You quickly see all the references to black hair against the white snow and darkness against sunlight, distant music against stillness - darkness and wasted beauty as the main character says in regard to his favorite geisha. It is written in prose but using the haiku style, terse and austere, due to the limitation of words and the use of opposites and contrasts. In fact they are considered almost social outcasts and come close to being just prostitutes - at least that was the case in the 1930’s, the time of this story. We are told in the translator’s Introduction that the snow country geisha catering to the ski lodge and hot spring clientele in winter are second class geisha compared to the urban geisha in Japan. In the town, the overhangs of buildings over the sidewalks form a tunnel through the snow in winter. If you like a “ski” read instead of a “beach” read, this is for you! The setting is the mountain slopes of western Japan, one of the snowiest regions of the world – up to 15 feet of winter snow is common.
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