Description: This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956.
Brief description: Donald Keene, the author of dozens of books in both English and Japanese as well as the famed translator of Dazai, Kawabata, and Mishima, was the first non-Japanese to receive the Yomiuri Prize for Literature.
Review Quotes: Written with beauty, refinement, and force: a work of unmistakable distinction...-- "Atlantic Monthly"