Ancient Capital is a Japanese writerKawabata YasunariA novella.The title "Ancient Capital" refers to Japankyoto。The work lasted from October 1961 to January 1962《asahi shimbun 》Serials, published in January 1962.This work was awarded by Kawabata Yasunari in 1968The Nobel Prize in LiteratureOne of the three works of.
The Ancient Capital is the representative work of Japanese writer Kawabata Yasunari.In this novel, Kawabata Yasunari uses light and delicate brushwork to describe the joys and sorrows of the twin sisters Chichong and Miao, as well as the loneliness of the world.The author gives them his concern, sympathy and lamentation, writes about their bitter life experiences and pure love, and also writes about their yearning for a better life.
The story starts in silence and ends in silence, which brings readers to a thick and desolate artistic conception, and also reflects the author's nihility and world weariness.The work profoundly reveals the great disparity between the rich and the poor under the capitalist system, as well as the social status quo of the resulting warmth and coldness of human feelings, secular prejudice, etc., and also shows the simple and kind feelings of the Japanese people.[1]
The young daughter Chichong was abandoned because her parents were poor. She was taken in by the businessman Taijiro and his wife, and raised according to the traditional Japanese rules.Chichongzi is a decent person and has secretly doubted his own life experience, which contributes to sentimentality.According to Japanese folk superstitions, abandoned children will become lifelong misfortunes, and she often suffers from this.Moreover, Chichong is also a twin daughter, so he bears a layer of the mark of being laughed at.One day, Chichongzi met a beautiful local girl in Beishan outside Kyoto.She found that it was her twin sister.The pampered Chichong and the slim and self reliant Miao transcend the social status gap, and they are congenial and live in harmony.Due to their amazing similarity in appearance, they made some misunderstandings.[2]
Catalogue of works
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1、 Spring flowers
4、 Beishan fir
7、 The emerald green of the pine forest
2、 Nunnery and lattice door
5、 Gion Festival
8、 Late Autumn Sisters
3、 Kimono Street
6、 Autumn
9、 Winter flowers[3]
Creation background
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The lonely and desolate childhood life made Kawabata Yasunari lose his sense of home and lack of spiritual sense of belonging. This sense of loneliness, emptiness and helplessness affected his life and soul, making him dream of finding an ideal home that could heal his spiritual trauma and give him spiritual sustenance.It was this strong feeling of homesickness and strong desire to pursue hometown that made him publish the Ancient Capital with Kyoto as the creation background.
Kawabata Yasunari said when writing "Ancient Capital": "I want to write a novel to visit Japan's hometown".Later, he mentioned in his essay that "Kyoto is the hometown of Japan and also my hometown"."I regard the late autumn scenery in Kyoto as the cradle for me.".It can be seen from this that Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, was chosen as the background for the creation of The Ancient Capital, mainly because Kyoto is the most concentrated and outstanding place of Japanese beauty, and also the most prosperous place of Japanese culture, known as "real Japan" and "symbol of Japanese spirit".Kawabata Yasunari found his spiritual hometown and ideal spiritual home in Kyoto, which he has been looking for hard.
The period when Kawabata Yasunari created and published the Ancient Capital was exactly the period when Japan was occupied by the United States after its defeat in World War II.The US military introduced American culture and American lifestyle into Japan, which caused the Japanese national culture to be greatly impacted and affected, and plunged into the crisis of traditional decline.Kawabata Yasunari was deeply saddened by the loss of Japanese traditional beauty and determined to take his own life after the war as the rest of his life to restore and save the disappearing Japanese traditional beauty.He said, "I strongly consciously become a Japanese style writer, hoping to inherit the tradition of Japanese beauty. Apart from this awareness and hope, there is nothing else..." "The rest of my life is not about myself, but about the performance of the tradition of Japanese beauty".It is such a strong sense of responsibility and mission that Kawabata Yasunari created the ancient capital with the charm of Kyoto and Japan with Kyoto as the background of the story.[4]
Introduction
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Kilobaryon
Growing up in a superior environment and regarded by the adoptive parents as the apple of her eye, she was in the prime of her life and looked beautiful. In the beautiful spring season, she was filled with sadness and sadness, and felt that time is easy to pass and good scenery is hard to stay;As a young girl, she should have felt extremely happy and sweet in the face of her childhood sweetheart.However, instead of feeling this way, she was deeply distressed by her unknown life experience, and her heart was full of the bitterness of abandoned children.At the beginning of this novel, the reader has initially outlined the image of a girl who is extremely gentle, beautiful and infinitely lingering and sad.
Chihiro's grief is not only sad when touching the scene, but also becomes a part of her life consciousness, emitting a mysterious and attractive charm."Tearful eyes will be drawn to the end, and sadness will not be written" is precisely this kind of description of Chiyoko's grief, which clearly reflects the general psychological characteristics of the Japanese nation, which is implicit and subtle.Just as the charm of cherry blossoms deeply permeates the hearts of every Japanese, Chichonko is the most typical representative.Moreover, from the perspective of people's attitude of discriminating against abandoned children in the society at that time, there is no doubt that Chihiro will be unusually sensitive to his own origin.Deep down in her consciousness, it is impossible to eliminate her doubts about her family background, and the sorrow also comes from this source.The novel depicts Chichongzi's clothes, saying that she doesn't like bright colors and clothes like ordinary girls, and even her belt seems too plain.No wonder her adoptive father, Tajiro Satoda, although he was keen on pursuing the desolate and morbid painting style of modern abstract painters, he felt faint sadness and anxiety when he saw that his daughter was genuinely obsessed with plain colors.[5]
Seedling
Sister Miaozi was not abandoned by her parents, but because her parents died prematurely, she had to live alone in a small village in Beishan and earn her living by working as a lumberjack.The elder sister is now a rich young lady with good manners. Miaozi thinks he can't adapt to the life of the young lady.Miaozi only visited his sister once in the silk shop in order to show her how she looked in the kimono, which was sent by her sister.Miaozi knew his identity very well and didn't want to bring any trouble to his sister, so he planned to stop seeing her in the future and only hoped that her sister could come to Beishan to see him.
Miaozi didn't understand why it was her sister who was abandoned by her parents rather than herself. She felt that her parents had been punished for this, but she was also a baby at that time, so she could only ask her sister for forgiveness.Miaozi thought that the two sisters were very different, but it was her sister who lived a rich life.Finally, Miaozi chose to leave in the morning with fine snow and disappeared into her sister's life.[6]
Appreciation of works
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Theme
"Ancient Capital" is a work full of strong traditional Japanese culture. The work reproduces the ancient customs and scenic spots in Kyoto through the description of places of interest in the ancient capital, traditional festivals and customs, and shows the author's appreciation of the beauty of Japanese traditional culture and deep attachment.
However, in the face of the invasion of powerful western culture, Japanese traditional culture is gradually declining. The author feels sorry and lonely for this.Kawabata Yasunari's active pursuit of Japan's declining traditional culture and traditional spirit is not because of his personal needs, but as a nation, he must find his own position and not drift with the tide. National culture cannot be easily abandoned, let alone discarded at will. Kawabata Yasunari also shows a high degree of unity with traditional culture in his literary creation.[7]
The Ancient Capital is Kawabata Yasunari's last work. It discusses the themes that Kawabata Yasunari has always cared about, including: the gap between the sexes, the anxiety of gender differences, the pure and innocent yearning, the combination of human and nature, the combination of environment and personality. At the same time, the ancient capital discusses the love and hatred of artists living in the post-war ancient capital Kyoto for modern and traditional. Modern is attractive and confusing,The society is changing, and the literary taste of the public is also changing. How to stand up in the process of modernization and retain the traditional nature is a big question mark.
artistic characteristics
Emotional description
The ideological keynote of the novel Ancient Capital is nihility and seclusion.Kawabata Yasunari emotionally treated the separation of the twin sisters in infancy and their reunion after adulthood, so that the two characters were always trapped in the misty and lingering sadness.In the novel, the author highlights the theme of nihility through their subtle and delicate emotional changes and ideological activities.Every time Chichong appeared, she always felt "a faint lonely emotion" and "an indescribable pain".She had no confidence in the future of life. When her adoptive mother mentioned marriage to her, she "looked sad and didn't speak for a long time".The reunion of sisters did not dilute the loneliness and sadness in her heart, but added "new sadness" to her.Miaozi is always dominated by a sense of "disillusionment". Even her twin sisters are regarded as "illusions" by her.In a word, the work gives people a sense of impermanence and dimness through the description of these characters' feelings and thoughts, reflecting the author's nihilistic thoughts and decadent feelings.
The Ancient Capital is full of the purest and most sincere feelings in human nature, reflecting the aesthetic essence of "elegance".Traditional Japanese aestheticsMaterial sorrow, elegant andyugen It is well displayed in Kawabata Yasunari's novels, and integrated into the Ancient Capital, complementing each other, making it show a unique aesthetic feeling that is unforgettable for a long time.Due to his persistence in Japanese aesthetic tradition and his exploration of western artistic techniques, Kawabata Yasunari wrote the immortal "Ancient Capital".In his works, he gives full play to the initiative and creative power of the writer, showing the beautiful color of the combination of inheritance and innovation.
In The Ancient Capital, the love between the twin sisters Qianchongzi and Miaozi is sincere and touching.After the reunion of sisters, they all regard each other as a part of their own lives and care about each other's future.Chichongzi chose her own cloth to make kimonos for her sister, and persuaded her adoptive parents to bring her home so that she could get out of trouble.The Taiji couple's love for Chichong reflects the deep love between parents and children.Chichongzi is not the natural daughter of the Taiji couple, but they never treat her as an abandoned child and always care about her as their own daughter.In the first chapter of "Ancient Capital", the author described the pure love between Chichongzi and his childhood friend Xia Yi in the cherry blossom festival with a bright tone and simple lines.Although this love is somewhat childish, it is so natural and pure.
The Ancient Capital is full of noble and sincere feelings of human beings, which sublimate noble sentiments and self sacrifice spirit.For example, when the two sisters met in the cedar forest, they were suddenly hit by a thunderstorm, and Miao covered his sister's body with his own body;Another example is that Miaozi, as his sister's reputation and status, would rather give up the dream happiness of sister reunion;She refused the proposal of the weaver show man and planned to hide in the mountains in anonymity;Especially helping readers to give up the right of inheritance for the sake of love gives readers an aesthetic feeling of purifying the soul.[7]
Description of Kyoto
1980 Movie
One of the features of the novel is that it describes many festivals in Kyoto, includingPeace PalaceOfEra sacrifice、Sunflower sacrifice、Kurama-dera The bamboo cutting associationA garden offering, "big character" bonfire ceremony, etc.The novel also takes the places of interest in Kyoto as the background to interpret the stories of the characters.
RegardlessKawabata YasunariThe original intention of writing "Ancient Capital", in terms of its artistic effect, is really to show the natural beauty and traditional beauty of Kyoto.The author asked the readers to follow Chichongzi to visit the places of interest in Kyoto, enjoy the cherry blossoms in the Peace Palace, the lofty bamboo forests, the garden fir in the North Mountain, the nanmu in the Qinglian Garden, and enjoy the annual grand garden party, the time festival, the bamboo cutting festival, the big character bonfire in the Anma MountainFiction is likekyotoThe custom picture scroll of the Japanese people can make people appreciate the interest and beauty of the Japanese nation.Therefore, from this work, we can see the creative characteristics of Kawabata Yasunari, that is, to describe the traditional beauty of the Japanese nation with the feeling of modern people and the tone of regret.[8]
The ingenuity of this work lies in that the author does not directly describe the pure feelings of the two sisters, but rather describes the beautiful feelings in the natural beauty of Kyoto, the changes of four seasons, so that the scenery and human feelings are set off and blended with each other, describing a beautiful picture of the natural beauty and human beauty of Kyoto.In this work, Kawabata Yasunari, with his keen brushwork and detailed description, leads the readers to appreciate the four seasons beauty of Kyoto along with the characters in the work, to visit the places of interest in Kyoto, to lead the ancient charm of Kyoto's traditional festivals, and to appreciate the beauty of Kyoto's kimono and the beauty of Japan.The novel is like a lyric poem in Kyoto and a landscape painting in Kyoto. The poetic and picturesque flavor everywhere reflects Kawabata Yasunari's complex of Kyoto, which is difficult to cut.
The natural scenery of Kyoto.Japan is a long and narrow island country from north to south, with very distinct changes in the four seasons.This makes the Japanese accustomed to capturing the beauty of changes in the four seasons with a sharp and delicate pen.In the work "Ancient Capital", Kawabata Yasunari makes full use of the artistic technique of "feeling of the four seasons" in the Japanese literary tradition, and depicts the beauty of the four seasons in Kyoto with the changes of the four seasons by taking the flowers in spring, the festivals in summer, the sisters in late autumn, and the flowers in winter as the main lines.
In the "Flowers of Spring", the author first described the cherry blossoms in the Peace Palace in detail with the help of Chihiro's eyes: "The most beautiful thing is nothing more than clusters of red cherry blossoms, which decorate the Shenyuan."."When they came to the entrance of the western corridor, Shaanxi people saw red weeping cherry trees, which immediately made people feel the scenery of spring. This was the real spring: even the drooping slender branches were covered with red eight cherry trees in clusters. Such flowers were more full of branches than flowers on trees." Cherry trees are Japan's national flower,It is a symbol of Japanese traditional beauty.The author explores the beauty of Japan's nature and tradition through the measures of cherry blossoms, which reflects the author's unique feelings for Kyoto and his dedication to the Japanese national spirit.[4]
Kawabata Yasunari did not forget to express his feelings for the green leaves in Kyoto while describing the beautiful spring flowers.In the description of "Heji Street", the author wrote that "Kyoto, as a metropolis, can be described as green and beautiful. Not to mention the pine forests in the Academy and the Imperial Palace, the trees in the ancient temple gardens, even in the wooden house street and the lakeside, as well as the weeping willows on the banks of Wutiao and Bachuan, they almost want to brush the ground and are very gentle".The author also delicately describes the green charm of the tender leaves in Dongshan, the bamboo forest in Duiyang, the garden fir in Beishan, the coffins in Qinglian, the trees in the botanical garden, and the fine snow of the sin in winter, which makes the color of this picture of Kyoto more colorful.
For the traditional festival of Kyoto, Kawabata Yasunari's affection for Kyoto is not only expressed in his love for natural culture, but also in his care for the humanistic culture of Kyoto.In the novel, as the plot unfolds and develops, the author draws the readers to appreciate the grand occasion of traditional festivals in Kyoto, such as the annual sunflower festival, bamboo drum cutting, and the activities of Anshan, and describes the evolution of Japanese customs from the Heian era to the Meiji era.
Places of interest in Kyoto.The charm of Kyoto lies not only in its tradition and beauty, but also in its thousand year old capital of Japan. It was the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, with more than 1500 religious temples and more than 200 temples. It is Japan's religious and cultural center and holy land of gods.In his works, Kawabata Yasunari took the places of interest in Kyoto, such as Ping'an Temple, Renhe Temple, Qingshui Temple, and Osaka Shrine, as the stage for the story to take place and develop. The two sisters, the protagonists in his works, met in the Shrine, and his feelings for Kyoto were integrated into the description of ancient buildings and abandoned shrines.[4]
Influence of works
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2005 Movie
"Ancient Capital" and two other novellas, which were approved by the Nobel Prize Committee in 1968, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature by Kawabata Yasunari for their rich feelings, superb narrative skills, and extraordinary acumen in expressing the characteristics of the Japanese inner spirit[9]。The other two are《Snow Country》(1935-1948) and《A thousand cranes》(1949-1951).Ancient Capital is the only one of the three works without erotic content.
The novel "Ancient Capital" is an important work of Kawabata Yasunari in his later years. In the theme of its performance, it has gradually seen the change that gradually emerged from the decadent style in his early years, and many more thoughts on nature and environment, and the experience and derivation of human life and feelings in natural changes.There is a bit more philosophical thinking and introspection, and the theme also contains profound connotation. The Japanese nation has made a near topic type profound thinking about the post-war environment, the choice and change of their feelings, life in the post-war environment.[10]
The Ancient Capital was made into a film in 1963, 1980 and 2005 respectively.
Work evaluation
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Nobel Literature Prize awarding speech: "The Ancient Capital", with no exaggeration of sentimentality and touching techniques, subtly and meticulously displays the shrines, Buddhist pavilions, ancient streets, courtyards, botanical gardens, and other scenery gathered by craftsmen, and the work is full of poetry and painting.[11]
Publishing information
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Chinese translation
Gao Huiqin/Translator (Fan), Ancient Capital, Laureate Books, 1998
Tang Yuemei, Translated by (Traditional), Ancient Capital, Trojan Culture, 2002
Ye Weiqu, Tang Yuemei, Snow Country, Ancient Capital, Thousand Cranes, Yilin Press, 2002
Translated by Tang Yuemei, Ancient Capital, Beijing Press, 2003
Translated by Tang Yuemei, Ancient Capital, Nanhai Publishing House, 2014
About the author
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Kawabata Yasunari
Kawabata Yasunari, JapanNew feeling schoolWriter, novelist.Born in Osaka on June 14, 1899.His parents both died when he was young, and his sister and grandparents died one after another. He was called "a celebrity attending the funeral".During his life, he traveled a lot and felt depressed and melancholy, gradually forming a sad and lonely character. This kind of inner pain and sadness became the dark background of Kawabata Yasunari's literature later.When studying Chinese at the University of Tokyo, I participated in the re publication of New Thoughts (6th) magazine.Graduated in 1924.Same year andYokomitsu Riichi Not on behalf of the magazine, later became one of the central figures of the new feeling school born from it.After the decline of the new feeling school, participate inNew Art SchoolandNew psychologismIn the literary movement, he wrote more than 100 novels in his life, with more short stories than long ones.His works are lyrical, pursuing the beauty of life sublimation, and deeply influenced by Buddhism and nihilism.In the early stage, women at lower levels, as the protagonists of the novel, wrote about their purity and misfortune.Some of his later works wrote about the abnormal love psychology between close relatives and even the elderly, which was skillful and natural.
To become famous as a novel《The dancer of Izu》(1926) Describe the sad and unfortunate life of a high school student "I" and a wandering artist.Representative works include "The Dancer of Izu"《Snow Country》Thousand Cranes, etc.He was the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.He committed suicide in the studio on April 16, 1972.Many works have been translated and published in China.[12]
