"The Sound of the Mountain" is Yasunari Kawabata's postwar novel set in Kamakura, told through the perspective of Ogata Shingo as he begins to feel the approach of old age. Marital discord in his son's household, a daughter returning home, and his complicated feelings for his daughter-in-law converge, while quiet natural imagery brings out intimations of death and the disintegration of the postwar family.

The sound from the mountain at night quietly announces old age, death, and the fraying illusion of family.

A historical novel by Seiichi Funahashi centered on Ii Naosuke, the late-Edo chief minister. It portrays the political tensions over opening Japan, the world of the Hikone domain, and the era leading to the Sakuradamon Incident.

Against the upheaval of late-Edo politics, the novel follows Ii Naosuke's life and the fates of people swept up by his decisions.

Akiko Mandala is a biographical novel by Haruo Sato. It portrays the poetic and emotional relationships among Akiko Yosano, Tekkan Yosano, and Tomiko Yamakawa through Sato's deep sympathy with the Myojo school. The work layers the fervor of modern tanka with the shadows of human attachment.

The poetry and love of Akiko, Tekkan, and Tomiko intersect like a mandala of modern tanka.