Snow Country

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata was originally published episodically in Japanese literary journals between 1935 and 1937. It was finally published as a complete version in 1948. The novel takes place on the snowy northwestern coast of Japan and tells the story of the ill-fated romance between a geisha named Komako and her wealthy client, Shimamura. In the intimate setting of the onsen, Kawabata explores the Commodification of Female Talent and Affection, Landscapes as Metaphors for the Body, and Romance as an Internal Experience. Twenty years after Snow Country’s publication, Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first writer from Japan to receive the award. Snow Country is regarded by many as the Nobel Laureate’s masterpiece.

This guide refers to the 2013 Kindle e-book edition of the text, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker and published by Vintage.

Content Warning: This guide includes discussions of sex work and suicide.

Plot Summary

Shimamura, a wealthy married man from Tokyo, takes a train to Japan’s snow country in search of Komako, an amateur geisha with whom he connected on a previous visit to an onsen (a hot spring resort).