Born: 11 June 1899 · Died: 16 April 1972 · Age at death: 72
How old was Yasunari Kawabata when he died?
Yasunari Kawabata died aged 72. He was born on 11 June 1899 and died on 16 April 1972.
Japanese novelist of Snow Country and The Sound of the Mountain, the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?He was a pioneer of the palm-of-the-hand story, a literary form consisting of very short, often mystical, prose pieces.
Quick facts
Date of birth11 June 1899
Date of death16 April 1972
Age at death72
NationalityJapanese
BirthplaceOsaka, Japan
Occupationwriter, novelist, screenwriter
Editor's Take:
Yasunari Kawabata wrote some of the most delicate novels of the 20th century. Orphaned as a child, he grew up lonely, and loneliness runs through his work. His stories often feel like a series of images, as spare as a haiku. Snow Country follows a love affair at a remote hot-spring town. Thousand Cranes is built around the tea ceremony. He also wrote very short "palm-of-the-hand" stories. In 1968 he became the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Key Milestones
1926: Dancing Girl of Izu – story
1937: Snow Country – novel
1952: Thousand Cranes – novel
1954: Sound of the Mountain – novel
Yasunari Kawabata (川端 康成, Kawabata Yasunari; Japanese pronunciation:, 11 June 1899 – 16 April 1972) was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Japanese author to receive the award.
