Yasunari Kawabata

Yasunari Kawabata (?? ?? Kawabata Yasunari, June 14, 1899 - April 16, 1972) was a Japanese novelist whose spare, lyrical and subtly shaded prose won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. He became the first Japanese, and third Asian (after Rabindranath Tagore and Shmuel Yosef Agnon), to win the award. His works have had broad and lasting appeal, and are still widely read internationally.

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Kawabata was born in Osaka, and was orphaned when he was two; he then lived with his grandparents with his sister. Kawabata's grandmother died when he was seven, his sister when he was 9, and his grandfather when he was fourteen, causing him to move to his mother's hometown. He attended Tokyo Imperial University, graduating in 1924.

June 14: June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining....

1899: 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar)....

1972: 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday....