Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata was originally published episodically in Japanese literary journals between 1935 and 1937. It was finally published as a complete version in 1948. The novel takes place on the snowy northwestern coast of Japan and tells the story of the ill-fated romance between a geisha named Komako and her wealthy client, Shimamura. In the intimate setting of the onsen, Kawabata explores the Commodification of Female Talent and Affection, Landscapes as Metaphors for the Body, and Romance as an Internal Experience. Twenty years after Snow Country’s publication, Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first writer from Japan to receive the award. Snow Country is regarded by many as the Nobel Laureate’s masterpiece.

This guide refers to the 2013 Kindle e-book edition of the text, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker and published by Vintage.

Content Warning: This guide includes discussions of sex work and suicide.

Plot Summary

Shimamura, a wealthy married man from Tokyo, takes a train to Japan’s snow country in search of Komako, an amateur geisha with whom he connected on a previous visit to an onsen (a hot spring resort). On the train, Shimamura gazes out the window to look at the scenery, but he becomes entranced by the reflection and voice of the woman sitting behind him. The woman, named Yoko, nurses her ailing travel partner, and Shimamura speculates about the nature of their relationship, concluding that they could not possibly be married. He is surprised when Yoko and her companion get off at the same stop as him.

When he arrives at the onsen, Shimamura finds Komako in one of the hallways and is surprised to see that she has become a full-fledged geisha. Unsure of what to say—he did not keep contact with her after leaving last time—he simply offers her his index finger and says, “This remembered you best of all” (15). Komako seems to find humor in this. In Shimamura’s room, he asks her if she remembers something she said to him during the last visit.

The story flashes back to their first meeting the previous spring. In Japan’s rural onsen towns, geishas are frequently sex workers, as opposed to their counterparts from major cities who are strictly entertainers. After arriving at the onsen, Shimamura requests the services of a geisha but discovers that all of the local geishas are occupied with a party in town. Komako, who is only in training, is called in to keep Shimamura company as a last resort. Unexpectedly, the two strike up a friendship, but Shimamura does not make any sexual advances since he is unable to see beyond her inexperience. He even asks Komako to call another geisha for him.

However, Shimamura is repulsed by the new geisha and runs up a mountain outside the building to get away. There, he finds Komako waiting for him with tobacco. The couple embarks on a romantic relationship. Later that night, she stumbles into his room, visibly drunk, and insists that she should leave despite clinging to him. She is convinced that Shimamura is secretly laughing at her. Shimamura returns to Tokyo shortly thereafter.

Back in the present, Shimamura reassures Komako that he could not have been laughing at her. The following day, he begins trying to ascertain Komako’s relationship with Yoko and Yukio (the man whom Yoko accompanied on the train), largely to figure out whether Yoko is married. It quickly becomes clear that there is tension between the two women and that Yukio is terminally ill. He hears a rumor from a local masseuse that Kamoko had been engaged to Yukio, but she became a geisha to pay his medical bills, making room for Yoko to begin a romantic relationship with him. Komako vehemently denies that she is engaged to Yukio when Shimamura confronts her with the rumor and tells him, “You needn’t worry about him. He’ll be dead before long” (68).

Despite the escalation of her and Shimamura’s romantic relationship, Komako begins to anticipate their impending separation and encourages him to return to Tokyo. She accompanies him to the train station, but before she can see him off, Yoko arrives with the urgent message that Yukio is dying. When Komako refuses to return home, Yoko begs Shimamura to allow Komako to leave the station. Shimamura encourages her, but Komako insists on staying until his train departs. On the train back to Tokyo, Shimamura watches another couple he assumes is traveling together. He is startled when the man leaves the train alone and “suddenly want[s] to weep” (87).

Part 2 begins when Shimamura returns to the onsen in the autumn and finds that one of the town’s older geishas is retiring after a failed marriage. Komako is sad to see her go but agrees that the scandal makes it impossible for her to continue working as a geisha. She also informs Shimamura that both Yukio and her music teacher, whose home she previously lived in, passed away after he left. To survive, Komako has accepted a four-year contract from a local family that runs a convenience store. Shimamura is startled by how long she will have to stay working in the town, but Komako is unfazed.

One day, Shimamura insists that he and Komako visit Yukio’s grave. Komako is incensed that Shimamura continues to refer to Yukio as her fiancé but acquiesces. At the graveyard, they find Yoko in front of a statue of Jizo, a popular bodhisattva (a Buddhist religious figure) in Japan. There is a tense exchange between the two women before Komako abruptly leaves. Shimamura follows her, pressing for more information about Yoko. He later learns that Yoko is working in the inn’s kitchen.

During a party one night, Shimamura is visited in his room by Yoko, who brings him a note from Komako. Komako comes to his room shortly afterward to ask him if Yoko delivered the note and to tell him how jealous Yoko is of her. She challenges Shimamura to “seduce” Yoko before returning to the party. Afterward, Yoko delivers another note from Komako and startles Shimamura by indicating that she would like to return to Tokyo with him. Strangely, she also tells Shimamura to treat Komako well.

Shimamura spends the evening with Komako after his conversation with Yoko. In a key turning point, he calls Komako a “good woman” as opposed to a “good girl,” and she realizes that he sees her as a sexual partner more than a romantic interest. She thus understands that their relationship will end soon. This realization sparks a quarrel, and Shimamura leaves the next day to go sightseeing in the region. He seeks out the artisans who bleach chijimi linen, one of snow country’s most famous exports, but is disappointed to find none. During this trip, he realizes that he must end his relationship with Komako.

Upon his return to the onsen town, he and Komako discover that a local warehouse is on fire. They rush to the scene, and on the way, Komako confronts him once more about why he called her a “good woman.” He does not answer. As people flee the burning building, they are horrified to discover that Yoko is trapped inside. She falls out of a second-story window, hitting the ground below, and it is unclear whether or not she has died. Komako rushes forward to hold her. Shimamura watches from afar, detached, before turning his attention to the beautiful night sky.