1.
snow country; snowy region
A region that receives heavy snowfall, especially the areas along the Sea of Japan coast in northern Honshū, such as Niigata, Akita, and Yamagata prefectures. Also the title of Kawabata Yasunari's famous novel.
新潟は雪国として知られている。
Niigata is known as snow country.
雪国の暮らしには独特の知恵がある。
Life in snow country has its own unique wisdom.
川端康成の『雪国』は、国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった、という書き出しで有名だ。
Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country is famous for its opening line about emerging from a long tunnel at the provincial border into snow country.
CULTURAL NOTE:
雪国 typically refers to the Sea of Japan side of northern Honshū, which receives extremely heavy snowfall due to moisture-laden winds from the sea hitting the mountain ranges. Prefectures like 新潟, 秋田, 山形, and 富山 are representative 雪国 areas.
The word is also inseparable from 川端康成's 1937 novel 『雪国』(Snow Country), one of the most famous works of modern Japanese literature.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 雪国の暮らし (life in snow country)
- 雪国育ち (raised in snow country)
- 雪国特有の (unique to snow country)