Beauty and Sadness is one of the first novels written about gay romance originally in Japan and was written by the known Japanese author and poet Yasunari Kawabata. It was published in 1965 by the Central Public Opinion Company (Japanese: 中央公論新社) written in Japanese. The story was a big hit as it was later adapted into several movies. The story confronts tradition, love and the Japanese society at its core through the life of a 55-year-old man, as he revisits his old loves and friends. His life story is retold and reflected upon from the point of old age and more learned wisdom.
Initially, the book worked as a series publishing chapter by chapter in a Japanese magazine called Women’s Public ( Japanese: 婦人公論). It was divided into nine parts, and each part was published in one of the seasonal issues of the magazine. Yasunari Kawabata won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968 for his lyrical and was further known internationally.
