Who are the main characters in the story?

What are their ages and occupations?

Examine the relationship between Komako and Yoko.
Komako is rumored to have been the music teacher’s son’s fiancé.  It is rumored that she took work as a geisha to help out when he fell ill.  Yoko takes physical care of him and it is rumored that he broke up with Komako and took Yoko as his lover.  What do you think is really going on between the two women?

How is Shimamura attracted to both women?

What kind of man is Shimamura?
Shimamura is a man of leisure.  He has the time and the money to visit the inn each season.  He comments at one point that people must think that he has forgotten his family since he spends so much time at the inn. He approaches things in an unusual way.  Instead of studying ballet by attending performances, he studies dance from an academic perspective.

Why is Komako working as a geisha?

Why does she drink so heavily?

Why does she act childlike and change personas so often with Shimamura?

What is the significance of Chijimi?

What is the importance of the phrase, "wasted effort"?

What is the significance of the references to the Milky Way in the last chapter?

What is the point of Yoko’s fall? Do we know if she dies?

Why is Yoko considered Komako’s “sacrifice, her punishment”?