The tradition of "paintings of the mind" (xin hua) (literati painting), which developed in China from the Song Dynasty on under the conscious leadership of Su Shi (1036-1101) and other prominent intellectuals, was an essential element underlying Kawabata Yasunari's love for Song and Yuan art. Kawabata's literary philosophy and his exploration of the art of Chinese literati painters dovetail neatly in the idea of "satisfying one's heart" or "realizing one's intention"—the spirit and refinement found in the union of poetry and painting—and which were deeply reflected in his literary works. Firstly, "paintings of the mind" emphasized the ordinary human feelings and lyrical beauty, which was advocated and practiced by Chinese literati painters after they realized clearly their artistic responsibility as a literati group. And Kawabata Yasunari also believed that not only painting can shape writing and depict objects, but can also express the potential spiritual world of human beings. This artistic concept was well reflected in his works including Dream and Shower. The paintings described in many works of Kawabata Yasunari were "paintings of the mind", they were not motionless objects, but the flow of the mind. Secondly, the intellectuals in Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty were actively involved in the area of fine arts and led the trend of the theory, creating an ideological trend of "Realizing the intention" in the area of fine arts, enabling painting as a means of "Expressing one's dissatisfaction". From this point of view, the concept of novel creation of Kawabata Yasunari dovetailed neatly with the Chinese literati painters, enabling the paintings described in his novels with infinite connotations and rich interpretations. Thirdly, the intellectuals with the responsibility of the elite class in Song Dynasty provided the guiding artistic concepts of the fine arts, and maneuvered to pursue the characters on the basis of combing poems with paintings. This painting theory disseminated to Japan together with Chinese paintings during the second surge period of Chinese paintings' spread to Japan, corresponding the first 30 years of the early life of Kawabata Yasunari, and had a potential and extensive impact of his career as a novelist. The "paintings of the mind" theory not only had an influence on the formation of literati paintings in Japan, but also had transcultural and transdisciplinary impacts on modern Japanese literature. As we can observe from the literary works of Kawabata Yasunari, the Chinese painting theory with an impact overseas, as part of an artistic concept, revealed a sample of Sino-foreign cultural exchange. The phenomenon of cross-boundary spreading of culture has great academic value and has the space to be further probed and studied.