After The Banquet

Yukio Mishma's After The Banquet (1960) is interesting in the depiction of corruption in politics, but at heart it is a character study of a strong woman, Kazu. Kazu, runs a restaurant, Setsugen, in Tokyo that is frequently by Japan's political power players. She strikes up an autumn romance with Nouguchi a politico. Their attraction seems somewhat inexplicable-it seems that it gives her a task to take care of the man and then his unlikely campaign for political office. After Noguchi's failure they part ways as the firebrand Kazu will not fade away living a quiet, modest life in the suburbs. I was interested to learn about "Omizutori"- a series of events (giant torches are burned nightly during the duration of the event) held annually from March 1st to the 14th at Todaiji Temple that has been held every year for 1250 years in Nara. There were a couple of trips to this event in the plot of the novel.  Apparently the novel was something of a scandal when it came out since it was modeled on a particular politician of the time and he actually won a ruling that it violated his privacy. In retrospect it is surprising since it is far from a salacious portrayal of an affair.