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Two half-sisters seek a way forward in Japan after World War II. Their father, Mizuhara, works as an architect. Each has a different mother. Asako, the younger sister, falls in love for the first time. She also longs to find a third sister. That sister’s mother is a Kyoto courtesan. Momoko, the elder, mourns her lover, a kamikaze pilot. She cannot escape thoughts of their troubled last days. She turns to a string of affairs but finds no comfort.

The story spans a year of travel through a defeated country. Grand old buildings turn into hotels or tourist sites. In doing so, they lose their old air of mystery. The family seeks ways to speak through grief and old wounds. Their search links their private lives with Japan’s past. It also links the living with the dead. This family novel is for readers drawn to Japanese life. It explores loss and life in the wake of war.

Yasunari Kawabata wrote Niji Ikutabi early in his career as a novelist. Kōji Shima directed the film version in 1956. Kawabata and Toshio Yasumi wrote the script for the film. George T. Șipoș translated the book from Japanese into Romanian. This first Romanian version includes his notes and afterword. It forms part of the Raftul Denisei series.

Kawabata’s life began in Osaka in 1899. He earned his degree at Tokyo Imperial University in 1924. He made his debut as a writer in 1925. In 1968, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first Japanese writer to win it. He died by suicide in April 1972. His friend Yukio Mishima had died less than two years before.