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| Kokoro | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kokoro |
| Author | Natsume Sōseki |
| Orig lang code | ja |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Novel |
| Pub date | 1914 |
| Media type | |
Kokoro
Kokoro is a 1914 novel by Natsume Sōseki set in Meiji period Japan that examines isolation, guilt, and generational change through the relationship between a young student and an older man. The work engages figures and institutions of late-Meiji society and resonates with later writers, critics, and cultural commentators in Tokyo, Kyoto, and wider East Asia. Sōseki’s prose and psychological probing influenced peers and successors across literary circles in Japan and abroad.
The narrative unfolds in three parts—“Sensei and I,” “My Parents and I,” and “Sensei’s Testament”—and recounts encounters in Tokyo and a rural seaside retreat near Kamakura. A young university student befriends an enigmatic older man who is called Sensei; their interactions evoke references to contemporary public figures such as Ito Hirobumi and Dilemmata linked to the aftermath of the Satsuma Rebellion and the modernization debates sparked by contacts with Great Britain, France, Germany, and United States. Events include visits to seaside temples in Kamakura, literary salons that echo gatherings in Osaka and Yokohama, and scenes of introspection triggered by news from Kyoto and family affairs in provincial domains. The Testament reveals a confession tied to duels of honor reminiscent of scandals involving members of the House of Peers and echoes of episodes related to prominent figures like Saigō Takamori and bureaucratic intrigues in ministries modeled on the Ministry of Education (Japan).
Principal characters include Sensei, the unnamed student narrator, and the student’s parents, who reflect tensions present among intellectuals such as Kawabata Yasunari and critics like Mori Ōgai. Secondary figures evoke contemporaries and institutions: professors from Tokyo Imperial University, acquaintances resembling journalists from Asahi Shimbun and editors from Hakubunkan, and family members with ties to merchant houses in Nagasaki and samurai lineages linked to Satsuma Domain or Chōshū Domain. Sensei’s backstory draws on archetypes similar to characters in works by Fukuzawa Yukichi and moral quandaries discussed by Yukio Mishima and later read by scholars at University of Tokyo and Waseda University. The cast features social types who interact with places such as Shinjuku teahouses, art circles associated with Kanō school, and pensioned bureaucrats connected to the legacy of Tokugawa shogunate officials.
Major themes engage duty, betrayal, modernity, and loneliness, resonating with cultural debates involving figures like Ōkuma Shigenobu and movements such as Ritsuryō-era legal modernizers and proponents of Western learning like Hirata Atsutane. The novel’s psychological realism parallels studies by European authors like Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Gustave Flaubert, and Marcel Proust and interacts with Japanese contemporaries Nagai Kafū and Shimazaki Tōson. Issues of filial obligation and social change recall legal reforms championed in the Meiji Constitution era and public controversies involving newspapers such as Yomiuri Shimbun and political debates in the Diet of Japan. Motifs of secrecy and confession link to philosophical inquiries by Nishida Kitarō and psychoanalytic currents introduced by translations of Sigmund Freud.
Sōseki composed the novel during his tenure teaching literature after returning from studies influenced by University of London experiences and exchanges with translators of William Shakespeare and essays by Matthew Arnold. Serial publication began in literary journals associated with Shincho-type publishers and completed as a book issued by firms akin to Iwanami Shoten in 1914. Promotional notices and critical responses appeared in periodicals like Chūōkōron and Bungei Shunjū; correspondence about drafts circulated among peers including Kunikida Doppo and editors at Kaizō. Scholarship on composition references manuscripts held in archives at National Diet Library and letters preserved at Waseda University Library.
Contemporary reviews situated the novel within debates involving critics such as Kataoka Teppei and public intellectuals like Tokutomi Sohō, while later reassessments by Donald Keene and scholars at Harvard University and Columbia University established Kokoro as central to modern Japanese literature. The book influenced novelists including Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, and Osamu Dazai and inspired academic courses at Keio University and Kyoto University. International translations increased dialogue with critics at University of Chicago and publishers in London and New York. The novel’s themes featured in film studies and humanities symposia at institutions like Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Adaptations span stage productions staged at National Theatre (Japan), film versions produced by studios such as Shochiku and Toho, and radio dramatizations broadcast by NHK. Directors and dramatists including figures comparable to Yasujirō Ozu and playwrights influenced by Chikamatsu Monzaemon have interpreted the novel, while graphic adaptations by manga artists appeared in periodicals alongside essays in Bungeishunjū. Academic conferences and retrospectives at museums like the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo have showcased performances and film restorations.
Category:Japanese novels Category:1914 novels Category:Natsume Sōseki