoid confusion with Kikuko)
* Mrs Ikeda, Kinuko's flatmate
* Satoko, Fusako's elder daughter
* Kuniko, Fusako's younger daughter
* Mr Tatsumu, Mr Aida, Mr Toriyama, Mr Suzumoto, Mr Mizuta, Mr Itakura, Mr Kitamoto, old friends of Shingo, mostly deceased
* Aihara, Fusako's husband
* Grandfather Amamiya, a neighbour
* Natsuko Iwamura, Shingo's second secretary
* Teru, a dog


==Themes==
==Chapter-by-chapter==
The protagonist Shingo constantly reflects on his ageing, which manifests itself in his loss of memory, eyesight and even his male potency, wondering why he was not aroused during an erotic dream. He is also repeatedly confronted with mortality through the passing of friends and former fellow students, or the death of a young woman who committed ] with Fusako's husband. Human life and death correspond with the entire cycle of seasons (the proceedings start in autumn and end in autumn of the following year).<ref name="aldridge">{{cite book|title=The Reemergence Of World Literature: A Study of Asia and the West |last=Aldridge |first=Alfred Owen |publisher=University of Delaware Press |year=1986 |location=Newark |pages=181–186 |isbn=9780874132779}}</ref>
#'''The Sound of the Mountain'''
##Shingo feels his memory is going soon after maid is sacked
##The sound of the mountain; the geisha's story of planning a double suicide (start of August)
##Description of Shingo's workplace; he buys whelks and ginkgo nuts (Thursday)
##The backstory of Yasuko's sister and Shuichi's mistress
##Tanizaki's classmate applies to be new maid; was the sound of the mountain an omen?
#'''The Wings of the Locust'''
##Yasuko looks in Fusako's purse
##Sunflowers near their house like "heads of famous people"
##Swallowtails; Shingo dreams about dead acquaintances
##Wingless locusts; Shingo's Friday dance with Eiko (Sunday, early September, before "day 210 after start of spring")
#'''A Blaze of Clouds'''
##Typhoon on "Day 209"; Kikuko dances; power failure
##Women's hairstyles; Fusako jealous of Kikuko? the kerchief; Yasuko's father
##The ''mikoshi'''s tin roof; Eiko; Shingo and Shuichi go to the cinema
#'''The Chestnuts'''
##Kikuko notices ginkgo buds; aftermath of storm; Yasuko's dream of ruined house in Shinano
##Yasuko's father; chestnut rebound at wedding; telegram says Fusako has moved in with Yasuko's aunt in Shinano (autumn)
##Shuichi leaves for Shinano; Shingo talks to Eiko about Shuichi's mistress; dead Toriyama (Saturday morning)
##Toriyama's funeral; the Noh masks of Mizuta (Saturday afternoon)
##Sparrows and buntings; Eiko takes Shingo to see the Hongo house of Kinu(ko) (Saturday evening)
#'''A Dream of Islands'''
##Teru the dog has a litter of ten puppies
##Shingo's dream about Matsushima; Suzumoto brings him Mizuta's Noh masks
##Shingo shows the masks to the family
##Teru and her five(?) puppies (29 Dec)
#'''The Cherry in the Winter'''
##Satoko running up and down the verandah; age-reckonings; return of Fusako (1 Jan)
##Return of Fusako (31 Dec)
##Eiko visits, tells Shingo about her decision (1 Jan)
##Shingo and Yasuko in Atami (January)
#'''Water in the Morning'''
##The death of Kitamoto; Eiko's connection
##Kikuko's nose-bleed; Shingo and Shuichi have lunch
##Eiko and Kinu(ko)'s housemate come to the office to talk about Kinu(ko) (early March?)
##Should Shuichi leave home?
#'''The Voice in the Night'''
##Shuichi comes home drunk at 2.30am
##Shingo dreams about reading a novel; newspaper article about teenage pregnancy
##Kikuko gives Shuichi sake for his hangover; Kikuko's friend's abortion (March)
##Shingo talks to Kikuko on the train to hospital; she wants to stay with them
#'''The Bell in Spring'''
##Kamakura's 700th anniversary; the double suicide in the newspaper (Sunday, in April by 11.3)
##The sewing machine; a camellia bonsai at the tobacconist's
##Procession of little princes; Yosano poem; tea stall; the accident
##Shingo looks for a kimono for Satoko; Kikuko puts on mask
#'''The Kite's House'''
##The call of the kite; the ''aodaisho'' snake (mid-May)
##Shuichi tells Shingo on the train of Kikuko's abortion yesterday; he is furious (late May by 11.2)
##Fusako goes to the post-office and Shingo talks to Kikuko about the abortion; she goes home to her family the next day (late June?/late May by 11.2)
#'''A Garden in the Capital'''
##Fusako becomes hostile towards Shingo; they discuss Aihara's disappearance (early July?/late May by 11.2)
##Eiko calls Shingo; Shingo calls Kikuko at the Sagamis' (late May)
##Shingo meets Kikuko at Shinjuku Gardens
##Eiko tells Shingo that Shuichi paid for Kikuko's abortion with money from Kinu(ko)
#'''The Scar'''
##Shingo cuts down the yatsude (Sunday)
##Kikuko's return with presents for the family; the electric razor
##The vacuum cleaner; Shingo's dream about American beards, and a girl
##Platonic love for Kikuko? a cab-ride with geisha
#'''In the Rain'''
##Aihara attempts suicide with woman; newspaper article; divorce notice
##Shingo wonders: Am I a murderer? Eiko reveals Kinu(ko) is pregnant (June)
##Kinu(ko) is four months pregnant
#'''The Cluster of Mosquitoes'''
##Shingo goes to the Ikeda house
##Kinu(ko) returns home; she says the child is not Shuichi's
##Shingo goes to a geisha; his dream about a uniform and a tree of mosquitoes
#'''The Snake's Egg'''
## On a train journey, Shingo ponders a friend's possible suicide (late August)
##Yasuko says Kikuko may be pregnant again; dream about eggs (Saturday by 15.3)
## The lotus articles; Kikuko denies she is pregnant (Sunday)
##Shingo talks to Shuichi; Kikuko calls Shingo, to meet him at the Tokyo station
#'''Fish in Autumn'''
##Shingo forgets how to tie his tie (October)
##The girl on the train and her "father"
##Discusses his mistake with Shuichi
##The ear story (Sunday)
##Dinner; Shingo suggests a trip to his old home next Sunday


Another theme Kawabata observes is the effect of the war on his protagonists.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mara |last=Miller |editor-first=A. Minh |editor-last=Nguyen |chapter=On Kawabata, Kishida, and Barefoot Gen. Agency, Identity, and Aesthetic Experience in Post-Atomic Japanese Narrative |title=New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics |isbn=978-0-73918081-5 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lanham, Maryland |year=2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Soundings in Time. The Fictive Art of Yasunari Kawabata |first=Roy |last=Starrs |year=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-873410-74-5}}</ref> Shūichi's mistress Kinuko repeatedly refers to the war, which took her husband and prevented her of becoming a mother, and her flatmate Ikeda explains Shūichi's mean behaviour and attitude towards women with his wartime experiences.
==List of characters==
===The Ogata household===
(Japanese-style age determined by years lived in/Western-style age by birthdays)
*'''Shingo''' (62-3/61-2) and '''Yasuko''' (63-4/62-3)
*'''Shuichi''', Shingo's son, and his wife Sagara '''Kikuko''' (early 20s)
*'''Fusako''' (30/28 or 29), the daughter and her own daughters '''Satoko''' (4-5/3-4) and baby '''Kuniko''' (2-3/1-2)


==Style==
===Shingo's friends and colleagues===
''The Sound of the Mountain'' completely takes the point of view of its protagonist, emphasising on his interior reactions rather than on exterior events, and disregards any thoughts of the subordinate characters.<ref name="aldridge" /> Like much of his work, it is written in short, spare prose akin to poetry, which its English-language translator ] likened to a ] in the introduction to his translation of Kawabata's novel '']''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Yasunari |last=Kawabata |year=1956 |title=Snow Country |location=New York |publisher=Knopf |translator-first=Edward G. |translator-last=Seidensticker}}</ref>
*the dead cabinet-maker Tatsumi, who had six daughters, died 3 or 4 years ago 2.3
*dead Aida, a former director of Shingo's company, who died the year before 2.3
*'''Eiko Tanizaki''' (early 20s), the office girl for 3 years, schoolfriend of Kitamoto's daughter
*dead Toriyama 4.3
*Suzumoto 5.2
*dead Mizuta 5.2
*Unno 5.2
*Itakura, the old President of the company 6.3
*dead Kitamoto (lost three sons; died during air-raids) 7.1
*Kitamoto's family taking refuge in Gifu Prefecture 7.1
*Natsuko Iwamura, who replaced Eiko Tanizaki 11.2, 11.4, 13.2
===Others===
*Kayo, the sacked maid 1.1
*'''Kinu(ko)''', the widowed mistress of Shuichi
*Kinu(ko)'s housemate, "the Ikeda woman", '''Mrs Ikeda''', two or three years younger (13.3) 7.3
*Her small son 14.1
*'''Aihara''', Fusako's dissolute husband and his ] mother
*Yasuko's father, fond of bonsai 3.2, 9.2
*'''Yasuko's dead sister''', older than Shingo 1.4, 9.2, 9.4, 16.1, 16.2
*Yasuko's aunt (80s), and her son, present head of Yasuko's family, in Shinano 4.2
*A local lady 5.4
*Grandfather Amamiya 5.4 and his son 8.4
*Boat company president and wife 9.1
*Old man and paralysed boy 9.1
*Tobacconist who keeps bonsai 9.2
*Dancing girl and her mother 9.3
*A friend of Kikuyo who takes ] lessons 9.4
*Lotus doctor (69 years old) 10.3, 15.3
*The Sagaras, family of Kikuko 10.3, 15.4
*Younger sister of a friend of Shuichi's 12.3
*Shingo's friend with the Kazan picture 12.3
*Two elderly ] and three young ] 12.4
*Aihara's new girlfriend (25 or 26) 13.1
*Friend who wants to see ]s 13.1, 13.3
*Friend dying of ] 14.1, 15.4
*His wife, dead seven years ago, eldest son, five grandchildren 15.4
*Miyamoto, owner of factory with ] 14.1
*Red-haired foreigner 15.1
*Male prostitute 15.1
*Girl on train, her "father", five or six men with maple branches 16.2, 16.3


==Reception and legacy==
==Places==
Kawabata received the 1954 ] for ''The Sound of the Mountain''.
*]
*] 2.2
*] 3.2, 4.1
*The ] 3.3, 8.1, 9.3, 10.2, 14.1
*The "Ikeda" house in ], ] 4.3, 4.5, 14.1
*] 5.2, 16.1
*] Bay 5.2
*] 5.2
*] 5.2
*] 5.2
*] 6.4
*] 6.4
*] 6.4
*] 6.4
*] 7.1
*] 8.2
*] 8.2
*North and South ] District 8.2
*], ] 8.3, 8.4
*North Kamakura valley 8.4
*] and ] 8.4, 15.4, 16.3
*] 9.1
*Hase district, ] 9.2
*], ] 10.2, 11.2
*] 10.3
*] 10.3
*] 11.1
*] Temple, ] 11.2
*], ] 11.2, 11.3, 12.1
*] Spa, ] 13.1
*] and ] 13.2
*] geisha district 14.1, 14.3
*] 14.3
*] 14.3, 16.3, 16.5
*] and the ] moat, ] 15.1
*] 15.1
*] at ] 15.3
*] 15.3
*] 15.3
*] (U.S.) 15.3
*] 15.4
*] 16.1, 16.3
*Mountains of ] 16.2
*] 16.2, 16.3
*] 16.4


For the first U.S. edition (1970), Seidensticker won the ] in the ].<ref name="nba1971">{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1971/?cat=fiction&sub-cat=translation |title=National Book Awards 1971 winners |website=] |access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref>
==Flora and fauna==
*] 1.3, 1.4
*], ], ], ] 1.3
*] nut 1.3, 1.4
*] 2.2, 4.1, 13.2, 16.4
*] ] 2.3
*] 2.3, 4.1
*] 2.3, 5.2, 10.2
*] 2.4
*] 2.4, 4.1, 6.4, 9.1, 9.3, 11.3, 12.1, 15.4
*] (] or normal) 3.2, 9.2, 16.2, 16.3, 16.5
*] 4.1, 8.3
*] 4.1, 6.4
*] 4.1, 4.5, 5.4, 15.4, 16.4
*] 4.1
*] 4.2
*] 4.4, 4.5, 5.4
*] 4.5, 5.4
*] pattern: ], ], ], ] 5.1
*] 5.4
*], ], ] 6.4
*] 6.4
*] 6.4
*] other than Teru 6.4, 15.1
*] 7.4, 11.3
*] 8.4
*] (''] japonica'') 9.1, 11.3, 12.1, 13.2
*] (]) 9.2
*] (Japanese bellflower) 9.4
*Black ] 9.4
*White ] 9.4
*Black ] 9.4
*] 10.1
*] 10.1, 12.3, 12.4
*], ] 10.1
*] (Japanese ], ''] climacophora'') 10.1
*] 10.3, 15.3, 15.4
*] 11.3
*] 11.3
*Japanese ] ('']'') 11.3
*Utsukushimatsu ] (''] form. umbraculifera'') 11.3
*] (Japanese grey-bark ], ''Zelkova serrata'') 11.3
*] ("lily tree") 11.3
*] 11.4
*] (Western) 13.2, 15.4
*] shells 13.2
*] 13.2
*] 13.2
*] 15.1
*] (], ''Homoeogryllus orientalis'') 15.2
*] (], ''Madasumma marmorata''?) 15.2
*] 15.2
*] (generic) 15.2, 15.3
*] 15.4
*] ] 16.4, 16.5
*] 16.4
*] 16.5


''The Sound of the Mountain'' is included in the Norwegian ]'s list of the 100 greatest works of world literature, which was established in 2002.
==Cultural references==
*] record, the theme song from ''Quatorze Juillet'' 3.1
*] shrine 3.3
*''Kanjincho'', a ] play with actors Koshiro, Uzaemon, Kikugoro 3.3
*] vase 4.1
*] 5.1
*] 5.1, 9.1, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.4
*The ] pattern 5.1
*varieties of ]: gyokuro and bancha 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 8.3
*] masks: jido and kasshiki (children) 4.3, 5.2, 9.4
*] 5.3
*] 5.3
*], a painter 5.4
*Kamakura's 700th anniversary and temple bell 9.1
*Viscount ] (died ]) 9.1
*] 9.1
*"The Spiteful Years" refers to '']'' by ] 9.1
*Hikari ] 9.2
*] 9.3, 16.4
*] (1878-1942) 9.3
:''A summer grove, ]; a ] he may be,''<br>
:''But a handsome man he also is, Lord ].'' (should have been "]")
*] ("Seven-Five-Three Day", ]) 9.3
*Taigu ] (1757/8-1831) 9.3
:''In the heavens, a high wind.'' (Shingo's is a ])
*Passage from an unspecified ] play 9.4
*] and the ] of ] 9.4
*] of ], the ] family 9.4
*] Period archaeological excavation 10.3, 15.3
*] 11.1
*''Les Sylphides'', ] music by ] 11.2
*] 11.3
*] (1862-1922) 12.3
:''All very stupid.'' (last words)
*] (1793-1841) 12.3, 12.4
:''A stubborn crow in the dawn: the rains of June. Kazan'' (ink wash)
*] 12.4
:''I try to forget this senile love; a chilly autumn shower.'' (])
*], poetic expressions involving ] 16.5


==Adaptations==
''The Sound of the Mountain'' is unusually long for a Kawabata novel, running to 276 pages in its English translation. As is characteristic of much of his work, it is written in short, spare prose akin to poetry, which Seidensticker himself likened to a ] in the introduction to his translation of Kawabata's most well-known novel, '']''.
Kawabata's novel was adapted into a film as '']'' in 1954, directed by ] and starring ], ] and ]. It was also adapted for Japanese television in 1963 and 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvdrama-db.com/simple_result.htm?key=%E5%B1%B1%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%B3 |title=山の音 (Sound of the Mountain) |website=テレビドラマデータベース (TV Drama Database) |language=ja |access-date=22 June 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Yasunari Kawabata}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 14:18, 5 June 2024

1954 novel by Yasunari Kawabata This article is about the novel. For the eponymous film, see Sound of the Mountain.
The Sound of the Mountain
First English-language edition
AuthorYasunari Kawabata
Original title山の音
Yama no oto
TranslatorEdward Seidensticker
LanguageJapanese
Publication date1949–1954
Publication placeJapan
Published in English1970 (Knopf)
Media typePrint (hardcover)

The Sound of the Mountain (Japanese: 山の音, Hepburn: Yama no oto) is a novel by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, serialized between 1949 and 1954, and first published as a standalone book in 1954 by Chikuma Shobō, Tokyo.

Plot

Shingo Ogata, a 62-year-old businessman living in Kamakura and working in Tokyo, is close to retirement. He is experiencing temporary lapses of memory, recalling strange and disturbing dreams upon waking, and hearing sounds, including the titular noise which awakens him from his sleep, "like wind, far away, but with a depth like a rumbling of the earth." Shingo takes the sound to be an omen of his impending death. At the same time, he is repeatedly confronted with the passing away of friends and former fellow students.

Shingo observes and questions his relations with the other family members. He married his wife Yasuko after the untimely death of her older sister, whose beauty Shingo adored, considering both Yasuko and their daughter Fusako to be rather unattractive. Shingo has both fatherly and subtle erotic feelings for his daughter-in-law Kikuko, who calmly endures his son Shūichi's affair with another woman. When Fusako leaves her husband and returns to the family home with her two little children, Shingo starts to perceive the marital difficulties of his son and daughter as the result of not fulfilling his role as a father. In addition, Fusako blames him for marrying her to a man she did not want, and for preferring Kikuko over her.

Shingo's secretary Eiko helps him to find Shūichi's mistress Kinuko, a war widow, and learns of his son's mean and abusive behaviour towards her. Not only is Shūichi reluctant to his father's request to end the affair and treat his wife Kikuko with more respect, he even borrows money from his mistress to pay for Kikuko's abortion. Shingo is devastated, speculating if Shūichi's and Kikuko's unborn child might have been the reincarnation of Yasuko's older sister. Shūichi eventually leaves Kinuko when she expects a child, which she claims to be from another man and wants to keep. In the newspaper, Shingo and his family read about the suicide attempt of Fusako's husband, whom Fusako is about to divorce.

Characters

  • Shingo Ogata
  • Yasuko, Shingo's wife
  • Shūichi, Shingo's son
  • Kikuko, Shūichi's wife
  • Fusako, Shingo's daughter
  • Eiko Tanazaki, Shingo's secretary
  • Kinuko, Shūichi's mistress (shortened to Kinu in the English translation with the author's permission, to avoid confusion with Kikuko)
  • Mrs Ikeda, Kinuko's flatmate
  • Satoko, Fusako's elder daughter
  • Kuniko, Fusako's younger daughter
  • Mr Tatsumu, Mr Aida, Mr Toriyama, Mr Suzumoto, Mr Mizuta, Mr Itakura, Mr Kitamoto, old friends of Shingo, mostly deceased
  • Aihara, Fusako's husband
  • Grandfather Amamiya, a neighbour
  • Natsuko Iwamura, Shingo's second secretary
  • Teru, a dog

Themes

The protagonist Shingo constantly reflects on his ageing, which manifests itself in his loss of memory, eyesight and even his male potency, wondering why he was not aroused during an erotic dream. He is also repeatedly confronted with mortality through the passing of friends and former fellow students, or the death of a young woman who committed shinjū with Fusako's husband. Human life and death correspond with the entire cycle of seasons (the proceedings start in autumn and end in autumn of the following year).

Another theme Kawabata observes is the effect of the war on his protagonists. Shūichi's mistress Kinuko repeatedly refers to the war, which took her husband and prevented her of becoming a mother, and her flatmate Ikeda explains Shūichi's mean behaviour and attitude towards women with his wartime experiences.

Style

The Sound of the Mountain completely takes the point of view of its protagonist, emphasising on his interior reactions rather than on exterior events, and disregards any thoughts of the subordinate characters. Like much of his work, it is written in short, spare prose akin to poetry, which its English-language translator Edward Seidensticker likened to a haiku in the introduction to his translation of Kawabata's novel Snow Country.

Reception and legacy

Kawabata received the 1954 Noma Literary Prize for The Sound of the Mountain.

For the first U.S. edition (1970), Seidensticker won the National Book Award in the category Translation.

The Sound of the Mountain is included in the Norwegian Bokklubben World Library's list of the 100 greatest works of world literature, which was established in 2002.

Adaptations

Kawabata's novel was adapted into a film as Sound of the Mountain in 1954, directed by Mikio Naruse and starring Setsuko Hara, Sō Yamamura and Ken Uehara. It was also adapted for Japanese television in 1963 and 1984.

References

  1. ^ Kawabata, Yasunari (1996). The Sound of the Mountain (Impressum). Translated by Seidensticker, Edward G. New York: Vintage International. ISBN 0-679-76264-7.
  2. "山の音 (The Sound of the Mountain)". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  3. ^ Aldridge, Alfred Owen (1986). The Reemergence Of World Literature: A Study of Asia and the West. Newark: University of Delaware Press. pp. 181–186. ISBN 9780874132779.
  4. Miller, Mara (2017). "On Kawabata, Kishida, and Barefoot Gen. Agency, Identity, and Aesthetic Experience in Post-Atomic Japanese Narrative". In Nguyen, A. Minh (ed.). New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-73918081-5.
  5. Starrs, Roy (2019). Soundings in Time. The Fictive Art of Yasunari Kawabata. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-873410-74-5.
  6. Kawabata, Yasunari (1956). Snow Country. Translated by Seidensticker, Edward G. New York: Knopf.
  7. "National Book Awards 1971 winners". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  8. "山の音 (Sound of the Mountain)". テレビドラマデータベース (TV Drama Database) (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 June 2021.
Works by Yasunari Kawabata
Novels
Short stories
Adaptations
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