Winter Sleep

by Kenzo Kitakata, Mark Schilling (Translator)

The legendary Japanese master's Winter Sleep take you into the hardboiled world of art -- where ex-cons are philosophers, young lovers are combustible, and aesthetics is life. An artist's quest for growth from one of the world's greatest stylists.

Nakagi, an ex-con painter who has sequestered hismself in a mountain cabin, is trying to elevate his art. The only thing breakin his solitude are the visits of two women: an art dealer who wants him to produce the sort of paintings that she would like to buy from him, and a young aspiring, and soulful apprentice. When Nakagi welcomes an escaped felon into the emotionally fraught fold, and begins to teach him to pain well. Winter Sleep awakens to a literally incendiary climax.

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Art, Literature, Asian Literature, Asia

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

北方 謙三 was the 10th president of the Mystery Writers of Japan (1997-2001).

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

Kenzo Kitakata from Japan has made a career of writing hardboiled crime fiction. You want gangsters and the underworld? Read Ashes, The Cage and City of Refuge.

Winter Sleep, the author's fourth book translated into English, is a world away - this is a novel about artists and their art.

Winter Sleep centers on Masatake Nakagi, age thirty-nine, an internationally renowned artist who has recently spent three years in prison for killing a man during a bar brawl. Since Nakagi paints mostly abstracts, we might think of him as we would Jackson Pollock or Clyfford Still or Hans Hofmann.

Nakagi also serves as the tale's narrator, thus we follow the artist in his daily routine of morning run, painting, eating, drinking and occasional sex during his stay at a secluded cabin up in the mountains.

However, being a famous artist comes with a price - as if he's the blue ribbon strawberry pie at the county fair, a string of men and women all want their slice of Nakagi.

Topping the list, there's stunning Natsue pulling up in her white Mercedes. Art dealer and all around business sharpie, Natsue has definite plans for Nakagi, both professional and deeply personal.

Akiko is an eighteen-year old beauty who addresses Nakagi as sensei since she's an aspiring artist who wishes to learn from the master. Conveniently, Akiko is renting a mountain villa not too terribly far from Nakagi's cabin.

Forever the man with questions, writer/journalist Nomura seeks to solve the puzzle that is Nakagi in order to discover what it takes to be both great artist and unrepentant murderer. If he can extract what he needs, Nomura might even be able to write more than just an article - he'll have enough material to write a book.

On one of his visits to the cabin, Nomura brings along Oshita who is much more than just another thirty-year-old art student - Oshita claims to have come from Nakagi's heart. And another thing about Oshita: like Nakagi, he's also a murderer. But Oshita got off from going to prison due to the testimony of a psychiatrist pronouncing him 'incompetent'.

Kenzo Kitakata frames of his tale thusly - clean and simple, not a trace of complexity or mystery hovering around the edges, a most befitting frame since (and this is the critical point about Winter Sleep) the real fire, the sweet juice, the Dionysian core of the novel revolves around the creation of art.

Sure, there's an element of suspense in the closing chapters (a crime fiction author just can't help himself) but to repeat for emphasis: Winter Sleep is a novel about artists and their art, the foremost artist, of course, is Nakagi, but there's also Akiko and Oshita. To underscore this point, I'll segue to a number of direct quotes.

Nakagi trots up the stairs to his second floor studio where he previously had drawn one line on a huge canvas. He tells us, "I soon became totally engrossed. Using charcoal, I covered the canvas with black lines. I started to see something in the blackness. At that point, I stopped. I had been standing in front of the canvas for three hours, but it felt like a second. I could usually work only in natural light, but when a fit like this came, it didn't matter."

I hear echoes of art critic Harold Rosenberg announcing back in the 1950s that many abstract expressionist artists approach their canvas as “an arena in which to act” rather than as a place to produce an object. “What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.” Rosenberg termed such an event "action painting." From a number of Nakagi's reflections and observations while creating, I had the definite impression he was a spiritual brother to those American action painters.

"A painter leaves behind paintings the way a hiker leaves behind footprints; once he's made them, they're just there, belonging to no one."

Nakagi's statement here speaks to his identity being neither entwined nor defined by any of his past artworks. One has the feeling Nakagi is on the cusp of a creative explosion, similar to when Jackson Pollock transitioned to applying paint to his canvas positioned on the floor.

Akiko and Nakagi in conversation where Akiko says, "Landscapes and still lives and people are easy to paint because you can see them. It's harder to paint what's in your heart. You can't see anything there."
"Well, there are feelings," I said.
"You've had a lot of practice putting those feelings into color and form, haven't you sensei?"
"I've had a lot of practice drawing what I see as I see it."

It's that 'as I see it' that makes all the difference. As an artist and creator, Nakagi judges himself living on a completely different plane from what he terms 'ordinary human beings'. There is a hefty dose of Nietzschean philosophy here (in the sense of artist as spiritual seeker and visionary expressing in and through art). A question one can ask while reading Winter Sleep: To what extent does moving through life as an artist contribute to Nakagi's apparent indifference to conventional rules and moral codes?

Nakagi critiquing Akiko's drawings: "Sketching is something like - it's like drawing yourself. That's what all painting is, really. But you aren't trying to see yourself clearly."

One detects how radical and transformative Nakagi's Nietzschean view of art: the finished work doesn't reveal the apples or trees or model one uses as a subject as much as the work reveals the soul of the artist.

Nakagi speaking to Oshita: "I'm me. I'm not you. You say you came from my heart, but you can't paint like me. You're not me. You're you."

Such a powerful dynamic - Nakagi recognizes Oshita did truly come from his heart but painting and artistic expression are on a completely different plane. What Oshita needs to paint is not being in touch with Nakagi but Oshita being in touch with Oshita.

I could go on offering commentary on dozens of other direct quotes. Winter Sleep makes for a rich, compelling read. If you're into art, that is.


Japanese novelist Kenzo Kitakata, born 1947

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm quite enamoured with Kitakata's writing. I don't know how much was due to Mark Shilling's translation, but this novel shows a side of Kitakata I was only vaguely aware of. That is, Kitakata dispensed with the tropes of a yakuza crime drama, which is his forte, and instead wrote a psychological, literary thriller that explores the nature of art, the role of the artist, mid-life crises, the search for beauty, the search for truth, the extent that anyone can be taught to paint, or to see, manipulation, loyalty, and gosh, I could go on. What we have here is a philosophical treatise on art disguised as fiction. If you read this and don't want to stretch a canvas and start slinging paint, I can only pity you.

Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X - and receive my monthly newsletter with an original painting, and book recommendations galore for the Japanophile, crime-fiction-lover in all of us.

[Ryan Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published by Vertical Press, which specializes in translating popular Japanese writers unknown stateside, Kitakata's book has a lot in common with Haruki Marukami's novels: a first-person account of a middle-aged Japanese man somehow outside of the normal office routine, who attracts mysterious women without much effort, and embroils himself in mysteries just beyond his own grasp. And endless repitions of a daily routine are recorded, that too. That said, Winter Sleep is nowhere near as paranoid or rootless as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It focuses chiefly on the interstices between art and violence, as if each were forms of expression beyond our parsing. Curiously, the protagonist detests any explication on his increasingly world-famous paintings, distrusting words and their meaning. Then what to make of the novel itself? This paradox is ingeniously woven back into the theory of art: to experience it beyond words is the only experience (even if the artwork is nothing but words), and all attempts to explain it turn to ruin. It's a compelling and confident novel, worth searching out — it took me several bookstores to find this title.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having thoroughly enjoyed his previous book, Ashes, I was thrilled to start reading the latest translation of his work. Winter Sleep, translated by Mark Schilling, is a first-person psychological study of a complicated and lonely abstract artist spending his winter in a cabin near Nagano, Japan. Having been a promising artist who accidentally kills someone during a fight, he has left jail and continued his painting. Working to perfect his art while ensuring that it can be enjoyed and understood by others, he settles into a routine in his winter abode. Three characters routinely enter and exit the his path over the course of the novel: a middle-aged woman who has a passion for his art and selling it; a young female art student who is seeking a teacher, and a young man who is on the run from the police after committing a murder.

Winter Sleep couldn’t be a better title. You really do feel as though you’ve almost gone into hibernation or a cocoon, waiting to see how you change, develop, and emerge in the spring. This book is fabulous for the ride it takes the reader on. Like Ashes, it’s pacing is rhythmic and fluid. It’s not a thriller but it is a page-turner. You are both pushing and being propelled through the story. I highly recommend picking up this book. My only caveat is that the translation isn’t totally up to par. Sometimes there’s an “A” where there should be a “THE”. Less than conscientious editing pops up every dozen or so pages. But, it’s not enough to derail the story, so get out there and grab a copy! Maybe start with Ashes which will give you an appreciation for Kitakata’s prose and psychology.

[S D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another a book where not a whole lot happens and turns out I really like those books. I can really settle into a book with a snail-paced plot, I miss Nakagi’s mountain cabin and it’s roaring fire. Great ending too

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is it with middle-aged Japanese male authors and their overwhelming focus on sex? As a woman reading these kinds of books, it just makes me feel uncomfortable.

Firstly, the main character of this novel is an insufferable man. I’m not rooting for him at all, despite him being a wrongfully convicted man who finished a three-year prison sentence. This should be his revival, reconnecting with people after spending so much time in prison, dealing with the social ramifications of his community knowing/not knowing his past. But in fact, I don’t want him to succeed at all— I really really disliked him. His actions towards people, coupled with the “better-than-thou” attitude he feels because he’s so independent, AND the fact that he’s supposedly a genius painter… a triple whammy of awful.

When you then sprinkle in the blatant sexism and xenophobia that this man exhibits, it’s even worse. He treats women as objects, bluntly stating when he wants to have sex with a woman. He treats the Filipino women who work at a snack bar as less-than-human— again, objects to have sex with, but also because they don’t speak enough Japanese he almost writes them off as props in the background who can’t interact with him in his conversations. He sexualizes a 19 year old aspiring painter and basically grooms her because she wants to improve her art skills, drawing her nude and selling the painting for millions of yen. He talks about womens’ pubic hair and compares it between his two lovers: one is the older, mature, “sexy” type, and the other a literal minor under Japanese law.

This book was just disgusting to read as a woman. When I read these kinds of authors I always wonder why they can’t just write women normally, with a shred of respect? Why does this genius painter have any right to groom a minor and paint her nude? Why does the woman who wants to become his art dealer offer to sleep with him after meeting him only a few times? Why is it just about sex with them? He doesn’t have any emotional connection to anyone, other than the murderer on the run who claims to have “come from [his] heart”.

And why is this man so annoyingly blank? I wish he had ANY amount of substance to him, but it was like putting a boulder into a book and trying to make everything about it.

I’m trying to write a book review for this one with tact and respect, but I can’t respect these kinds of authors who wouldn’t respect me in return. It’s a one star for this, and if I could rate it 0 I would.

[Alibiserver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenzo Kitakata may be the don of hardboiled mystery in Japan as what the book proclaims, but the book reads like a Freudian thriller, a psychological joyride of ups and downs, a book that appears too simple for a common read but is laden with symbolisms that are well-wrought in the plotline. Yes, there are some question that will rise when one reads the book like, if a painting these days will really cost that much and if one really makes a living just painting these days (the book was written at a different time) but it does little to thwart anyone’s fancy for the book. My only gripe is that the narrative is sometimes a bit stilted and sudden in some parts, perhaps a fault in the translation.
Some spoilers:
Nakagi: Everyman
Natsue: Superego
Oshita: Id
Akiko: Suppressed thoughts
Nomura: Ego

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a lover of winter, the backdrop of a mountain cabin in nagano was a perfect vehicle for lots of descriptions of snow, ice, clouds, weather. unfortunately, the translation into english left the dialog stilted and without nuance. a shame, because the story is probably really compelling in japanese.

[Erika Aquino · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book so far! I have read it three times but I can still find minute details that make this book so fascinating every time I pick it up. I just love the vagueness and the noir concept of this book!

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

most of the book is really short, direct sentences. logs burning. popping tabs. eating curry. staring, sleeping, bathing, running. painting lines. drinking. embracing. sketching a winter rock. the dialogue is so stilted. I wish the ending took my breath away, but it didn't.

[melvinhiddenelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

One hell of a noir, so bleak, it's just as black as my heart!

[Anthony Helm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished Kenzo Kitakata's "Winter Sleep." Never before has a work of fiction conjured up within me a desire to paint. It's not that the work is particularly visual, but the way that it describes the action and motivations of the painter who is the main character had me visualizing my own paintings, should I ever actually pick up a brush! The story itself, like many Japanese novels, was fairly slow-moving, but not plodding. Kitakata's writing (or perhaps that of the translator) was accessible. Without giving too much away, the tension that builds throughout the story eventually breaks, but as subtly as slow waves on a beach.

[inside_the_hard-boiled_wonderland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly don't know how to rate this one at first as the story revolves around a point in time that the main character, Nakagi, is probably at his lowest of lows; that all I could see are his flaws and the flaws of the other characters that gravitates towards his profound "loneliness". It's the first time I got to read this particular type of story and I wasn't prepared on how simple the conversations are yet how deeply the characters are actually suffering and the coping mechanisms they engage in just to fill the voids within them.

Overall, a quick read but a deeply sad story.

P.S. Rating soley based on how great the impact of the story had left on me after I finished reading it. Probably I'm a bit biased since I love painting and it's also my primary form of expression. Depressing, but I think that's what the writer wants to get across and it did.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice pacing and style. You really feel like you enter the mind of a particular kind of artistic genius. Moving but not life-changing.

[S Matz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. So Hardboiled. I found it excellent.

[Lara Alvarez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sem condições, muito ruim!!!

[Sae-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, so this is what hard-boiled genre read like. I think I personally will call it emotionally-detached genre.

I love the underlying idea of the importance of human being to express himself, the unfathomable chasm amongst humans' heart, and the basic trait of human- aloneness. The fact that very few are willing to admit. We are too busy to be social, masks that we desperately pile on to ourselves, so that we at last forget how we really look. The very few who dare to shed mask after mask after mask are considered anti-social. Which is the true human nature. In the end, we are all alone.

As much as I love the ideas and all the mirror reflections I got during reading this book, I don't think I like the genre.

[Vadim Ryzhkov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Роман неплохой, но приходится это понимать сквозь плохой перевод и плохое оформление книги (включая не имеющую отношения к делу аннотацию). К сожалению, некоторые достойные образцы легких жанров, похоже, можно воспринимать исключительно в оригинале, потому что гонка за быстрейшим переводом и публикацией сильно портит качество российских изданий.

[Rachel Bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a crime novel, it's mostly about what it means to be an artist. Surreal and dream-like, "Winters Sleep" is a great title.

[Rami Hamze · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 stars plus 1 bonus star for the excellent depiction of the setting...

[Green&Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of kenzo's english translations.
Is there any hope of more english translations?

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm Oshita too.