Von Matheus Kahakura Franco PEDRO und
Amanda Batista MACHADO
Text: " It is in The Sound of the Mountain (Yama no Oto) though, that Kawabata’s prowess in depicting the intersection of ageing and an acute description of neurological illness is crucially revealed. Serialised from 1949 to 1954, it is the story of Shingo Ogata, a 62-year-old male, nearing retirement, who finds himself increasingly aware of his waning years, especially when contrasted to his slightly older wife, Yasuko : “Shingo could not tell the age at which she started to look the younger of the couple. (...) Women generally age faster than men, but, in their case, the opposite has happened.” (p. 13-14, our translation).
Neurologically, the story begins with Shingo manifesting symptoms compatible with mild cognitive impairment, with occasional lapses in episodic memory, limited to this single
cognitive domain and without any interference in his daily activities; the author describes Shingo forgetting the name of their recently fired maid: “Five days ago? Just five days ago she left and I can’t remember anything about her... (...) I can’t even think of her name.” (p. 12, our translation)."