A novel about memory and the long aftermath of love. Oki, a middle-aged writer, travels to Kyoto at the end of the year, hoping to hear temple bells and to see again the woman he loved decades before. She is now a painter living with a young pupil, and the old affair, which left a lasting mark on all of them, stirs new emotions. Kawabata explores art, age, jealousy and the way the past refuses to stay quiet, in a book of cool surfaces and strong undercurrents.