The Old Capital
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Summary
The Old Capital is one of Kawabata Yasunari's works cited for the Nobel Prize in Literature. This volume includes The Old Capital and Beauty and Sadness, written with delicate sincerity and praised as "a postcard of Japanese literature."
Editor's review
As an editor, I find the reading value of this book lies in its duality. On the surface it is a modern story full of coincidences and gentle sorrow; beneath it is a profound literary practice of the essence of Japanese traditional aesthetics—mono no aware and yugen. Kawabata uses extremely restrained language to capture those delicate, fleeting moments of beauty in life and the silent endurance of human beings before the unpredictability of fate. In today's fast-changing world, reading The Old Capital is like taking a spiritual walk through Kyoto; it can greatly soothe an anxious mind and sharpen one's perception of the beauty of nature and everyday life. Readers should be warned, however, that the novel moves slowly and its conflicts are internal; its charm lies mainly in atmosphere and the accumulation of feeling rather than in dramatic plot.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers with a strong interest in Japanese literature and the aesthetics of mono no aware
- Readers seeking inner calm who enjoy delicate emotional writing
- Readers curious about Kyoto's traditional culture, festivals, and scenery
- Literary enthusiasts who wish to deepen their understanding of Kawabata Yasunari's literary world and his Nobel Prize-winning works
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking strong plot, fast pacing, and intense conflict
- Readers completely unfamiliar with Japanese cultural background and unwilling to learn
Reading tips
- Read in a relatively quiet, undisturbed setting to better immerse yourself in the novel's atmosphere.
- Pair the reading with visual materials of Kyoto or classical music (such as shakuhachi or koto) to enhance the sense of place.
- Don't rush the plot; savor the passages where natural scenery and characters' psychology intertwine, and feel the white space and lingering resonance of the prose.
About the publisher
China Friendship Publishing Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its literary titles, covering classical Chinese literature, foreign literature, folk literature and cultural appreciation. According to the books in the database, its classical list includes celebrated dramas and novels such as The Peony Pavilion, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, as well as note-style classics like Hong Mai's Rongzhai Suibi. In foreign literature it offers translations of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country and Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, involving translators such as Zeng Siyi. It also publishes The Complete Literary Works of Lu Xun and titles associated with the "Xue'er Shuguan" editorial group, balancing the collation and popularization of classic texts. Public information on its publishing features and plans is limited; the above is summarized only from the books in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 古都
- 春之花
- 尼姑庵与格子门
- 和服街
- 北山杉
- 祇园会
- 秋色
- 松林苍翠
- 深秋里的姐妹
- 冬之花
- 美丽与悲哀
- 除夕钟声
- 早春
- 满月祭
- 梅雨天
- 石景——枯山水
- 火中莲花
- 青发千丝
- 苦夏
- 湖水
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About the author
Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) was a Japanese novelist and a leading figure of the New Sensationist school, born in Osaka. A prolific writer, he is represented on this site by 147 works, spanning essays and miscellaneous prose as well as foreign literature. His representative works include The Izu Dancer, Snow Country, Thousand Cranes, and The Old Capital; Snow Country in particular exists in multiple editions and translations, a sign of its wide circulation. Kawabata is known for his delicate prose, which interweaves human emotion with natural scenery to express the spiritual character of the Japanese people, and often conveys a sense of the beauty of impermanence in life and death. In 1968 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, an important landmark in the global recognition of Japanese literature; he died in 1972. Beyond his novels, his essays and miscellaneous writings also deserve attention.
Gao Huiqin is an important Chinese-language translator of Japanese literature. Public information about her is limited, and no clear records of her dates of birth and death, nationality, or educational background are available. Twenty-six of her works are held in the collection, mainly classics of foreign literature. Her representative translations include Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country and The Old Capital, as well as Rashomon: A Collection of Classic Works by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (illustrated collector's edition). These works show that she has long been devoted to translating modern and contemporary Japanese classic fiction, with selections centering on representative works by writers such as Kawabata Yasunari and Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Her translations strive to preserve the delicate psychological description and understated aesthetic quality of the originals, with elegant and restrained language, serving as an important bridge for Chinese readers of Japanese literary classics.
