The Museum of Modern Japanese Literature has announced that a new letter has been confirmed by Nobel Prize in Literature writer Yasunari Kawabata to his best friend Riichi Yokomitsu, who was ill.
This is the last letter in existence that Kawabata sent to Yokomitsu, and is considered to be a document showing the warm exchange between the two.
The letter was written on a rolling paper with Kawabata's characteristic characters, and the contents were confirmed by the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature at the request of a man who had an exchange with the Yokomitsu family and the Kawabata family.
Written on August 13, 1947, from the postmark and date of the envelope, it is believed to be the last extant letter from Kawabata to Yokomitsu.
In this, Kawabata seems to be concerned about his best friend who was sick, such as telling about the recent situation in Kamakura where he lives and recommending that therapy that works for stiff shoulders may relieve stiff back of Yokomitsu. I'm showing you.
He also describes how he continues to write the part that seems to be the ending of his masterpiece "Snow Country", and reports that "Three lines to one piece of all night writing".
Yokomitsu died about four months after this letter, and Kawabata regretted his death in his condolences, saying, "You have always been the one and only friend of my heart."
Kunihiko Nakajima, President of The Museum of Modern Japanese Literature, said, "It was written carefully and conveys Kawabata's feelings. I think he wrote a letter that encouraged Yokomitsu with all his might."
The letter will be on display at the Literature Museum until the 11th of this month.