川 端 康 成(かわばたやすなり)

かわばたやすなり

noun (proper)

Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972), first Japanese Nobel laureate in literature

1. Kawabata Yasunari, novelist

A novelist known for spare, lyrical prose and works such as 雪国(ゆきぐに) (Snow Country) and 伊豆(いず)の踊子(おどりこ) (The Izu Dancer). In 1968 he became the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

川端康成(かわばたやすなり)は小説家(しょうせつか)だ。

Kawabata Yasunari was a novelist.

川端康成(かわばたやすなり)は1968年(ねん)にノーベル文学賞(ぶんがくしょう)を受賞(じゅしょう)した。

Kawabata Yasunari won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968.

「雪国(ゆきぐに)」の「国境(こっきょう)の長(なが)いトンネルを抜(ぬ)けると雪国(ゆきぐに)であった」という書(か)き出(だ)しは有名(ゆうめい)だ。

The opening line of "Snow Country" — "The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country" — is famous.

Usually called 川端(かわばた) (the family name) in casual reference.

Common expressions

ノーベル文学賞(ぶんがくしょう)受賞者(じゅしょうしゃ): Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
川端(かわばた)文学(ぶんがく): Kawabata's body of work

Cultural note

He was the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, praised by the committee for prose that expressed "the essence of the Japanese mind." 雪国(ゆきぐに) (Snow Country) and 伊豆(いず)の踊子(おどりこ) (The Izu Dancer) are standard reading in Japanese literature classes; he died by suicide in 1972, about a year and a half after his colleague and protégé 三島由紀夫(みしまゆきお).

general

Added 2026.9.22 1:18 · Revised 2026.9.22 1:29

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