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Yōko Ogawa: 凍りついた香り [The Scent of Ice]

Our narrator is Ryoko. She had been living with Hiroyuki, a perfumer. They had celebrated their first year together and he had made her a special scent. He said it took that long because he really needed to get to know her before making a special scent just for her. The next day, while she is ironing his shirt, she receives a phone call. Hiroyuki has killed himself by swallowing anhydrous methanol, used in perfume making. She is shocked as they were so happy the night before.

When she goes to the morgue to view the body, there are two people there- Reiko, Hiroyuki’s boss and a young man she does not know who turns out to be Akira, Hiroyuki’s younger brother. She was not aware that he had a brother. Indeed, he said that all of his family had died. Initially she thinks that Akira is the spitting image of his brother though will later revise that view somewhat. Akira pointed out that the day was the anniversary of their father’s death and the two brothers phoned each other on that day, though had little contact otherwise. None of the three had any idea why Hiroyuki would want to kill himself, though there was some thought that he might have chosen to so do so on the anniversary of his father’s death.

They search his office looking for clues but find nothing – no suicide note, diary or will. Hiroyuki was possessively tidy and organised, as he was at home with Ryoko. They look at his computer discs but they all seem to be related to the manufacture of perfume, except for the last one, which consists of short , cryptic, poetic phrases. Reiko says that these are verbalisations of perfume scents. One stands out: Frazil on a lake at dawn (Frazil is a collection of loose, randomly oriented ice crystals).

Ryoko learns more about him. Their father had died of a brain tumour when Hiroyuki was eighteen, Akira fourteen. Hiroyuki left home soon after and never returned. The brothers had no contact for six years. Only much later do we and they learn what happened in those six years.

Reiko hands them Hiroyuki’s CV which he used when applying for the perfumer job. It is, according to Akira, a pack of lies, even the date of birth.

Ryoko will later pick up a jacket belonging to Hiroyuki from the dry cleaner. They had found a piece of paper in the pocket. It is ticket for an ice rink. She is sure that it cannot be for Hiroyuki as he had dislocated his hip as a child. This too turns out to be a lie. AKira tells her that not only did his brother not dislocate his hip, he was a champion skater. The two brothers used to sneak out to the ice rink – their parents did not approve. Had Hiroyuki done the same with Ryoko?

While we are learning all of this, we are following Ryoko who is travelling to Prague. We do not know why but we do know that she is having problems – plane delayed, met by a guide who not only does not speak Japanese as promised, but does not seem to speak English.

Ryoko learns more about Rooky as both she and Akira called him. Akira lives with his mother and looks after her as she seems to have mental health issues. She is obsessed with her older son, – she thinks he is still alive – treating Akira as though he were still a young child. Indeed she She spends much of her time polishing Rooky’s many trophies. It seems that not only was he a champion skater, which she did not know, he was also brilliant at maths and had won many trophies, even outsmarting those much older than him. Akira and Ryoko poke around the large house and find evidence of his success. What Akira does know is that Rooky, accompanied as always by his mother, went to Prague for an international maths competition. However they can find no trophy and no documentation about it. Ryoko visits the local library and finds only a brief mention of the fact that he had been selected to represent Japan but nothing about what happened. Further investigation indicates that Rooky may have dropped out. This explains her trip to Prague.
The
problems continue. She ends up speaking to Jeniack, the guide in Japanese and he responds in Czech. She wants to go a library and explains by indicating a lot of books. He takes her to the Strahov Monastery. which has a lot of very ancient books. A visit to the organisers of the maths competition is equally unhelpful. It is only when they return to the monastery and explore the grounds that something clicks.

While staying with Akira and his mother she does find out some more, particularly about his childhood and his prowess at maths. She also manages to speak to one of the other Japanese competitors at the Prague maths contest – the only girl -and learns more of what what happened.

Back in Prague she is continuing her researches by visiting Bertramka, where the maths contest was held and where Moart spent some time. She sees a lock of Mozart’s hair which reminded me of the main character’s hunt for Beethoven’s ear trumpet in 沈黙博物館 [Museum of Silence]. More importantly she finds out yet more about what happened in Prague during the maths contest.

I must say that I enjoyed this novel more than any of her other book of hers that I have read and am surprised that it has not been translated into English.As in other of her books, we have a fairly normal young woman getting caught up in something out of her normal comfort zone but somehow struggling through. The plot here seemed more complicated than sone of her other books and therefore more complicated for the reader to surmise what might have happened. I hope it makes into English soon.

Publishing history

First published in 1998 by Gentosha
No English translation
First published in French as Parfum de glace in 2002 by Actes Sud
Translated by Rose-Marie Makino-Fayolle
First published in German as Duft von Eis in 2022 by Liebeskind
Translated by Sabine Mangold
Also translated into Chinese