The Old Capital

A fascinating look at Kyoto. The city and it's seemingly endless festivals run through "The Old Capital." And Kawabata really delivers on a sort of postcard view of Japan - the glorious gardens, trees, flowers, even the famous cedars outside of Kyoto. The Japanese are intensely aware of all this, and Kawabata weaves it through the novel. Highly recommended.

The old capital is a slow paced beautifully written book that centers around Chieko, a twenty year old girl living in Kyoto. Her adoptive parents found (stole) her under the cherry blossoms at night in Gion Shrine. They are a close knit and loving family. Chieko’s father, a kimono wholesaler makes a design for her inspired by the painter Paul Klee,who Chieko admires and has it especially woven for an obi for her.Yasunari Kawabata, a Nobel prize winner in literature, writes at length about walking to see the cherry blossoms and camphor trees and also about Kyoto with its many ancient festivals. I could appreciate the book more because I have visited Kyoto.The story unfolds slowly. Kawabata captures the stillness, the beauty and the exquisiteness of everything.

Yasunari Kawabata won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1968. He was the first Japanese to do so. He died in 1972. I read “Snow Country” earlier this year, and will no doubt soon read his other most famous work: “Thousand Cranes.” “The Old Capital” was first published in 1962.Ah, Kyoto. In many ways, the city itself, which embodies an “intangible cultural treasure,” is a major protagonist in “The Old Capital.” Kawabata, early on in this novel, wryly uses that expression to describe essential aspects of the city. Admittedly, I’ve drawn to a couple of “inside straights” in my life: in 1984 I spent 10 days in Kyoto, corresponding precisely with the Hanami, the cherry blossom festival. And in 1988, it was in the autumn, as the leaves were turning. Thus, this work has a special appeal to me, a trip down memory lane. Thankfully, despite the overall savagery of World War II, particularly in the Pacific theater, the Americans chose not to bomb Kyoto, mindful of that cultural treasure.Chieko is the “tangible” protagonist. She is the adopted daughter of Takichiro and Shige, who manage and own a workshop making traditional Japanese clothes. Takichiro is also a designer of the obi, the colorful sash that is worn with the kimono. Hideo, the son of a friend of Takichiro, falls in love with Chieko, and will weave an obi for her. In one chapter, Chieko visits Nakagawa Village, just north of Kyoto, famous for its Kitayama cedars, which are cultivated, trimmed and harvested. I truly regret not seeing them (or even knowing of their existence!) when I was there. It is there that she meets her twin, Naeko, and learns of the fate of their parents. But was Chieko originally abandoned, or stolen? I found an element of Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” in Kawabata’s story. The truth seems to shift depending on who is telling the story.“The old capital was known as the place in Japan where many of the innovations from the West were first adopted. This trait was evident among many of the people of Kyoto as well.” So states Kawabata, in conjunction with the dismantling of the streetcar that ran along the Horikawa Kitano Line, which would be dubbed the “flower train,” in operation from the middle of the Meiji era. Foreign influences in this most historic capital are noted throughout the novel, commencing with the Christian lantern in the garden. Colors are sometimes expressed with English words. Paul Klee would provide inspiration for the obi designs of Takichiro. The American occupation is briefly alluded to, with their headquarters in the botanical gardens. And the tourists, ah those tourists, who come for the festivals, and to buy Sony radios, now stocked in the clothing shops. The main current of foreign influence in this novel is the relentless modernization of the clothing industry, which is putting the old weavers out of business.As for Chieko and Naeko, they are young, seeking their way in the world, including with men. All of which is intertwined with the winter mists of Kyoto. 5-stars. Note: Attached to this review is a picture I did not take, a “royalty free” picture as was indicated, of the Kitayama cedars.

a bit melodramatic but portrays an exquisite life in old Japan

Yasanuri Kawabata sensitively portrays the life of Kyoto through the eyes of a beautiful young woman. Translator J. Martin Holman has done a superb job of rendering this meaningfully into English without losing the Japanese cultural flavor.The narrative revolves around life's questions and the decisions stemming from them. Who am I really? What would my life have been like if I had been raised somewhere else? Who will decide my destiny?Kyoto - its people, buildings, and life-rhythm - is just as much a protagonist, in a subtle way, as the young woman and the people around her. And here I am a little disappointed: although I have visited Kyoto, I have difficulty connecting the long, detailed descriptions of temples, shrines, shops and houses into a coherent picture of the city as a whole. For someone who has never been there, it must be even more difficult. Though the author's descriptions - and the translation - are rich and detailed, the result (for me, at least) is a city, but a series of detached images floating jewel-like in space.Also disappointing - intentionally so, I suppose - is Kawabata's technique of building his stories up toward a climax, but cutting off the narration just before reaching the climactic resolution. In each of the three Kawabata novels I've read so far, a tragic resolution is strongly implied, but left to the reader's imagination. The result is an intense sense of loss, without catharsis. Like so much of real life.

Solid read. Kawabata's use of the environment with story telling really touched me. If you're interested in post WWII Japan's culture this is a wonderful read. It gives insight on what life was like for them shortly after one of histories darkest wars. The Old Capital definitely is one of my favorite among my collection now.

All of the work of Yasunari Kawabata is suffused with nature, as backdrop, as resonance of characters' emotions and meditations, as reminder of timeless beauty and essential tradition. His late novel, The Old Capital, succeeds in nearly pushing its human protagonists entirely into the background. Two violets, persistently and against all odds, thriving in nearby hollows of a maple tree, become the defining symbol of loneliness, so close to each other yet in the end, unable to twine.Flora as depicted by weavers and designers of fabric and clothing, the appropriateness to the season and character, festivals and ceremonies, these are the elements ringing bell-like as we ponder obedience and honor to parents, the polite constraints that govern in silence the ability to give one's heart, and in the major plot twist of the piece, whether we are in love with the image or illusion of the loved one.

Excellent piece of literature

livro conta a história de Chieko, uma jovem que testemunha a falência tanto da loja de sua família, assim como de vários outros estabelecimentos comerciais da antiga capital japonesa, Kyoto. Além de descobrir detalhes de seu passado.

Gossamer like, this novel weaves in and out of your conscience long after the last page has been turned. The narrative structure, particularly the ending which I found a little clumsy, are secondary to the beauty of Kyoto that Kawabata creates - particularly in relation to the adoration of the flowers which rippled throughout this novel and resonated beautifully... Spellbinding.

A picture in every line; superb!