Name: Thousand Cranes
Rating: 3.56 (25 reviews)

Yasunari Kawabata

Translated [from the Japanese] by Edward G. Seidensticker

Thousand Cranes

千羽鶴

When Kikuji is invited to attend a tea ceremony, he is unaware that Chikako has arranged for him to view a prospective bride.

If you fold a thousand origami cranes, you can ask for a wish. Or you can wish good health for someone, or a good marriage. This tells a lot about the book, even if it's not its most important information.

The tea ceremony is the background, a sarcastic comparison, and the social analysis of this story. Family traditions can be an essential part of the character's identity, or a prison they need to escape from. The past may haunt the present and threaten the future. 

A very detailed and interesting story where every nuance matters. The kind of book you may need to read more than once, in different times of your life.

Arissa

If you fold a thousand origami cranes, you can ask for a wish. Or you can wish good health for someone, or a good marriage. This tells a lot about the book, even if it's not its most important information.

The tea ceremony is the background, a sarcastic comparison, and the social analysis of this story. Family traditions can be an essential part of the character's identity, or a prison they need to escape from. The past may haunt the present and threaten the future. 

A very detailed and interesting story where every nuance matters. The kind of book you may need to read more than once, in different times of your life.

Despite the simplicity in translated language and subtle but lyrical prose, there is nothing simple about Kawabata's short story. 

Tabloid-worthy material masked and made meaningful with Japanese tradition and careful tea ceremony metaphors for people. Kawabata's treatment to the subject is sublime!

Kikuji's attempts at adulting after losing both of his parents show just how innocent and easily swayed he still is: through the course of this open-ended novelette, he fell into people's traps and kept inheriting burdens from those that passed on. 

The characters are so well-written that I genuinely felt sorry for them, felt appalled, yelled "this b*tch!" out loud... oh it was an experience getting into their heads!

y✦

Despite the simplicity in translated language and subtle but lyrical prose, there is nothing simple about Kawabata's short story. 

Tabloid-worthy material masked and made meaningful with Japanese tradition and careful tea ceremony metaphors for people. Kawabata's treatment to the subject is sublime!

Kikuji's attempts at adulting after losing both of his parents show just how innocent and easily swayed he still is: through the course of this open-ended novelette, he fell into people's traps and kept inheriting burdens from those that passed on. 

The characters are so well-written that I genuinely felt sorry for them, felt appalled, yelled "this b*tch!" out loud... oh it was an experience getting into their heads!

charisa

3-3.5. dreamlike, subtle, full of rich imagery and symbolism, but a little too obviously written by/for the male gaze lol

heleen de boever

Sorry, Kawabata, but summer is too vibrant for your quiet contemplation of teapots. Nice try though.

Kikuji has been invited to a tea ceremony by a mistress of his dead father. He is shocked to find there the mistress�s rival and successor, Mrs. Ota, and that the ceremony has been awkwardly arranged for him to meet his potential future bride. But he is most shocked to be drawn into a relationship with Mrs. Ota � a relationship that will bring only suffering and destruction to all of them. Thousand Cranes reflects the tea ceremony�s poetic precision with understated, lyrical style and beautiful prose.

Destinies and memories mingle as each touch, each glance, infuses the moment with a subtle longing for the wafts of a lingering fragrance. Objects imbued with spirit, each crack and blemish tempting a sensual nostalgia, suggestive of a delicate sentimental guilt.

Thousand Cranes Translated [from the Japanese] by Edward G. Seidensticker

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