April 2026 Reading Challenge: Haiku-like story of a Geisha love story set in the snow country of northern Japan Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata was first published by Iwanami Shoten Publishing in 1948 and in substantially revised form in 1948. The first English translation was published by Knopf in 1956 and translated by Edward Seidensticker. It is a lyrical, haunting exploration of wasted love and the transient nature of beauty. The novel follows Shimamura, a wealthy, detached dilettante from Tokyo who specializes in the study of Western ballet (which he has never actually seen). He travels to a remote hot-spring town in the mountains of Niigata to visit Komako, a rural geisha. Over the course of three visits spanning several years, their relationship unfolds against a backdrop of heavy snow and isolation. While Komako falls deeply and desperately in love with him, Shimamura is emotionally “numb,” viewing her passion with the same detached aestheticism he applies to art. The n...