A quiet, gentle and beautiful book with many references to nature, a metaphor for life, seen through the eyes of the protagonist, Shingo. The book is set after WW2, during the Allied occupation of Japan. It was originally published as a serial, between 1949 and 1954. The English edition translated by Edward Seidensticker, was first published in 1970. It explores many themes including love, beauty, family, relationships, life, aging and death. I loved the book. I especially liked Shingo because he felt so genuine and human. I looked up some of the places and a few references to artwork mentioned in the book, trying to picture life as it would have been back then. Could not find the crow painting by Kazan, though he did paint lots of crows. Also read about the beautiful Shinjuku Japanese Gardens one of the places where Shingo walks, originally a private garden of the Meiji Emperor, which was destroyed during WW2 and then reopened to the public in 1949.

Some links:

The Great Buddha of Kamakura website

The Great Buddha on Atlas Obscura

The Noh Masks

Shinjuku Gyoen today (Ch 11 - A Garden in a Capital)

Ruins of Shinjuku Gyoen 1945

Paintings by Sotatsu Scroll down for the image of the Puppy in the grass mentioned in Ch 5 of the book.

Bell flower - Kikyo mentioned in Ch 9

Yatsude - The cutting down of this plant mentioned in Ch 12

a scene from the 1954 movie-Danny's twitter post