The Makioka Sisters (細雪, Sasameyuki; "light snow") is a novel by Japanese writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki that was serialized from 1943 to 1948. It follows the lives of the wealthy Makioka family of Osaka from the autumn of 1936 to April 1941, focusing on the family's attempts to find a husband for the third sister, Yukiko. It depicts the decline of the family's upper-middle-class, suburban lifestyle as the specter of World War II and Allied Occupation hangs over the novel.
It was translated into English by Edward G. Seidensticker, and published by Alfred A. Knopf.
Patrick McCoy of The Japan Times described the book as being "Tolstoyan in length and scope."
Contents
Story
Title
The novel's title, Sasameyuki (細雪), means lightly falling snow and is also used in classical Japanese poetry. The image suggests falling cherry blossoms in early spring—a number of poets confess to confusing falling cherry blossoms with snow. Falling cherry blossoms are a common symbol of impermanence, a prevalent theme of the novel. The "yuki" (雪, snow) in Sasameyuki is the same as the yuki in Yukiko's name, suggesting that she is the central character of the novel.
These nuances do not translate well into English. The translator, Edward Seidensticker, struggled over the title. Translations like "Fine Snow" and "Snow Flurries" do not convey the elegance or layers of meaning in the Japanese title.
Characters
Source:
Tsuruko (鶴子), the eldest Makioka sister and mistress of the main house
Sachiko (幸子), the second-oldest Makioka sister and mistress of the Ashiya branch house
Yukiko (雪子), the third Makioka sister; thirty and unmarried, shy and retiring
Taeko (妙子), the youngest Makioka sister; unable to marry Okubata until a husband has been found for Yukiko
Tatsuo (辰雄), Tsuruko's husband and head of the family, a cautious bank employee who has taken the Makioka name
Teinosuke (貞之助), Sachiko's husband, an accountant who has also taken the Makioka name
Etsuko (悦子), young daughter of Sachiko and Teinosuke
O-haru (お春), a maid at the Ashiya house
Okubata (奥畑), son of a prominent Osaka merchant family, has tried to elope with Taeko
Itakura (板倉), a photographer and former clerk at the Okubatas’ jewelry store
Itani (井谷), owner of the beauty parlor the Makioka sisters patronize, enjoys acting as a go-between in marriage negotiations
Plot
Book One
The Makiokas are an upper-middle-class family from Osaka, Japan. At the time of their father's prime, they were one of the wealthiest families in the region, but over the last generation their fortunes have fallen into decline. The main branch lives in Osaka, at the family home, and consists of the eldest sister, Tsuruko, her husband, Tatsuo, who has taken the Makioka name, and their six children. The branch house is located in Ashiya, an affluent suburb between Osaka and Kobe, and consists of the second-oldest sister, Sachiko, her husband, Teinosuke (also an adopted Makioka), and their young daughter, Etsuko. Tsuruko and Sachiko have two younger sisters, Yukiko and Taeko, who are unmarried and move between the main house and the branch house.
As the novel opens, the Makiokas' pride has led them to dismiss the numerous marriage proposals they have received for Yukiko in the past, but, now that their fortunes have declined, the rate of proposals has slowed, and Yukiko, now thirty, remains without a husband. To make matters worse, her name was mistakenly printed in place of Taeko's in a local newspaper story: Taeko had run away with Okubata. Tatsuo demanded a retraction, but instead, the newspaper ran a correction, replacing Yukiko's name with Taeko's. The article embarrassed the Makioka family and stained both Yukiko's and Taeko's names; unhappy with the way Tatsuo handled the affair and generally dissatisfied with his cautious nature, Yukiko and Taeko have begun spending most of their time at the Ashiya house. In the wake of the newspaper incident, Taeko finds refuge in doll making—she is quite skilled, and her dolls are sold in department stores. She convinces Sachiko to find her a studio, where she spends a great deal of time working on her dolls.
Itani brings Sachiko a marriage prospect, a man named Segoshi. Hurried by Itani, the family agrees to an informal ”miai” (見合い, a formal marriage interview) before they can thoroughly check Segoshi's background. The Makiokas become optimistic about their chances of making the match, but are eventually forced to decline when they discover that Segoshi's mother is afflicted with a kind of dementia which was considered hereditary.
A few months later, Sachiko receives word of another marriage prospect, this time from an old classmate, Mrs. Jimba. The prospective groom is a middle-aged widower named Nomura. Sachiko is not particularly excited about him, because of his aged appearance, but decides to have him investigated all the same. She asks Mrs. Jimba to give them one or two months to make a decision.
Background
Tanizaki was born in Tokyo in 1886. After the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and fire, which destroyed Tokyo, he settled permanently in Kansai, the region where The Makioka Sisters is set. Many of the characters and events in The Makioka Sisters are loosely based on real people and events: Sachiko is modeled after Tanizaki's third wife, Matsuko, and Sachiko's sisters correspond to Matsuko's. Sachiko's husband, Teinosuke, does not resemble Tanizaki, however. The Makioka Sisters spans the period from autumn 1936 to April 1941, ending about seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The novel references a number of contemporary events, such as the Kobe flood of 1938, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the growing tensions in Europe. Publication began in 1943, at the height of World War II. The popularity of the novel attracted the attention of government censors, who ordered that publication be halted, saying: “The novel goes on and on detailing the very thing we are most supposed to be on our guard against during this period of wartime emergency: the soft, effeminate, and grossly individualistic lives of women.”
Themes
Decline and decay are prominent themes of The Makioka Sisters and are emphasized by the repetition of certain events. The succession of Yukiko's suitors, the Makiokas’ yearly cherry-viewing excursions, and the increasing severity of illness in the novel form a pattern of “decline-in-repetition”. In reaction to this decline, the characters long for an idealized past—they attempt to remain connected to their past through yearly rituals and observances. The Makiokas’ adherence to these rituals connects them to the traditions of the merchant class from the Edo period and reflects Tanizaki's belief that the Edo-period culture had been preserved in Osaka. Throughout, the novel contrasts the Kansai and Kantō regions. "Tokyo's poverty, bleakness, and disorder serve to set off Ashiya's harmonious integration of tradition, modernity, and cosmopolitanism". By extolling the virtues of the Kansai region in contrast to Tokyo, Tanizaki may have been making a political statement. The unfavorable comparison of Tokyo to Kansai "in the context of the war years, [is] a subversive reminder of the nonmilitary roots of Japanese culture and a sort of 'secret history' of Japan from 1936 to 1941".
Publication
Sasameyuki began as a serial in the magazine Chūō Kōron in 1943, but publication was halted by the Information Bureau of the Japanese War Ministry after two installments, the first in the issue for New Year 1943 (now Book 1, Chapters 1 to 8) the second in the issue for March 1943 (now Book 1, Chapters 9 to 13). In 1944, Tanizaki published 248 copies of a privately printed edition of Book One, with financial backing from Chūō Kōron; this was, again, censured by the military. After the conclusion of World War II, the novel was published in three parts: Book 1 in 1946, Book 2 in 1947, and Book 3 in 1948.
Reception and legacy
The novel has been called “the greatest cosmopolitan novel since the Meiji Restoration”. Following its success, Tanizaki was awarded the Mainichi Prize for Publication and Culture and the Asahi Culture Prize. The novel has been translated into at least 14 languages. The English translation, by Edward G. Seidensticker, was published in 1957 as The Makioka Sisters.
According to Charles E. Hamilton of the University of California, Berkeley, many reviews in the United States of the English translation were "marked by an air of discomfiture", with some reviews being uncivil and others offering "factitious praise".
Donald Barr of The New York Times compared and contrasted the English translation of the novel with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Barr concluded that The Makioka Sisters "has in an immense degree the power of veracity, which is second only to the power of truth." Hamilton argued that Barr's comparison with Austen was done "inaptly". Time stated that the book had "a heroism that [...] bends to the winds of fate like a reed and, never breaking, wins the subtler triumph of endurance." Time stated that significant portions of the book "are dull enough to make U.S. readers wonder if they are not in the hands of the Japanese sandman." According to Hamilton, Anthony West of The New Yorker, in Hamilton's own words, "guyed the book at scurrilous length as a mere exercise in medical naturalism."
Hamilton himself called the translation in the English version "skillful". One criticism Hamilton had was the loss of the Kansai dialect in the translation.
Adaptations
Film
Sasameyuki. Directed by Yutaka Abe. Tokyo: New Tōhō Company. 1950.
Sasameyuki. Directed by Koji Shima. Tokyo: The Greater Japan Motion Picture Company. 1959.
The Makioka Sisters. Directed by Kon Ichikawa. Tokyo: Toho Co., Ltd.. 1983.
Television
Sasameyuki. Nippon Television Network Corporation. Tokyo. 1957.
Sasameyuki. NET (Now, TV Asahi Corporation). Tokyo. 1959.
Sasameyuki. Nippon Television Network Corporation. Tokyo. 1965.
Sasameyuki. Fuji Television Network, Inc. Tokyo. 1966.
Sasameyuki. Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation. Osaka. 1980.