The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories - Yasunari Kawabata

Rating: ★★★★
01/01/16

“When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.”
― Tennessee Williams, Camino Real

The Dancing Girl of Izu
looking from afar
wishing to break the silence
that haunts them tonight


Full review


Diary of My Sixteenth Year
lonely child
forced to grow
as leaves fall


Oil
crowded oil
fading away
amid the ashes


The Master of Funerals
existence whispers
ancient songs of winter times

solitude lingers


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Gathering Ashes
old dust
makes the nose bleed
when cicadas cry


Hurrah
two loners meet
and start their journey
throughout Japan


The Princess of the Dragon Palace
sinners pay

they soon became
two lines
destined never to meet


The Honey Road
memories of loss
break into the mind
as a whitened pond
sings into the night

They say paradise is far away.

Chastity Under the Roof
I wonder
what to say
about this one

long sigh

moving on


The Moon
thoughts so heavy
that dig his clogs
into the snow

...one who intends to join her life with mine.

Enemy
a woman sees
a line of enemies
inside her screen


A Woman
where the gourds lie, a sullied sword pierced a tombstone to purify itself


Frightening Love
do the heavens
punish
too much love?

*

heavens punish
too much
doubt


Horse Beauty
ravishing horse
galloped off
leaving the cosmos flowers
behind


The Sea
stop hesitating
bring your silence
and walk with me

'Please take me where I can't look at the sea.'

Hands
silent hands
evoke her death
pomegranate flower

He believed that in this way his unexpressed feelings could somehow be communicated to others.

The Third-Class Waiting Room
Tokyo Station
has the feeling
she's not coming


The Watch
a lawyer
meant to talk
can't find the words
in his avalanche of thoughts

We mustn't condemn the vanity of these two. Vanity happened to give this man, who had groveled in fear of women, a little courage for love. ...perhaps, this thing called love is so absurd that it will manifest itself regardless of the means.

History
open your eyes now
under the fallen oak leaves
lie real intentions


Birthplace
financial
transactions
exhaust me

yet they brought the boy back to his land


Burning the Pine Boughs
the sounds of fear
cover the night
of the first sparrow


A Prayer in the Mother Tongue
the mind
remembers
as it says goodbye

'Perhaps Kayoko is something like a mother tongue to me.'

The Setting Sun
don't look at my past
she said to the poet
near the blossoms

*

the samurai's sword
grabbed a life
and broke it in two

your silence is sharper




* First review of 2016. One can only hope...