An Introduction To The Later Novels of Natsume Soseki

An Introduction to the Later Novels of Natsume Soseki
Author(s): Valdo H. Viglielmo

Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 19, No. 1/2 (1964), pp. 1-36
Published by: Sophia University
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An Introduction
to the LaterNovels
of NatsumeSoseki
By Valdo H. Viglielmo, N.J.
Princeton,
The greatnessof NatsumeS6sekiais perceivedtodaynotonly

by Japaneseintellectualsand scholarsbut by the Japanesepeople
in general. He is the most widely read and loved of Japanese
that he is readfora varietyof
authors. It is a fact,nevertheless,
reasons,some of which would undoubtedlyappall S6seki if he
were alive. The average Japanese who has enjoyedthe rather
picaresqueexperiencesof a Botchan,or laughedat the impudent
cat's caricatureof his master,KushamiSensei, or who has even
seen himselfin theyouthfulSanshir6and his relationswithMineko,
and who has stoppedin his readingat that point,has readS6seki
on a verylow level indeed.
This does not mean that the Edokkospiritof Botchan,or the
mirthof Wagahai wa neko de arub (I Am a Cat), or theyouthful
strugglesand firstexperienceof love of a Sanshir6are not to be
appreciated. On the contrary,preciselybecause in the early
S6seki can be tracedthe makingsof the later Soseki of Higan
sugi madec (Until After the Spring Equinox), Kojind (The
Wayfarer), Kokoroe (Heart),Michikusaf (The Loiterer),and Meiang
(Light and Darkness),these earlyworksare of great value. Thus
it is somewhat dishearteningto find the vast majorityof the
Japanese people, who have in S6seki a novelistof the veryfirst
order,readingprimarily the worksthat are least significant, or,
a UWE b -;j:C3 u j c RMAj IT, d HAk e Z, f ;1-- g P)IpAE

2 Valdo H. Viglielmo
rather, significant largely insofar as they point the way to the

later masterpieces. For every person who has read Mfichikusa
there are ten who have read Wagahai wa neko de aru.
S6seki's novels are characterized by a progression, geometric
rather than arithmetic,in artistic importanceand depth. S6seki's
death, on December 9,1916, in the midst of his last novel Meian,
came at the very pinnacle of his powers. This is at once the
tragedyand triumphof S6seki, for we shall never know the aged
novelist, repeating himself,losing his grip on reality,and writing
works that indicate only too clearly that the author has nothing
new to say. We were spared this pitiful spectacle, but, more
important,S6seki was spared it. There may be some who feel
that afterMona (The Gate) there is a decline in his powers, and that
this is evidenced by the loose constructionof the second trilogy.
If one makes a tight constructionone of the criteria for a great
novel, then obviously Higan sugi made, Kojin, and Kokoro fail at
this point. And yetwhateverthe second trilogyloses in construction,
it more than regains in depth. It is almost as if S6seki says:
Form no longer matters to me. I have more importantthingsto
consider than that. If there are any who doubt my ability to
turn an elegant phrase, let them but glance at my Kusamnakurab
(The Grass Pillow). If there are any who demand a vast canvas
and an intricateplot, let them but read my Gubijinsoc (The Poppy).
I have put those things behind me. More deeply, and yet more
deeply, shall I probe the soul of man. If the reader continues to
prefer my earlier works with their lightness, romanticism, and
sparkling wit, to what I shall now write, he does so to his
detriment. It does not matter whether S6seki ever thought out
his position in that way; the later novels speak for themselves.
The greatest significance,therefore,must be attached to the
novels after Mon. Mon (The Gate) is aptly named, although it
was selected by opening at random the pages of the Japanese
translation of Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra.1 However
mechanically it was selected, and despite the fact that the selection
was not even made by S6seki himself, it is strangely symbolic.
It is the gate to the later S6seki, and we findin it foreshadowings
1 See KomiyaToyotaka/Jl Sosekinogeijutsu (T6kyo1942),

:WIFJ
p. 178.
a rl b M:j+t c 1rV

Later Novels of NatsumeSoseki 3
of what is to come. Toward the end of the novel the gloom

deepens, and the reader, like the main character, feels that all
hope is lost. S6suke goes to Kamakura to spend some time in
meditation at a Zen temple, but he does not find the peace of
soul he is seeking.
He seemedto be one born with the fate of having to stand
foreveroutside the gate. He felt this to be inexorable,but if he
were unable to pass throughthe gate, whythenhad he deliberately
traveledthis far? He looked behind him: he did not have the
strengthto retracehis steps. He looked in frontof him: as before
the strongdoors blockedthe way. He was not one who could pass
throughthe gate. But he also was notone whocouldremaincontent
withoutpassingthroughit. In fine,he was thatunfortunate person
who muststandoutsidethe gate and await the close of day.
S6suke leaves the temple, and the twenty-first chapter ends
with a superb sentence that expresses the mood of the whole
novel: " Behind him soared darkly the color of the cryptomeria,
dominating the tiled temple roofs,and wholly indifferentto winter."
Indeed, if a color can describe a novel, this one is " the
color of the cryptomeria." Mon posits the ana (darkness) of Meian
(Light and Darkness); the remainderof S6seki's life was a groping
toward rneib(light), in his novels at least.
Here then we have the beginnings (though there are already
faintglimmeringsin the earlier novels) of Saseki's pessimism. Man
knows that salvation awaits him on the other side of the gate,
and yet he is unable to penetrateit. The problem is clearly posed:
why is he unable to do so ?
The extraordinary thing about S6seki is that in his answer
to the " why " he comes so very close to the " how " of resolving
the problem. The gallery of figureswhich he created, Sunaga,
Ichiro, Sensei, Kenz6, Tsuda, who are the spiritualdescendants of
S6suke, similarly never penetrate the gate. Of course the fact
that Meianz is incomplete makes it open to doubt as to whether
Tsuda succeeds or not, but up to the point where the novel is
discontinued, Tsuda has definitelynot found salvation. And yet
by creating these characters and analyzing the reasons why they
do not penetrate the gate, S6seki almost succeeds in penetrating
it himself.
aP bHA

4 ValdoH. Viglielmo
A Westerneris amazed that there should have emerged so

earlyin the new Japana man who could go so soon to the heart
of the matter: man's innatedesire for salvationand his inability
to achieveit. Why was not S6seki sidetrackedas were so many,
if not all, of his contemporariesby considerationsof other
problemsthatappearedso veryimportantat the time? The only
answeris S6seki's geniusat seizingthe universalin theparticular,
thesignificant in themassof the meaningless. The major political
and social issues of the day do not make theirappearanceon the
pages of his novels exceptinsofaras theyprovidea backdrop to
the spiritualstrugglesof the main characters. There is indeed
littleaction of any kind in his later novels: his charactersthink
and talk rather than act. This is undoubtedly responsiblefor a
certainslowness of tempo-yes, and even tedium-and goes a
long way towardexplainingthe preference of the average reader
fortheearlierworkslike Botchana and Wagahai wa neko de aru,
brimmingover with incidentand very short on reflectionor
introspection.
If a social historianone hundredyears fromnow shouldwish
to learn what Japanesesocietywas like in the earlyyears of our
century,it would do him littlegood to read the later novels of
S6seki. The rise of the urban middle class and the growth of
capitalismare only incidentallyreflectedin his works. Apart
fromKofub (The Miner),perhapsthe least known of his novels,
there is none that can be called a social problemnovel. Unlike
the Naturalists,he does not indictsociety,nor does he expose and
dissect social evils. For him, as for every profoundthinker,
social evils have theirroot in the evil whichis in man himself.
The social universeis composed of atoms, the individualsoul,
even as the materialuniverse. When one has cometo understand
the workingsof the social atom, then the workingsof society
can be understood. Perhaps S6seki would have agreed that
society is more than the aggregationof individuals,that social
evils are more than the compositeof the evil in the individuals
composing that society. S6seki would have agreed, perhaps,
but he would also have countered with the statement that
ultimately social evils are unimportant, for society,or at least
this earthlysociety,is temporal,while the individualtranscends
a t + k b fA

LaterNovelsof NatsumeSoseki 5
society. The individualis, or at least can become,eternal. The

individualmay be able to pass throughS6suke's gate; society
never.
This philosophyof S6seki is muchmoreimplicitthanexplicit;
S6seki was primarily an artistand only secondarily,if at all, a
philosopher. His Omoidasu koto nadoa (Random Recollections)
(October 1910- February1911), which was writtenimmediately
after the most critical period of his life, his " great illness,"
is consideredby Hirata Jisabur6as most importantmaterial for
the understandingof his philosophy;and yet,as Hirata himself
says, " S6seki's ideas on life and death,whichwe findto be the
core of Omoidasu koto nado, are, in short,exceedinglycommon-
place and ordinary."2WhatS6seki writesis triteand even puerile.
He appears almostincapableof expressingwhat he reallybelieves
in nonartistic form. What he says apart from his novels, even
in his journal and letters,does not give us an adequate index to
his thought. If we seek for a definitionof his philosophyapart
fromthe novels,we seek for the nonexistent.
We have said that the social historianwould findlittleof
interestin the later novels of S6seki. He would of course learn
somethingof the shitei kankeib(teacher-disciple relationship)from
Kokoro, and of the familysystem and its responsibilities from
Michikusa, butnothingthathe could not just as well have learned
fromanother author. Yet if the social historianwould have
meagerfare,the intellectualhistorianwould have a feast.
If S6seki, unlike the Naturalists,does not indictsociety,he
does indictman. He indictshim fearlessly.Man is nothingmore
than a " lump of egoism,"he proclaims,and one afteranotherthe
charactersare drawnso that egoismis definedas no dictionary
has ever definedit. The face of egoismis disclosedto the reader
in all itshideousness,and if the reader'sfirstreactionis to shrink
fromit, he knowsin the next momentthat he is shrinkingfrom
himself. The readeris Sunaga, Ichir6,Sensei, Kenz6, and Tsuda,
and sinceegoismknowsno sex,he is also O-Nao, O-Shige,O-Sumi,
O-Nobu, 0-Hide, and Yoshikawa Fujin. Chiyoko, the Sensei's
wife,and Kiyoko are not in this galleryof egoismbecause they
-are almost entirelyfreefromthe disease,and Kiyoko especially
2 Hirata Jisaburo*EH&EP5, NatsumeS6seki (Tokyo 1948), p. 147.

a T, 9,% tk.<i : E b 11Ix1
g%

appears to possess an antidote. The male characters sufferfrom

their egoism, and and one by one they fall, having worked
their own undoing: Sunaga, unable genuinely to love Chiyoko,
turns in on himself to contemplate the dreary stretches of his
unlovely soul; Ichir6 almost goes mad from doubting his wife;
Sensei commits suicide because of having betrayed his friend;
Kenz6's pessimism and sufferingdeepen as he realizes that there
will never be true love between him and his wife. The ultimate
fate of Tsuda is unknown, and it is of course not impossible to
believe that he alone of S6seki's created world can depart from
the bondage of self and find salvation. It is equally possible to
believe the opposite.
The only barrier to salvation is the self with its numberless
pretensions and vanities. To depart from the self, to crush the
egoism that lurks in everyhuman heart, is an absolute requirement
for salvation. In S6seki's formula sokuten kyoshia-to model
oneself afterheaven (sokuten)and depart from self (kyoshi)-kyoshi
is the prerequisite of sokuten. That great intellect and excellent
reasoning powers are useless weapons against such corroding
egoism is amply shown in the person of Ichir6 of Kojin. Indeed,
his very intellect is the major stumblingblock to release fromthe
torture of self. He rejects any kami (God) or hotoke(Buddha) of
authority and declares that God is the self, that he is the absolute
(Kanii zva jiko da. Boku wa zettai dab). In that very rejection
of a power outside the self, in that very declaration of himselfas
God, Ichir6 (and thus, in a certain sense, S6seki too) is on the
very threshold of faith. Ichir6 has reached the nadir of existence.
He has plumbed the depths. One of three roads, he sees, is open
to him: death, madness, or religion.
We come now to the fascinatingproblem, almost the riddle,
of S6seki's relation to formalreligion,Zen Buddhism,Confucianism,
and Taoism of the East, and Christianity of the West. Most
S6seki scholars to date have seen the obvious influence of Zen
and Taoism, and have attached primarysignificanceto it. They
have also seen S6seki's obvious prejudice against Christianity,
conspicuous particularlyin his early writings. They point especially
to an English passage in the journal he kept on his way to
England in early October 1900 in which he refersto the mission-
a AIJ-7l b JNIMEf_. MU4FXt:

aries aboard the ship:
We have on board quite a large numberof missionaries, leaving

China for England, some on furlough,some owingto the present
disturbances in thatcountry. They neverfail to make the most of
every opportunity that'sofferedto make convertsof us whomthey
innocently set downas idolaters. Let themalone. One can [not?]
possibly findfault with their being so zealous in their mission.
Success to them when they get back to China! A word more.
Those dear souls are in fullconvictionthattheyare iconoclasts; at
the same time they do not hesitate in saying that Christis the
incarnation of God. God can onlyhave a meaningto themthrough
Christ. God in itselfin its absolutenessis not sufficient for their
sensualintellects to forma clear conceptionof. God throughChrist,
God in its incarnation is necessaryfor theirbeliefto forma palpable
groundto rest on. Is not this,in a sense, an idol-worship ? They
insist on the idea of one supremeGod. Very well. But thendoes
,notthis idea varyaccordingto different denominations ? They say
Christianityis the only true religionin the world,but wheneach
denomination holds up its own idea of the SupremeGod as true, it
tantamounts [sic] to sayingthat those of other denominations are
false and Christianityis the true religion only so far as each
denomination is concerned. I have no grudge against Christianity,
on the contraryI firmlybelieve that it is a grandreligion,and
thosewho can findfaithin it, are surelysaved by it. Meanwhile,
those whom they call idolaters can likewise find salvation in
theirway of worship,neverso gross,providedtheyhave good faith
in them. Religionis, afterall, a matterof faith,not argumentor
reason. No matterhowgrandtheconception, howdeep thereasoning,
it is onlya toy,splendidto look at, but only waiting to tumble
down at the firstwhip of wind thatmayhappento blow. For it is
onlyan air castle withno soundbasis to sustainitshugesuperstruc-
ture. St. Peter builthis churchof Rome on the rock,whichmeans
faith,nothingmorethanfaith,in my opinion. Where thereis faith,
thereis religion,thereis happiness,reposeand salvation. Feticism
[sic] is as good as Christianity.Everythingis right as long as
there[is] faith. With no faithBuddhism,Mahomedanism as well
as Christianity are nothingmore thaningeniouscontrivances ofwise
mento indulgein theirflightsof fancyand the powerof speculation.
Let people believein everything whichis good and true, in their
eyes, and each accordingto theirstage of intellectualdevelopment
so thattheymay findthereincontentment and happiness. Let my
religion be such that it contains every other religionwithinits
transcendental greatness. Let my God be that nothingwhich is
ceally something,and whichI call nothingbecause,beingabsolute,

it cannotbe called by a name involvingrelativity;which is neither

Christ, nor Holy Ghost, nor any otherthingyet at the same time
Christ,Holy Ghlostand everything.
One of myfriend[sic] who has a capacious head for strong
liquors, takes out a piece of " Beer-mark,"goes to one of the
missionariesand holdingup thatpiece says, " This is my God."
Passages such as the above have led critics to the conclusion

that the Christian influenceon S6seki's work is negligible, almost
nonexistent. It is certainly true that S6seki rarelyloses an oppor-
tunityto caricature Christianity. Sanshiro's Mineko is a Christian,
or at least she attends church, but is nonetheless one of the most
unpleasant female charactersin all his novels. Undoubtedly S6seki
wished to criticize the shallowness of the faith of many late Meiji
Christiansand the faddismthat so oftencharacterizedtheir adoption
of it. Again in Meian there is a slighting referenceby Tsuda (it
is possible to think that here Tsuda is speaking for the author)
to 0-Hide's Christian sermonizing: " She's merely spouting a lot
of Christian nonsense."
Nevertheless, not sufficientaccount has been taken of S6seki's
vast Western learning and of his truly astounding knowledge of
English literature. To say that this did not go beyond the intel-
lect, that it did not touch his essentially Eastern Weltanschau-
ung is to set an arbitrarylimiton its influence. It is inconceivable
that a thorotighknowledge of English literaturesuch as S6seki had,
an English literature permeated as it is with Christian thought,
should not have resulted in a Christianization,however slight, of
views which are essentially Eastern. Furthermore,one need not
delve far in his novels to see that influence at work. It will not
be the firsttime that a person who consciously rejects a philo-
sophical or religious system is unconsciously influencedby it and
even, unknown to himself,an adherent of it.
For to S6seki the weapon that can conquer the self is love
and love alone. From Gubijinso to MIeian the theme of love-be-
tween man and woman, it is true, but not without its broader
implications-is persistent. Indeed few novelists in the West have
so carefullyand in so detailed a way shown the workingsof love
and the terrifyingvacuum that results from its absence. He
shows us a world where human beings are dying, or worse still,
unable to die, from want of love and from the inability to love.
The T6ky6 urban intellectual is the patient who undergoes the

Later Novels of NatsurneSoseki 9
operation to remove the egoism, but the sickness is universal and

so is the cure. There is even the symbolism of Meian, where
Tsuda undergoes an operation on his body when he needs a far
more profound and far-reachingoperation on his soul. While we
shall never know whether this second operation is successfully
performed,we are convinced of its necessity.
This insistence on love would seem to make Saseki a Roman-
tic, but it does not. (Of course the early S6seki is a Romantic,
but not for this reason.) For he can treat love withoutthe faint-
est trace of sentimentality. Never is he guilty of that cardinal
sin, never does he fall into that trap which awaits the novelistin
his treatmentof love.
It is this nonsentimental insistence on love that strikes a
responsive chord in the Western reader who has been reared in
the Christian tradition. Michikusa, where Kenz6 and O-Sumi
torture themselves and each other with their egoism and inability
to love, is a powerful do_umentindeed. Incident after incident
is given where a kind word, a gesture of affection,could have
healed the rift and brought the spiritual peace they both were
seeking; but they are not forthcoming. The poignancy of it all
is nowhere better expressed than in the twenty-first chapter where
Kenz6 earns more money to please O-Sumi but it fails to fill the
spiritual need existing between them.
FinallyKenzo decidedto worka littlemore. It was not very

long before the effortswhich resulted from the decision were
transformed into some bills, whichhe was to give to his wife. One
day he producedfrom the inside pocket of his coat the envelope
containinghis recentsalary,and cast it lightlyon the tatami. She
tookit up withouta comment,and turningit over, discoveredwhere
it had come fromby readingthe addresson the back. The deficit
in the homebudgetwas made up in thiswaywithouttheirexchanging
a word. At thattimehis wifedid not assume a particularly pleased
expression;but she thoughtthatif her husbandhad given it to her
with some kindwords,she would surelyhave shown her pleasure.
On the otherhand,Kenzo thoughtthatif his wifehad receivedthe
moneywith an expressionof delight,he would have added some
words. Thus the moneywhichhe had earned to fill a
affectionate
financialneed failedto fillthe even greateremotionalneed existing
betweenthem.
We are made to feel the importance-indeed " importance"

is too weak a word-the absolute necessity of love by being shown

what results from its absence. But S6seki goes one step further.
Love must be stripped of every vestige of egoism; it must not
be self-seeking. Above all, one must not love in order to be
loved. Both S6suke of Mon and Sensei of Kokoro love their
wives, but both of them betrayed their friendsto marry them.
Since Sensei's betrayal is more clear-cut than S6suke's, his sin is
the greater, and his ultimate punishment, suicide, is the more
severe. The moral law is as inexorable to S6seki as it is to a
Calvinist. In a Japanese literature that for the most part does
not recognize a moral law, S6seki's rigid morality is even more
surprising. O-Nobu of Meian also loves Tsuda, her husband, but
it is a self-seekinglove. Indeed it is not worthy of the name
love. Thus, S6seki defines love for us, and we of the West should
not be overly surprised to find that it is Agape and not Eros that
he has been seeking all along.
There are, therefore,in S6seki almost all the major elements
of the Christian faith: a deep sense of sin, a recognition of the
hell that results from egoism and the absence of love, the desire-
almost the craving-for salvation and spiritual peace, and the
can bring such salvation.
realization that love, if self-sacrificing,
Perhaps the non-ChristianEasterner would say that those are
the elements of all religions, not merely Christianity. This does
not seem to be the case. The sense of sin is qualitativelydifferent
in Buddhism and Christianity,and love plays almost no role at
all in the former. To a Buddhist, love is desire and must be
overcome.3 Despite the statement of Okazaki Yoshiea that " love
3 Henri de Lubac, the FrenchJesuitphilosopher,in the chapter " Buddhist

Charity" in his Aspectsof Buddhism (New York, Sheed & Ward, 1954) has
this to say of the part love (or charity) plays in Buddhism:"...two further
characteristics of Buddhistcharity.. .finallyserveto differentiateit fromChristian
charity. In the firstplace, it is a provisionalvirtue, not an absolute value; a
means,not an end. And consequentlythe teachingwhichcentresroundit is an
exotericteachingwhichultimately bears no referenceto anythingwhatsoever.
" It is a provisionalvirtue; in otherwords,it is still part of whatBuddhists
call 'the mundaneorder.' Not in termsof this virtuecan the SupremeBeing-
or non-Being - be defined,nor can such a virtueenterinto any accountof man's
last end. Here, as everywhere else in Buddhism,the absence of a real God, a
livingGod, a God of charity,makesitselffeltmost painfully. For the Christian
the commandment to love God is foundedupon God's love forman,and thislove
a Rj4a;i

exists even in the Zen of D6gen,"4 one cannot but feel that the
relative importance of love in Zen and in S6seki poses a problem
that cannot be resolved withoutreferenceto Christianity. Okazaki
himself adds significantly(and almost contradictswhat he has said
previously)that " even though S6seki formulateda Zen philosophy
of art, the element of love could probably not be completely
absent" (italics mine).5 In all of pre-Meiji Japanese literature
there is not a single work in which love -Agape and not Eros,
that is - plays a prominentrole. The Buddhist literatureof the
Kamakura period, insistent as it is on the evanescence of life,and
the thoroughly amoral, if not immoral, Tokugawa ukiyo-zoshi
(genre-novels) do not even remotelysuggest it. Eros appears at
every turn; Agape rarely, if ever, is to be found outside of the
Christian tradition. This is not to discount the significanceof the
Buddhist ideal of jihia (compassion), but again it is necessary to
point out that jihzi and Agape are qualitatively different.6Compas-
of God for man expressesthe veryBeing of God: Deus est caritas. And the
second commandment, the love of one's neighbor,is based on the first;it is like
unto the first.For man was made in the image of God. But the firstcommand-
ment, being based on God Himself,is eternal: it not onlydescribesthe way, it
also suggeststhe end; besidesbeing rule and means, it is object and reward.
The same is true of the second commandment, which is like untothe first.
Because of the divineimage whichlies at the heartof his being, in fact, every
man shares in the eternityof God. This resemblancelies at the root of his
distinctivenature,and formsthe fundamental solidityof his being.... Lifeeternal,
therefore,will stilldemandlove of the neighbor,as it involvesthe love of God,
forever. Faith and hope will pass away, and give place to sightand possession,
butcharitywill not pass away.
" Now there is nothingof this in Buddhism. Since in the depthsof his
being thereis no ontologicalsolidityderivingfroma Creator;sincehe is nothing
but a mass of componentparts,with no innerunity,thereforethere is nothing
in the human being that can call for, or make possible, any ultimatelove.
Altruismof anykind,whateverits tinge,and howeverardentit may be, can only
be a procedureforgettingrid of desire" (p. 41).
4 Sosekito bisho*;kF? . (Tokyo 1948), p. 202.
5 Ibid., p. 202.
6 See Henri de Lubac, op. cit., pp. 37-38: "For this is why the loving-
kindness of Buddhism,even when it manifestsitself as tendernesstowards
creatures,is not properlytranslatedby our word 'charity.' With certainreser-
vationswhichwe shallexplainlater,it remainsessentially'pity' or 'compassion.'
It is not, nor can it be, directedtowardsany being in himselfbut onlyto his
moralor physicalsufferings.Now this could neverbe said of Christiancharity,
for this ' never simplygoes fromrichto poor or fromstrongto weak or from
a s#

sion in essence is passive, contemplates without participatingin

suffering;Agape is active, seeks out the sufferingon which to
bestow itself. There may of course be times when jihi and Agape
overlap, but that does not mean they are the same. For example,
it is difficultto say whether the position that Soseki takes in
looking at his created world of Michikusa is one of jihi or
Agape; it clearly has elements of the former. Unfortunately,not
too much can be said about the love of Kiyoko in AMeianbecause
the novel ends at the crucial point, but, judging from the part
that exists, it is possible to say that Kiyoko is the veryembodiment
of Agape, a true spiritual sister to Dostoevsky's Sonia. Indeed,
Kiyoko may workTsuda's salvation even as does Sonia Raskolnikov's.
As far as the sense of sin is concerned, some may object
that this formsthe central theme of Lady Murasaki's Genji monlo-
gataria. This cannot be denied; but the sin that Genji commits,
and Kashiwagi afterhim, is a specific one. There is no conception
in Buddhism of sinfulness,much less of original sin. In S6seki
too there are the specific sins, such as the aforementioned ones
of S6suke and Sensei, but they merelyserve the purpose of casting
into relief man's ever-present sin: egoism.7 S6seki's egoism cor-
responds very closely to what the Christian theologian calls Pride,
which is at once the source of and the greatest sin.
Buddhism then with its primitive,unformedidea of sin and
thewise to the ignorant. It does not in itselfassume any blemishor lack in the
personreceivingit.' It is quite truethatin its highestmanifestation on earth it
appears as an immensecompassionforthe disinherited and an utterdevotionto
them; nevertheless, the conditionalways holds thatin the veryway in which it
is exercised this devotionmustproclaimthe essentialunityof the whole human
family.Not thatpityis to be excluded! For a Christian,pity'is one oftheover-
tones soundedby truelove when struckwithunhappiness,'but it is not for all
that the essence or the source of love. 'Pity mustgrow fromlove; love cannot
grow from pity'; in the admirablewords of St. Augustine,'Do away with
unhappiness,and there will be no furtherneed forworksof mercy. Will the
fireof love be extinguished then? '
" Now Buddhisttenderness,even when manifestedin action,even at its
most sublime, never rises above pity. And if it oftenappearsas true human
tenderness,this is in spite of its doctrine. For the individualcountsfor littlein
Buddhism- so little,thatthis pityis declaredto be all the moreperfect themore
it becomesabstractand generalized;in otherwords,the less humanit becomes.
It is moreconcernedwithsuffering in generalthanwitheach suffering being in
"
particular.
a igLk;t'-

its absence of, or rather lack of emphasis on, love cannot be

solely responsible for the elements that emerge in S6seki's novels.
Where then do these elements, foreign to Buddhism, come from
if not from Christianity? Confucianism may conceivably provide
some of the moralitythat appears in S6seki; and yet no one would
dare to contend, not even a Confucian, that Confucianism,apart
from its Sung reinterpretation,is a metaphysical system, or that
indeed it has anything at all to say about the transcendental
world. For all Confucianism's insistence on tena (heaven), it
remains exceedingly vague. The ten of S6seki's sokuten kyoshi
cannot, without much forcing, be equated to it. It is almost
unnecessary to state that Confucianism has little or no relation
to sin and love. Jinb (benevolence) is even further removed
from Agape than is jihi.8 Of the great philosophical and religious
systems of the East there remains only Taoism. (Shint6 can be
7 See Takizawa Katsumi ieiN3C,, Natsume Soseki (Toky6 1948), p. 349.

8 See Wing-Tsit Chan, " The Evolution of the Confucian Concept Jen," in
Philosophy East and West, Vol. IV, No. 4 (January 1955), pp. 295-319, in which
is found the following statement: " On the surface, these modern philosophers
seem to regard jen as pure metaphysical reality. But at bottom they all remain
true to the Confucian spirit, for to them reality can be seen only in function.
Thus, in spite of their metaphysical excursion, they never forgetthe Confucian
emphasis on the active relationship in human society. To all of them j.en is
essentially social, active, and dynamic. The spirit of Confucius has inever been
lost.
" To sum up the story of the evolution of the concept of jen:
(1) Confucius was the first to regard jen as the general virtue and to make it
the foundation of ethics.
(2) Throughout the ages many theories of jen have been developed, interpreting
jen as affection,love, consciousness, impartiality,unity with the universe, etc.
(3) The most persistenttradition, however, is thatjen is love.
(4) This love is universal in nature, but there must be distinctions,that is, an
order or gradation in application, beginning with the love of parents.
(5) It is extended not only to include all human beings but the universe in its
totality,man and the universe thus forming one body.
(6) It is not merely an attitude or consciousness but an active, dynamic relation-
ship between man and all things.
(7) It is the foundation of all goodness, the ' mind of man,' and the source of
all productions in the universe.
(8) As such, jen is both ethical and metaphysical.
(9) There has been persistent effort in recent decades to make j'en more and
more transcendental.but the Confucian emphasis of active and social relations
has always remained dominant."
a X b {=

summarilydismissed as the crudest of primitive religions.) Here

one feels on safer grounds in relating it to S6seki's work. The
mystical and intuitivequalities in Taoism are not without their
parallel in the later S6seki; and yet again Taoism does not provide
the whole answer to the riddle of those elements mentioned above.
Thus, we are forced to conclude that, however much there is
in S6seki of Eastern thought (and this is indeed large), there is a
,small area (we shall not argue about its extent) of his philosophy
as developed in the novels that cannot be explained except as the
influenceof Western thought; and Western thought, of necessity,
involves Christianity. Indeed, it can almost be equated with it;
for the West, unlike the East, has only one religion. This is not
to deny for a moment the significance of Zen, but one may
reserve a doubt as to whether Zen alone, or even in combination
with any other Eastern systemof thought,can be solely responsible
for the prominence given to love in S6seki's work.
The difficultyJapanese scholars have had in assessing the part
Western thought has played in the shaping of S6seki's philosophy
may stem largely from a basic misunderstanding of Christianity.
It is perfectlytrue, as Okazaki points out, that S6seki " fromthe
beginning was strong in his opposition to any Christian God.
S6seki endeavored to build within himself by his own powers an
absolute being that would correspond to such an outward object
of faith."9 This does not necessarily mean that S6seki rejected
the idea of God. Mere rejection of an outward God is of no
consequence if an inward God is devoutly accepted. After all, it
matters little where God is placed, since God is a spirit and
pervades all things. The distinctionbetween jirikia (salvation by
one's own powers) and tarikib (salvation by another's powers)
ultimately breaks down. If the self is truly overcome (kyoshi),
how can salvation be worked out by the self ? Surely it is
clear that it is precisely not the self which will be responsible
for salvation in S6seki's jiriki because he has taken such pains
to overcome it. The self is to be ousted to be replaced by
love. Thus, in a certain sense, S6seki's protestations that he
was an atheist are belied and made meaningless by his novels.
Jesus Christ taught that " The Kingdom of God is within
9 Sosekito bisho,p. 261

a j b f SJj

you."10 S6seki's whole life was a search for that internal kingdom.
To the extent that he was successfulin destroyingthe egoism that
was his greatest enemy, did he achieve his goal.
The Western reader of S6seki, therefore,cannot fail to be
startled by the parallels with Christian faith. If the early works
like Kusamakura cause difficulty,the later ones like Kojin and
Michikusa do not. The struggles of an Ichiro or a Kenz6 are
real to him.
Natsume S6seki, then, stands at the crossroads of Buddhism
and Christianity. His final philosophy of sokuten kyoshi remains
as a monument to his spiritual quest. It contains many elements
of those peculiarly Buddhist ideals of detachment and spiritual
enlightenment (satori), and at the same time it is not devoid of
elements of the ultimate Christian ideal of love.
Indeed, to the extent that S6seki's ten was the embodiment
of that virtueof love and not a thoroughlyimpersonal abstraction,
it is even possible to see in sokuten kyoshi a reinterpretationof
Christ's teaching: " If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself,and take up his cross daily, and follow me."11 For even
as Christ enjoined his disciples to follow him, or to model them-
selves after him, so too did S6seki realize that man must model
himselfafter heaven (sokuten); even as Christ taught his disciples
to deny themselves,so too did S6seki realize that man must depart
from his ego (kyoshi).
S6seki was a pessimist, but he was not a fatalist. He believed
in man's freedom. However much environment and heredity
inhibit that freedom, they can never wholly stifleit. However
much man tends toward egocentricity,he is not absolutely fated
to be bound by it. He can, in rare instances (it is in the rarity
that we see his pessimism), rise above demands of the self, and
model himself after heaven. For sokutenkyoshiis not an unattain-
able ideal, any more than Christian discipleship. If Sosuke,
Sunaga, Ichir6, Sensei, Kenz6 and Tsuda fall, Kiyoko may not.
And even if Kiyoko were to fall too, we are not to infer thereby
that no one in Soseki's created world will be saved.
It is of the greatest interestto a Westernerthat S6seki should
have arrivedat his final philosophical or religious position without
10 Luke 17: 21.

11 John9: 23.

adhering to any formal philosophical or religious system. In

fact, it can be said that he deliberately avoided such adherence.
Whatever elements of Christianityare to be found in his work,
therefore, are clearly not roughly superimposed on his Eastern
personality. The elements are not spurious, as one suspects was
the case of many of Soseki's contemporaries. They appear as
the resultof a long spiritual struggle. Whatever he learned from
the West, and I think it was not inconsiderable, he assimilated
so completely that today we are unable to tell where the East
ends and the West begins. To say this is to pay him the
greatest compliment.
For Soseki accomplishedwhat Meiji - indeed, modern Japan
has not yet fully succeeded in accomplishing. He in his own
person created a synthesis of the East and the West. That the
fusion is almost perfect is testifiedby the fact that while the East
claims him as its own, the West can with only slightlyless reason
also claim him. Soseki is among the firstauthors, if not actually
the first,in whom almost all the major religions of the world
meet. In this article we intend to show how this is true in the
firstnovel of his second trilogy,Higan sugi made, and at a later
date we will take up the remaining two novels.
Higan sugi made
Exactly one year and a half elapsed between the publication

of the last instalment of Mon (1910) and the beginning of the
publicationof Higan sugi made.12 In that year and a half many
important things happened to S6seki. Undoubtedly the most
importantof these was the illness caused by stomach ulcers. Even
afterhe had recoveredto a certain extent, there arose in February
1911 the problem of his renunciation of the degree of hakushi
(equivalent to a Western Ph. D.). In June of the same year he
was asked to deliver lectures before the Nagano Prefectural
Educational Association, and on his way he visited Takada,
Naoetsu, and Suwa. In July he was invitedby his reveredteacher,
Professor von Koeber,13 and talked with him at his home at length
12 Soseki zensha, Vol. IX (Iwanami, Tokyo 1947), 405 pp.

13 See Okazaki Yoshie and V. H. Viglielmo,Japanese Literature in the
Meiji Era (Tokyo 1955), pp. 77 and 592.

for the firsttime in decades. In August, on behalf of a society

under the auspices of the Osaka edition of the Asahi S12imbun,
he made a lecture tour of the Kansai cities of Akashi, Sakai,
Wakayama, and Osaka. However, immediately after delivering
his Osaka talk, he collapsed for the second time from stomach
ulcers, and for almost one month was a patient at the Yukawa
Hospital in that city. In September he returned to Toky6, only
to sufferthis time from an anal fistula,and undergo an operation
at the Sata Hospital in Nishiki-ch6,Kanda. The cicatrice did not
heal properly, and for a long while he was in pain. In October,
Ikeda Sansan, who was in a sense responsible for S6seki's having
joined the T6ky6 Asahi Shimbun, gave up his position as editor-in-
chief. In connection with this event, S6seki, in November, also
tendered his resignation. He was, however, appeased by various
newspaper officials,and finallywithdrew it. Furthermore, at the
end of October he had already agreed to give up the literary
column for which he had been responsible.
In the midst of all these vicissitudes,at the end of November,
he lost his fifth daughter, the two-year old Hinako.14 In his
journal for December 3, 1911, the day of Hinako's funeral,he
wrote: "An ulcer [literally, hibi, 'a crack'] has developed in
my stomach. I feel as if an ulcer had similarlydeveloped in my
spirit." When he finallybegan writingHigan sugi made it was
well toward the end of the year, and the novel began to be
serialized in the Asahi Shimbun only on January 1, 1912.
At this point the significanceof the title of this work must
be explained. S6seki, like many of the great Western novelists
of the nineteenth century, did not devote much time to the
selection of titles. As we have seen above, he even allowed two
of his proteges to select one (Moz) for him. It is really only
with the development,or rather over-development,of advertising
techniques in the mid-twentiethcentury that catchy or clever
titles have been required. Even so, S6seki's indifferenceto them
is a bit excessive. This fact is nowhere more apparent than in
his selection of Higan sugi nmade; for the title means nothing
more than that the author intended his novel to be serialized
utntil after the (spring) equinox. And indeed he fulfilled his
14 In the fourthsection of Higan sugi made, "Ame no furuhi" (A Day

When Rain Falls), he recordedhis memoriesof thispainfuleventin detail.

intentions,since the last instalment appeared on April 29, 1912,

four days after he had completed the work.
With regard to S6seki's writingpace, he himself declared:
I do not have any fixedtimeforwriting.SometimesI workin

the mornings,sometimesin the afternoons,and sometimesthe
evenings. For mynovels whichare serialized in the newspaperI
write one instalmenta day. If I allow too muchworkto pile up
and attemptto writetoo much at once, I don't write very well.
Indeed I thinkI workbest whenI writeone instalment a day and
thengive mybraina restuntilthe followingday. I neverwriteall
at one stroke. To writeone instalment usually takes me three or
fourhours. However,on certainoccasionsit takesme frommorning
till night,and even thenI can't writeone instalment.Often when
I thinkI have enoughtime,it takes long; and whenI knowthatI
have onlythe forenoonin whichto work,I can usuallydo it within
the timelimit.'5
This glimpse into the novelist's workshop came at the

time when he was about to write Kokoro and had already
completed both Higan sugi made and Kojin, but it is clear that
he had already institutedthis one-instalment-a-day policy withMon.
We also have another referenceto his writing pace at the time
of the novel under discussion: " I am finallywriting another
novel, but since I am concerned about my health, I intend to
proceed at the snail's pace of about one instalmenta day."16
S6seki maintained this practice until his final Meian, and finally
even came to feel that if he did not maintain it he could not
write anythingof worth.
The firstinstalmentof Higani sugi made was a long preface,
wherein S6seki apologized for the fact that because of his illness
he had not been able to write a novel for a long time, and stated
that despite the fact that he wished to write a novel that would
not betray the expectations of his readers, he could not be sure of
producinga good work merelyby effort. He furtherregrettedthat
he was not even able to promise that he would now fill the gap
caused by his long illness. However, he clearlystated his attitude
toward his creative work as a whole by declaring that he was not a
writer who held aloft the banner of Naturalism, or Symbolism,or
15 In the March 22,1914issue of the Osaka Asahi Shimbun.

16 In a letterto HasegawaNyozekandatedDecember28,1911.

any Romanticism with a " neo " prefixedto it, or indeed of any
" ism" at all; rather he was one who always took up his brush
with the determinationof never writing anything that did not
express himself. He then turned his attention to Higan sugi
made specifically,stating that he intended to write several short
stories, which, althoughindependent,would have a definiterelation-
ship when read consecutively, and that the novel as a whole
would have a certain unity. He said that he had long felt such
a novel, in a newspaper, would be read with interest and that he
was now going to attempt to realize this plan. This is the reason
that Higan sugi made is composed of seven short stories, namely
" Furo no ato " (After the Bath), " Teiryiijo " (The Streetcar
Stop), " H6koku " (The Report), " Ame no furu hi " (A Day
When Rain Falls), " Sunaga no hanashi " (Sunaga's Story), " Matsu-
moto no hanashi " (Matsumoto's Story),and " Ketsumatsu " (Conclu-
sion). Of course, as Komiya says, since " Ketsumatsu " is nothing
more than "the knot which ties the six-beaded string,"17it is
perhaps better to consider that there are only six short stories.
If " Ketsumatsu " is the knot, it is even truer that Tagawa
Keitar6, a romanticist who never ceases to imagine a strange
drama in even the most commonplace events,is the stringconnec-
ting the beads.
Keitar618 is a youth who instinctivelydislikes the ordinary,
prefers instead tales of adventure, and dreams of one day
owning a large rubber plantation in Singapore. In his quest
for adventure he has visited people he has met on a streetcar,
but up until the time that Higan sugi made begins he has not
had any particularlyexciting experience. In order to relieve the
monotony of his life he listens for a while to the strange tale
of the travels of a vagabond named Morimoto who lives in the
same boarding-house. (Morimoto tells his story after they have
both taken a bath; hence the title.) However, about a week
later, Morimoto suddenly disappears. The owner of the boarding-
house questions Keitar6 because the latter had been intimate with
Morimoto, and demands that he tell him where Morimoto went,
17 S6sekino geijutsu,p. 199.

18 For the outline of the plot I follow ratherclosely that of Muramatsu
Sadanori tf t in Meiji Taisho bungakukenkyatokuhon:NatsumeSosekiR)Jp
7tIE3t*W)RHR*: ;APM*, (November 1951), pp. 87-90.

since he has not paid his rent for six months. Finally a letter
arrives from Morimoto addressed to Keitar6, informinghim that
he is now director of amusement at a public park in Dairen. He
also says that Keitar6 may have the Western-stylecane with the
serpent's head which he has left in the boarding-house,and he
urges him to make good use of it. However, he says nothing
about his unpaid rent.
This, then, is a rough outline of " Furo no ato." In the
subsequent stories Morimoto never appears again, but the cane
which he has left as a legacy to Keitar6 becomes a symbol of
his romanticspiritand is a link with the next section, " Teiryiijo."
Keitar6 sets out to find employment with a businessman
named Taguchi, who is the uncle of his friend Sunaga Ichiz6.
When Taguchi hears that Keitar6 is willing to do anything,he
says that he may very well ask him to do something for him.
Only four days later a special deliveryletterfromTaguchi arrives.
Keitar6 opens it breathlessly and reads it all at once. He is
overwhelmed to discover that his task is far more exciting than
anythinghe had ever dreamed. That very day between four and
five o'clock a forty-year-oldman is to get off a streetcar coming
from Mita at the Ogawa-machi stop. He will be a tall, slender
man with a long face and large mole between his eyebrows,
wearing a pepper-and-salt overcoat and a black Homburg hat.
Keitar6 is asked to follow the movements of this man during
the two hours after he has descended from the streetcar and to
resport to Taguchi.
He sets out, carrying the cane he has received fromMorimoto
as a sort of charm, and lies in wait at the streetcar stop. He
discovers the man whom Taguchi has described, notes that he
makes rendezvous with a young girl, and then proceeds to follow
him to his home by rickshaw after he and the girl have separated.
The account of Keitar6's report to Taguchi on the result of his
investigationsis given in the next section, " H6koku. "
Taguchi is not particularlygrateful for Keitar6's report. He
even sneeringlyremarks that the data which Keitar6 has gathered
are not especially relevant, whereupon Keitar6 flushes and
responds that he is sorry his investigationhas not been helpful
but that if he had not been asked only to observe and had rather
been able to meet the man in question directly it would have
been more fruitful. Taguchi, strangelyenough, agrees with Keitar6,.

and says that he will write a letter of introduction to the man

Keitar6 has followed.
This pure detective-storyepisode comes to a most unexpected,
and indeed undetective-story-like, conclusion when Keitar6 learns
that the man is Taguchi's brother-in-law,Matsumoto, and that
the girl with whom this Matsumoto appeared to have the rendezvous
is none other than Taguchi's daughter, Chiyoko. All of Keitar6's
beliefs that he had engaged in some dangerous activity in pursuit
of a possible criminal are rudely punctured. In short, everything
was a hoax: Taguchi had decided to play this trick on Keitar6
when the latter said he was willing to do anything. (We never
learn what permanent job Keitar6 finds,since in the subsequent
sections S6seki turns the lens of his camera on Keitar6's friend
Sunaga.)
The " Teiryiujo" episode poses a serious problemto all S6seki
scholars. Despite the fact that everythingabout Keitar6's detective
activities is a hoax (perpetrated on the reader as well as on
Keitar6), we are faced with the necessity of explaining its inclusion
in the novel. For why should S6seki, who several times in his
early works expressed his distinct dislike for the occupation of
detective, have suddenly made a character in one of his novels,
and a central one at that,engage in that veryactivity? Moreover,
we cannot overlook the fact that the enthusiasm with which S6seki
invests Keitar6 as he goes about his work is communicated to
the reader. I think we can reject Ara Masato's explanation,
although it is very well propounded, that S6seki's hatred of
detectiveswas reallypathological and that the " Teiryuijo" episode
casts furtherlight on the nature of the phobia.19 There really is
not sufficientevidence to prove that S6seki's dislike of detectives
goes beyond the limits of that of any normal person. On the
other hand, Komiya's explanation that Keitar6's activity is not
actually that of a detective but simply that of a romantic curiosity
is much more acceptable. For it is true that Keitar6 enters on
his job with a wonderfulnaivete and not at all with the desire
to probe the weak points of a man's character.
Komiya further points out that while S6seki undoubtedly
shows a hatred for detectives in several of his early works, this
19 Ara Masato iUE)A " Soseki no kuraibubun" 3 in Kindai

bungakuLrrf-t3, Vol. VIII, No. 11 (December1953), pp. 48-62.

feeling is not so apparent in his later novels. This change was

the resultof his reconsideringthe nature of a detective's activity,or
rather of his looking at it in a differentlight. It also was a result
of a change in his artisticoutlook. The romantic S6seki of Rondon
to (The Tower of London), Kusamakura, and even Gubijins6,20
relatively unconcerned with the ugliness in man's nature, could
have little sympathywith an occupation the express purpose of
which is to probe man's guilt, uncover his crimes, and charge
him with them. To approve of the occupation of detectivemeant
to approve of the destructionof his ethereal world of hi-ninjoa
(nonhuman feeling). Indeed I think the true explanation of
S6seki's hatred of detectives lies in his unconscious realization
that the world which he was constructingcould not withstand
probing. He did not wish to see man as he really is. Even the
satirical passages of Wagahai wa neko de aru (of course the
whole work can be considered a satire) and Botchan are mere
delaying actions. To satirize a man is not to indict him. Satire
is almost inevitablyaccompanied by comedy. We laugh at Kushami
Sensei's foibles; we are moved to tears at Kenz6's plight in
Michikusa, and yet they are essentially the same person. Herein
lies the change in S6seki's art. By Michikusa his seriousness
had reached such a point that an incident which he would have
treated satirically,or humorously,or both, ten years earlier, was
by then considered too significantfor such light treatment. He
could not see man as he really is and laugh at him or caricature
him. He could only indict him and in so doing have great
compassion for him.
Thus, there is considerable irony in the fact that S6seki
should have become the very detective he so despised. Komiya's
comment on the later (post-Mon) S6seki that "his eyes gleamed
strangely,his mind was strangely clear, and he did not overlook
the slightest shadow on the mirror of man's soul,"'21 is most
apposite.
And yet this has nothing to do with Keitar6's activity,for
it was precisely at the time when S6seki ceased to look at the
20 See Okazakiand Viglielmo,op. cit., pp. 269-272, for a treatmentof the

romanticqualitiesof thesethreeworks.
21 Soseki no geijutsu, p. 205.
a fh4

world with Keitar6's romantic curiosity that he became a

detective. It is not at all certain-indeed it is exceedingly
doubtful-that S6seki intended the firstthree sections of Higan
sugi made to have any symbolic significance, and yet they do
possess it. The external detective activity of Keitar6 is a hoax in
more ways than one. Even if Matsumoto and Chiyoko were not
uncle and niece and actually were engaged in some illicit love
affair,or some crime which required their pursuit and conviction,
Keitar6's method is not true detection. The true detectiveprobes
the soul. His interest is firstin the criminal and his motivation.
Cigarette ash, foot- and fingerprints,bloodstains, rendezvous at
streetcar stops -these belong to another world, that of Conan
Doyle. Even if they should lead to conviction, they still do not
constitute the true method of detection. Thus, it is almost as if
S6seki were trying to tell us, through the symbol of Taguchi's
prank, that he who would expose evil, he who would really convict
the evildoer, must cast away all conventional methods. He must
not lie in wait at stveetcar stops; he must rather lie in wait at
the door of man's soul. Only then will his " detection" not be
a hoax.
On S6seki's own terms, therefore,it is not the firsthalf of
Higan sugi made that is the true detective story, but the latter.
For if S6seki makes Keitar6 engage in investigationof Matsumoto
and Chiyoko which is part of a practical joke, his own activity
in investigating Sunaga and the same Chiyoko is definitelynot,
unless it be part of a joke of cosmic dimensions.
But before Scseki's pursuit, investigation,and indictmentof
Sunaga, there is the interlude of "Ame no furu hi." Artistically,
this is the most precious of the six beads that make up the
Higan sugi made necklace. It is the most independent of all the
component parts of this novel, and indeed can be considered one
of the very best short stories in all of Japanese literature. In a
detailed discussion of the other five sections its worth is very
often lost sight of, but it is much more than a mere transition
between Keitar6's romanticismand Sunaga's egoism.22Even Komiya
is strangely silent on the subject of "Ame no furu hi."23 Hirata
22 See Muramatsu,op. cit, p. 89.

23 Althoughhe did praise it orallyin a seminarhe conductedat Gakushuiin
Universityin the winterof 1953-1954.

Jisabur6paid much attentionto its significancein the development

of S6seki's ideas on death and religion,24 but it is Takizawa
Katsumi who firstsaw it for the exquisite thing that it is.25
This brief short-story-within-a-noveltreats of the death of a
child, the two-yearold daughter of Matsumoto. Since it is drawn
from S6seki's own experience, it is almost so realistic as to be
inartistic. It convinces by its very restraint. Very few novelists
can treat death, particularly the death of children, without
sentimentality. Dickens' treatment of Jo's death in Bleak House
is positively maudlin, although, as Sir Osbert Sitwell says in his
introductionto one of the recent editions, it is not thereby the
less moving. Charlotte Bronte's treatmentof the death of Helen
Burns in Jane Eyre is brilliantbut still hopelessly sentimental.
Perhaps the death of a child is one of the few moments when
sentimentalityshould be allowed. Yet Soseki shows it can be
avoided, with the effect of heightening the sense of sorrow
instead of decreasing it.
The opening and closing sentences of " Ame no furuhi " are
parallel, and bind the eight sections together securely. The
opening sentence is: "A long time had passed without his
[Keitar6's] being able to findthe opportunityof asking Matsumoto
directly the reason for his not receiving guests on rainy days."
The closing sentence is a statement by Matsumoto: "I never
again want to meet a man who comes with a letterof introduction
on a rainy day." Of course the reason for Matsumoto's strange
behavior is that his daughter Yoiko died suddenly on a rainyday
at a time when he had a guest.
Keitar6 goes to visit Sunaga, and Chiyoko unexpectedlyarrives
on the scene. When the conversation turns to Matsumoto,
Chiyoko comments that her uncle actually did turn away guests
who had come on a rainy day. Keitar6 confirms this fact by
saying that he was one of the guests who had been so treated.
Sunaga jokes with him, saying that the reason undoubtedly was
that he had failed to carry Morimoto's cane. Chiyoko joins in
the teasing, and finallymakes Keitaro promise to show the famous
cane to her family. He agrees, but in turn asks Chiyoko to
explain the reason for her uncle's behavior. Thus we view the
24 Hirata, op. cit., pp. 189-190.

25 Takizawa, op. cit., p. 216.

Later Novels of NatsumeS6seki 25
incident through Chiyoko's eyes, although it is not related in the

firstperson. Perhaps S6seki employed this method to reduce the
possibilityof sentimentality,which might have been unavoidable
if Matsumoto had been treated as the central figure. For example,
the reader is shown how Chiyoko, who dearly loved her little
cousin, feels strangely light-hearted and not at all sad at one
point in the funeral service. This is a not uncommon reaction
of people at a funeral, particularly if the person is not overly
attached to the deceased. However, such a sensation is rare
with parents at the funeral of their child. Yet Matsumoto is
capable (and here there is no doubt that he is the image of
S6seki) of a certain wry humor at the same funeral service when
he stops the Buddhist priest's chanting of a sutra because, as he
explains to his wife O-Sen later, " Yoiko doesn't like listening to
sutras."
Nothing but a complete translation can do justice to this
portion of Higan sugi made. " Ame no furu hi " remains as a
triumphof Saseki the man. Kataoka Yoshikazua makes the just
observation that " in the twistedhell of solitude " which constitutes
the world of Higan sugi made there is the salvation of " the sad
tears " (kanashii namida) and " tragic beauty " (hitsa no bi) of
"Ame no furu hi."26 Indeed, in S6seki's treatmentof the death
of Yoiko he came as close to his ideal of sokuten as he did to
that of kyoshi in his treatmentof Sunaga.
Sunaga, as his uncle Matsumoto describes him, is of a character
that coils itself up at every contact with the world.
Upon receiving a stimulus,this stimulus twists itself, and

graduallyeats deep intohis heart. This same processthenrepeats
itself,howeverdeep it has eaten,and makeshim suffer.Finallyhe
is drivento thepointwherehe praysthat he may escape from this
internalactivity;however,his own strengthis insufficient, and he
is drivenas if by a curse. He comes also to fear that because of
he mustone dayfall,and fallin uttersolitude. Thereupon
this effort
he becomesmentallyexhaustedalmostto the pointof madness.
Sunaga suffersbecause of doubt as to whether the woman he has

thought of as his mother up until that time is really his mother
26 In his Kindai Nihon no sakka to sakuhin LrrftH* jf ?i'iPP " Higan

sugi made no igi" j (Iwanami,Tokyo 1939), p.453.
a #[f_

or not. His doubts are verifiedupon learning the truth fromhis

uncle Matsumoto, whereupon he suffers again. He suffers too
because he knows that his foster-mother'swishes and those of
Chiyoko's parents differover his marriageto Chiyoko. Finally, he
suffersthe most when he examines his heart to determine his
true feelings toward Chiyoko.
Higan sugi made, then, is " Sunaga's Story," and " Sunaga's
Story" is the account of his suffering,the core of which is the
problem of the love between him and Chiyoko. Furthermore,the
reader is brought very close to that sufferingsince in this section
of the novel Sunaga himself tells his life story and the problem
of his relationshipwith Chiyoko to Keitar6.
Sunaga and Chiyoko are cousins, and from the time of
Chiyoko's birth, by mutual consent of Sunaga's foster-mother and
Chiyoko's parents, Chiyoko was promised to Sunaga. Of course
the two of them did not know of this and grew up merely as
cousins on intimate terms. However, when Chiyoko comes of
age, and the time when the promise should be kept approaches,
Chiyoko's parents begin to dislike the idea of having their daughter
marry Sunaga. Sunaga's foster-mother, on the other hand, believes
that the promise should be kept by them, and appears to be
about to insist on its fulfillment. Furthermore,she treats Chiyoko
as if she were her own daughter and shows her every affection.
Chiyoko, in turn, loves Sunaga's foster-motheras if she were her
own, and comes often to spend the night at her aunt's home.
Sunaga stands between these two women; on the one hand he
prepares to persuade his foster-mothernot to force Chiyoko's
parents to keep their promise, and on the other he begins to
consider whether he and Chiyoko would be happy as man and
wife.
Sunaga believes Chiyoko to be " the most womanlike woman
in existence," and indeed Chiyoko is a veritable model of the
womanly virtue of purity. Although at times it is undeniable
that her words and actions seem violent, this occurs " not because
she possesses any unwomanly quality, but rather because she
casts herself into a situation with an excess of womanly emotion."
Her perceptionof good and evil, right and wrong was almost
independentof learningand experience. It merelyburnedintuitively
with another personas the object. Thereforethis otherpersonat
timesfeltas if struckby lightning.Yet such a violentattackmust

be understoodas nothingmore than the rapidemission fromher

heart of a large amountof sincerefeelingat one time.
In a way, Sunaga loves Chiyoko. And yet despite this love he

is unable to think of her as his wife. He believes that " there
is nothing as beautiful as pure feeling, and that there is nothing
stronger than a thing of beauty." Thus, he who " thinks firstof
any action and suffersin anticipation" feels that if he were to
marry a woman like Chiyoko, " whose strongemotions immediately
are so much aroused that they block any consciousness of the
future," he would merely " cringe before her strength." He also
is of the opinion that " of necessity Chiyoko would experience
a cruel disappointment." In addition, Sunaga tells Keitar6:
She is the mostfearlesspersonI know; thereforeshe despises

a fearfulmanlikeme. I have the deepestcompassionfora woman
like her who spursherselfon withthe veryweightof her emotions
and who is like a poet who does not comprehendthe ironyof
destiny. Indeed,at timesI even shudderon her behalf.
Thus it is revealed that there are elements in the character of

each which the other dislikes, and that these elements are more
congenital than acquired. To the extent that they are opposed
to each other it is clear that they cannot lead a happy married
life. Thus Sunaga concludes that even though he recognizes
Chiyoko's virtues, thereby loving her to a certain extent, she is
not the woman to become his wife Following this decision, he
ponders the future course of his life in the light of it.
Despite this conviction, an event occurs which shows Sunaga
clearly that he loves Chiyoko on a deeper level than he has yet
realized. He sets out, accompanied by his foster-mother,on a
visit to Chiyoko's summerhome in Kamakura, and there he meets
Takagi, one of Chiyoko's suitors. For a reason which he himself
is unable to determine,he has a most unpleasant feeling upon
meeting Takagi. He returns to his home after spending only one
night in Kamakura. During the two or three days prior to his
foster-mother'sreturn he turns over in his mind the possible
reasons for this unpleasant sensation. Did the cause lie in his
jealousy, or in Takagi's personality,or in Chiyoko's technique of
toying with men? Before he has time to come to a decision as
to which of these possible causes is the correctone, he is excoriated

by Chiyoko, who visits his home with her aunt when the latter
returns from Kamakura. This scene constitutes the last section
of " Sunaga no hanashi," and provides an impressive climax to
this fifthpart of Higan sugi nmade. It should be mentioned that
the endings of Saseki's novels are always brilliant; however, in
this second trilogy he lavished the same care on the endings of
the individual sections. It is interesting to note that even the
severest Japanese critics of S6seki, notably Masamune Hakuchaa,
acknowledge his skill in this particular feature of the novel.
Among Westerners, Edward G. Seidensticker, in a generally
unfavorable critique of the novel Michikusa, did, however, praise
its ending.27
As a sample of Soseki's art in Higan sugi made and also as
a most significantpassage in the psychological analysis of Sunaga
and Chiyoko, I shall quote this thirty-fifth and final section of
Sunaga no hanashi " in full:
" Viewed by a forthright personlike you, Chiyo-chan, of course

an over-prudent man like me would appear cowardly. lack the
I
courageto say immediately what I think,or to expressit in action-
I'm exceedinglyvacillating. If that'swhatyoumeanby 'cowardly,'
well then,I'm cowardly,and there'snothingmuchthatcan be done
about it."
"Who would considersuch a personcowardly!"
"But youdo despiseme, don't you? I knowthatquite well."
"Aren't youtheone whodespisesme ? I knowthatevenbetter."
see the necessityof confirming
Since I did not particularly these
words of hers,I purposelydid not answer.
" You considerme a womanof no learning,unreasoning, and
and in the depthof yourheartyou mockme."
insignificant,
" That's exactlythe same thingas yourbelittlingme forbeing
indecisive. Yet it doesn'treallymatterto me whetheryou consider
me cowardlyor not; but if you mean it in the moralsense of the
term,I'm forcedto say you'remistaken. At least as concernsall
my relationswithyou, I don't rememberever havingengagedin a
morallycowardlyact. If I'm called a coward for being indecisive
and vacillating,and made to appearas if I were lackingin moral
courage,or worse thanthat,as if I were a cravenindividualwho
doesn't understandthe meaning of integrity,in that case I'm
offendedin the extremeand shouldlike to correctyou. However,
27 He discussed this novel with me in July, 1955.

a !E7'bT.

Later Novels of Natsume Soseki 29
if what you've just said means that I've hurtyou in some specificway,
I'd appreciate your telling at me without the slightest reservation."
" All right then, I'll tell you what I mean when I say you're a
coward," she said and she began to cry.
I had always considered Chiyoko to be strongerthan I. However,
I had thought only that her strength was simply a hard core of
womanliness in her essentially gentle character. But the woman I
saw in front of me at that time was merely one of the commonest,
everyday variety, filled with an unyieldingspirit. Far from being
moved, I calmy awaited her explanation fromamidst her tears. For
I firmlybelieved that whatever would come forthfrom her could
be nothing more than casuistry to uphold her dignity. She blinked
her wet eyelashes two or three times.
" You're forever sneering at me and thinkingof me merely as
a reckless fool. You don't love me. And as for your intention of
marryingme..."
"As far as that goes, even you..."
" Please hear me out. As far as that goes, you're going to say
we're of the same opinion. If so, that's perfectlyall right. I'm
certainlynot going to beg you to marry me. But why then should
you behave toward me, toward one whom you don't love, one whom
you don't think of making your wife..."
When she had arrived at this point, she suddenly faltered.
Imperceptive as I was, I could not yet understandwhat was going
to follow. I asked her, " How did I behave toward you ? " to urge
her to continue. She thereuponimmediatelyburst out, " Why are
you so jealous ? and began to weep more violentlythan before. I
instantlyfelt the blood rush to my face and flush both my cheeks.
She did not appear to take any notice of this.
" You're a coward, a moral coward! You even doubted my
motive when I invitedyou and your mother to Kamakura. That was
already cowardly of you. But that isn't the crux of the matter.
Why couldn't you, in accepting my invitation,behave in a normal,
pleasant way ? It's exactly as if I have to be ashamed for having
invited you. By having insulted a guest at m.yhome, you've also
insulted me."
" I don't remember having insulted anyone."
" You most certainly did. Your words and your external
manners don't enter into it. It was your attitudethat was insulting.
And even if your attitude was faultless, your heart was not."
" I don't think I'm obliged to listen to such gratuitouscriticism."
" Some men are really so unmanly they're able to make such
stupid remarks. Since Takagi-san is a gentleman,he has an immense
capacity for toleratingyou. But you couldn't possibly have tolerance
for him. Because you're low, and mean, and positivelydespicable."

With an account of Chiyoko's ringing accusation, Sunaga

brings to an end his story. The reader must wait until the end
of the following section, " Matsumoto no hanashi," for another
first-personpassage by Sunaga in the form of a long letter to his
uncle. (The epistolary character of the three works beginning
with Higan sugi made is quite startling. All three conclude with
long letters, the one in Kokoro consisting of almost exactly half
the novel.)
Komiya is correct in saying that in Chiyoko's devastating
criticismof Sunaga we must recognize her own bias and misunder-
standing.28 And yet for Sunaga this is an attack which allows no
defense and which touches him to the quick. He is forced to
recognize the fact that he behaved abominably at Kamakura
because he was jealous of Takagi. He must further recognize
that he not only does not really despise Chiyoko but that he
loves her, albeit with an exceedingly strong admixture of egoism.
Chiyoko, for her part, demonstratesby her words that she cares
desperately for Sunaga. Her impassioned attack on him is the
most convincing proof of her love for him.
However, since each is certain that the other despises him,
they are destined never to wed. As their uncle Matsumoto says,
"they meet in order to separate, and they separate in order to
meet." Thus they are two unfortunates"who sense dissatisfac-
tion with their situation wherein they must choose between
marryingand seeming to have done so with the express purpose
of creating unhappiness, and not marrying, in the spirit of
continuing their unhappiness." In other words, unhappiness is
their lot, whatever they choose.
It must be realized, as Matsumoto does not, that the burden
of responsibilityfor this irresolvable situation rests with Sunaga
and not with Chiyoko. Even he admits that he is the weaker of
the two, but he does not realize that his weakness lies not so
much in his vacillation as in his egoism. As we have seen, it is
not that Sunaga does not love Chiyoko.29 It is merely that the
strength of this love is not very great. This weakness of love
28 Soseki no geijutsu, p. 212.

29 Okazaki Yoshie, Nihon geijutsu shich6 El Vol. I, " Soseki to.
sokutenkyoshi" * L P J7+tEL,- (Toky6 1943), p. 269.

is a characteristicof almost all of the intellectuals of S6seki's

created world. Furthermore their great self-consciousness and
excessive reflection,which are so strong as to override this love,
are always obstacles towards its expression. Again Okazaki is
perfectlycorrect when he says that in the specific case of Higan
sugi made the naive reader is incapable of understandingwhy
Sunaga's love for Chiyoko should be such a shrinking love and
why it should turn into a stagnant pool instead of a life-giving
spring.30 It is true that in Higan sugi made we do not have the
same inhibiting factors that we have in Mon, where S6suke
betrays his friend,or in Kojin, where Ichiro suspects his wife, or
in Kokoro, where Sensei has also betrayed his friend. There are
no good reasons (other than Sunaga's egoism, which is the best)
why Sunaga should not marry Chiyoko. The reasons which
Sunaga clings to, namely the doubt as to his birth, and the
opposition of Chiyoko's parents, are mere excuses. If his love
were not so eaten away by doubt and by interminable introspec-
tion, he would be able to overcome these barriers without too
much difficulty.
Even thoughit maynot be easyto explaincompletely the subtle
characterand psychologyof Sunaga, it would not be an errorto
concludethatit is his "self" or his " ego" which produceshis
tragedy. To depart from this " self" or "ego " would be for
Sunaga a removalof his suffering and anxiety,and a removal,too,
of the obstacles in his relationswith Chiyoko. Therefore,rather
thantryingto overcomethe externalbarriers,he ought to attempt
to overcomethe barrierswithinhimself. Matsumoto,in his analysis
of Sunaga's character,clearly indicatesthe methodthat he must
employ. His heart must be capturedcompletely by somethingout-
is, above all, his
side himself. If the sourceof Sunaga's suffering
ware (ego) or his watakushi (self), then the road of departure
fromit is the modelingoften; and if the road towardthe modeling
oftenconsistsin the castingof one's heartintoexternalphenomena,
thenthe problemcan be clearlyresolved.3'
Okazaki admits that he must bring to bear sufficientinternal

evidence before we can accept his thesis that S6seki expounded
his philosophy of sokutenkyoshi in Higan sugi made in this way.32
30 Ibid., p. 269.
31 Ibid., p. 273.
32 Ibid., p. 273.

Thereupon he sets out in a most methodical manner to analyze

the passages wherein the term ten appears, and shows its relation-
ship to the ten of sokuten kyoshi.33
The term ten is seldom used in this novel. Also, its meaning
is quite broad, and it is difficultto believe that ten can provide
the force necessary to overcome Sunaga's suffering. One of the
most significantuses of the term ten appears in the first section
of " Matsumoto no hanashi," where Matsumoto comments on the
quarrel between Sunaga and Chiyoko concerning the former's
behavior at Kamakura. He indicates that this quarrel is a result of
the karma of the two, ratherthan the specificresponsibilityof either.
He feels that the best policy to adopt with regard to the relations
of his nephew and niece is " to allow their utnnmeia(destiny) to
take its course and to cause their relationship to develop in the
most direct,natural manner (shizen no te deb)." He continues the
same line of reasoning when he is asked by Sunaga's foster-mother
to assist in effectingthe marriage of the two. "What can my
strength avail if everythingdoes not proceed favorablyin accor-
dance with the disposition of heaven (ten) ? "
When we examine these remarks, we see that Matsumoto
considers the difficultrelation between Sunaga and Chiyoko to be
a result of ummei (or shukumeic,which also means " destiny"),
and that there is no other solution than the natural (sh1izen n1od)
one, thereforenot requiring his interference;teni,however,is seen
by Matsumoto as indisposed to act favorably. Okazaki deduces,
therefore, an opposition between shizen and ten, with the former
almost synonymouswith ummei,which is its concrete manifestation
in human beings. The latter, he feels, possesses elements of aie
(love) and makotof(truth) and is always weaker than shizen and
ummei. He does not see any opposition between the self, or the
ego, and shizen, even though shizen is a much greater force than
man. Rather, he sees the self as a part of shizen. Ten is
33 Of course this is merely a facet of his over-all method of examining the

entire corpus of Soseki's work in the light of Soseki's expressed plhilosophyof
sokutenkyoshi. Okazaki's work is a monument of Japanese scholarship, and is
the definitiveone on Soseki's philosophy even as Komiya's is the definitiveSoseki
biography. My indebtedness to these two men is very great indeed. Therefore,
I intend here to trace Okazaki's method, for I am in substantial agreement with
it. I shall show merely where I disagree with him, and why.
a I p d gi _
p b Ojk_0)fT- c TWj e XR f XJ

conceived of as the controlling force which directs the human

world, in a positive manner, toward happiness, and is placed
in the position of kamia (God) which the two must accept in pure
love after having overcome their egos. Okazaki concludes this
particularanalysis with the general statementthat in all of Soseki's
thought after Kofu there appears conspicuously the idea that ten,
to the extent that it represents love and truth,is always a weak
force, and not equal to shizen and ummei.
The major criticism of Okazaki at this point lies in his
readiness to accept Matsumoto's statements as the equivalent of
S6seki's. Perhaps Matsumoto is S6seki's alter ego in " Ame no
furuhi"; however,one cannot be so certain of his autobiographi-
cal role in " Matsumoto no hanashi." Furthermore,Okazaki sees
more of an opposition between shiizen (or ummei) and ten in
Matsumoto's remarks than really appears there. One can even
sense an affinitybetween the two, since an unfavorably disposed
ten and ummei are similarlyconsidered responsible for Sunaga's
and Chiyoko's plight. It is interesting, too, that Okazaki does
not point out that a slightconfusionexists in Matsumoto's thinking.
For while Matsumoto considers ummei responsible forthe situation,
he also feels that the situation can be resolved by allowing ummei
to continue its course unobstructed. In other words, ummei is at
once the agent (one could almost say it is largelythe " evil agent ")
and the force that will ultimatelyright things again, in the form
of shizen. Of course this is not an illogical position if we interpret
ummei as the evil part of shizen, but Matsumoto does not make
that distinction.
And yet Okazaki may be correctin his conclusion. For S6seki
saw in the midst of an impersonal and indifferentshizen another
force, namely ten, which is not indifferentto moral values, and
which does guide people in the direction of happiness. But this
position is not exactly that of Matsumoto, eitherin this particular
passage or throughoutHigan sugi made. Okazaki states that in
Soseki the force of ten, when it represents love and truth,is
weaker than that of shizen and zmmei. This perception may be
the result of Soseki's keen observation of the evil which exists
in man. Herein lies another major differencebetween S6seki and
Matsumoto. For the former,unlike the latter, places the blame
a T

for the unhappy situation existing between Sunaga and Chiyoko,

primarilyon Sunaga. (He hints that Chiyoko is not entirely
guiltless.) S6seki is not a fatalist. as Matsumoto proves very
largely to be. The reason shizen and ummei are stronger
than ten is that the formertwo are composed in part of man's
will, and participate in the ugliness of man's ego. Clearly, if
more men would model themselves after ten, the balance of power
would shift to ten. There is little evidence to show that S6seki
believed that ummei and shizen, as pure abstractions,are stronger
than ten. His pessimismwas restrictedto the phenomenal world.
In the transcendentalworld, ten, that of sokuten kyoshi if not of
Matsumoto, reigns supreme; in fact, ten is almost synonymous.
with the transcendentalworld.
The second significantreference to ten which Okazaki treats
is found in the eleventh section of the same "Matsumoto no
hanashi." Sunaga writes from Akashi in his long letter to
Matsumoto that he has heard of an extraordinarilywealthy man
who spends his money recklessly and that " each of his excesses
is characterized by an arrogance that is unafraidof ten." Sunaga's
reaction is more one of fear than disapproval. In his own words:
" I really felthow inexcusable such action was toward ten, humanity
(jindoa), and the divine powers (shimbutsub), and in the truly
religious sense of the term I was afraid."
Sunaga, after his encounter with Chiyoko, is informedby
Matsumoto that the woman he has thought was his mother is
not his real mother, and sets out on his trip to find some peace
of mind. He starts out with a feeling very much akin to that
of a man renouncing the world. It is in this sense that he falls
into a religious mood upon learningof the profligacyof the wealthy
man. Thus, the ten of his letter is of the same nature as shim-
butsu, and indicates a religious power, although seen primarily
through its manifestationin the ethical realm.
Okazaki compares Sunaga's ten with that of Matsumoto, and
demonstrateshow theyboth are ethical and religious. Matsumoto's
ten is the power-not exerted in this particular case, however-
to bind Sunaga and Chiyoko together in a life of love, and
Sunaga's ten is one which creates a moral order in life by inspiring
reverence and awe in the righteous and by being able to punish
a )k, b J+,L

the wicked, such as the debauched Croesus about whom he writes.

Man must serve this ten. However, Matsumoto's ten is the grace
to effecta marriage, and the dispenser of love. (Again one must
emphasize that it is a niggardly dispenser.) Sunaga's is the
judgment which punishes the haughty, the power which maintains
the moral order, and the dispenser of justice. Of course this
judgment is only feared, and not yet executed, at least in the
particular case under discussion.
If S6seki's thought were thoroughlyrepresented by his char-
acters, and had crystallized at this point we should almost be
justified in saying that his ten is so close to the Christian God
of love and justice as to be indistinguishablefrom it. One must
.agree completely with Okazaki, however, that any such conclusion
would be premature, What he says on this score is especially
trenchant and deserves direct quotation:
Did Soseki, whenhe arrivedat thiswork,finally cometo believe

in a divinepower?
Of course we must recognizethe factthatfromthis work the
conceptof a truly religious,fixed power, such as God or the
Buddha, begins to make its appearance. When a religiouselement
is invokedas the ultimatestateof a moralworld,thenGod or the
Buddha,as the most representative divine forceof whichman can
conceive,is alreadyanticipated. The invokingof this power is, for
the mostpart,the easier way. Soseki passed through manyagonies
of thespiritto avoidthiseasypath. And yetas he proceededdeeper
and deeper in his course from the ethicalto the religiousit was
inevitablethatsuch a divinepowershouldappear. It is but natural
that Soseki as he sought ten in an ethicaldirectionshouldhave
begun to mergewiththe conventional view.
And yet if we so readilysettleSoseki in thisworldofshimbutsu,
we shall be somewhatdeceived. We could even think,in such a
case, that the road which he had traveled heretoforewas an
unnecessary, roundabout route. We oughtnot to concludeso simply
thatthe ten of Soseki is the same thingas shimbutsuor jindo.
As I have indicated in a previous article on S6seki,34 I do

not believe that S6seki accepted any interpretation of a divine
power, or Absolute, ready-made, or without lengthy investigation.
I could not agree with Okazaki more completely than when he
34 "Watakushi no mitaSoseki" XL@* ,Th NatsumeSosekitokuhonAR

3Kat* Bungei ; June1954, pp. 28-35.

36 ValdoH. Viglielmo
says that S6seki passed throughmany agonies to avoid any

superficialadherenceto a particularfaith.
Higan sugi made, then,is a milestonein bothNatsumeS6seki's
art and thought. Whateverflawsthis novel possesses-and cer-
tainly its loose, and most unnovel-like,construction can be con-
sidereda great one-it representsa tremendousdeepening,in his
art, of his psychologicalperception,and a turning,in his thought,
to the purelyreligiousproblemof man and his relation to the
Absolute.
Editor's note. This article representssubstantially

the firsttwo chaptersof
ProfessorViglielmo's unpublisheddissertation,which he presentedto Harvard
Universityin December 1955. Though the articleappearshere eightand a half
yearsafterbeingwritten,it was thoughtworthpublishingsince it containsinfor-
mationon Soseki, and a view of him, whichcannotbe foundin any Western
language. This is also the firsttimethatHigan sugi made has been treatedin
detailby any Westernliterarycritic.


An Introduction To The Later Novels of Natsume Soseki

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An Introduction to the Later Novels of Natsume Soseki

Author(s): Valdo H. Viglielmo

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The greatnessof NatsumeS6sekiais perceivedtodaynotonly

a UWE b -;j:C3 u j c RMAj IT, d HAk e Z, f ;1-- g P)IpAE

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rather, significant largely insofar as they point the way to the

1 See KomiyaToyotaka/Jl Sosekinogeijutsu (T6kyo1942),

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of what is to come. Toward the end of the novel the gloom

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A Westerneris amazed that there should have emerged so

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society. The individualis, or at least can become,eternal. The

2 Hirata Jisaburo*EH&EP5, NatsumeS6seki (Tokyo 1948), p. 147.

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appears to possess an antidote. The male characters sufferfrom

a AIJ-7l b JNIMEf_. MU4FXt:

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aries aboard the ship:

We have on board quite a large numberof missionaries, leaving

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it cannotbe called by a name involvingrelativity;which is neither

Passages such as the above have led critics to the conclusion

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operation to remove the egoism, but the sickness is universal and

FinallyKenzo decidedto worka littlemore. It was not very

We are made to feel the importance-indeed " importance"

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is too weak a word-the absolute necessity of love by being shown

3 Henri de Lubac, the FrenchJesuitphilosopher,in the chapter " Buddhist

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sion in essence is passive, contemplates without participatingin

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its absence of, or rather lack of emphasis on, love cannot be

7 See Takizawa Katsumi ieiN3C,, Natsume Soseki (Toky6 1948), p. 349.

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summarilydismissed as the crudest of primitive religions.) Here

9 Sosekito bisho,p. 261

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10 Luke 17: 21.

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adhering to any formal philosophical or religious system. In

Higan sugi made

Exactly one year and a half elapsed between the publication

12 Soseki zensha, Vol. IX (Iwanami, Tokyo 1947), 405 pp.

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for the firsttime in decades. In August, on behalf of a society

14 In the fourthsection of Higan sugi made, "Ame no furuhi" (A Day

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intentions,since the last instalment appeared on April 29, 1912,

I do not have any fixedtimeforwriting.SometimesI workin

This glimpse into the novelist's workshop came at the

15 In the March 22,1914issue of the Osaka Asahi Shimbun.

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17 S6sekino geijutsu,p. 199.

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and says that he will write a letter of introduction to the man

19 Ara Masato iUE)A " Soseki no kuraibubun" 3 in Kindai

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feeling is not so apparent in his later novels. This change was