Curiosidades

The story spans the period from autumn, 1936, to April, 1941, ending about seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The novel references a number of contemporary events, such as the Kobe flood of 1938, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the growing tensions in Europe.

Throughout, the film and novel contrasts the Kansai and Kanto regions. Tokyo's poverty, bleakness, and disorder serve to set off Ashiya's harmonious integration of tradition, modernity, and cosmopolitanism. By extolling the virtues of the Kansai region in contrast to Tokyo, Tanizaki may have been making a political statement. The unfavorable comparison of Tokyo to Kansai in the context of the war years, is a subversive reminder of the nonmilitary roots of Japanese culture and a sort of 'secret history' of Japan from 1936 to 1941.

A physical release for the film was not available until June 2011 by Criterion Collection, 28 years after this films original release.

Decline and decay are prominent themes of the film and novel and are emphasized by the repetition of certain events. The succession of Yukiko's suitors, the sisters' yearly cherry viewing excursions, and the increasing severity of illness form a pattern of "decline in repetition" in both the film and novel.

The novel's title, Sasameyuki, means lightly falling snow and is also used in classical Japanese poetry.