The Wind Has Risen

The Wind Has Risen (風立ちぬ, Kaze tachinu) is a Japanese novel by Tatsuo Hori, published between 1936 and 1938,[1] and is regarded as his most acknowledged work.

[2][3] The story is set in a sanitarium in Nagano, Japan, where the nameless protagonist resides with his fiancée Setsuko, who has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The father has contemplated the idea of sending her to a sanitarium, and is glad when his future son-in-law offers to accompany his daughter.

He has conversations with a foreign Christian priest, whose service he attends although he does not consider himself a believer, and reads in Rainer Maria Rilke's Requiem.

Late one night, he looks down into the valley, listening to the wind and the rustling sound of leaves, realising that, despite his loss and deliberate isolation, he has found a kind of happiness.

The Wind Has Risen first appeared in separate chapters, published in different literary magazines, including Kaizō and Bungei Shunjū, between 1936 and 1938.

[1][4] The novel was reprinted numerous times in later years, sometimes in conjunction with Hori's novella Beautiful Village (Utsukushii mura, 1933–34).

[1] The title is derived from Paul Valéry's poem Le Cimetière marin, which the protagonist recites in the prologue.