Soseki Natsume (1867-1916)

Born in the eve of Meiji and lived in Meiji and died in Taisho 5.

Soseki loved making Haiku and Tanka.

Soseki wrote more than 2500 Haiku in his life.

Soseki Natusme

(Soseki) 1897

(Soseki) 1895

(Soseki) 1897
3

From a Haiku poet to a great writer

Soseki wrote more than 2500 Haiku in his life.
Soseki Natusme

(Soseki)
1897
A little violet, I wish I were born like you
(Translated by Koji)

(Soseki) 1895
An autumn mountain, looking to the south,
two little temples in my eyes (Translated by Koji)
(Soseki)
1897
Shining young leaves, a mountain temple, 4

Group Discussion and Presentation

Question 1: Who is Soseki Natsume? What is he?
Question 2: What is the writers intention in Kokoro?
(Key Words and the theme of the novel)
Question 3: What is the charm of the work, Kokoro?
(Characters, Organization and plot)
Question 4: What is the nature of K and his conviction?
Question 5: What is the nature of Sensei, his view of life?
Question 6: What are the views of Senseis romantic love?
Question 7: What kind of force made K commit suicide?
(What is a True Way for K?)
Question 8: What made Sensei leave this world in peace?
(What is Spirit of Meiji for Sensei and Soseki?)
5

Group Discussion and Presentation

Question 9: What did you learn from Kokoro (criticism)?
(The Power of Confession) (The power of Jealousy)
Question 10: Soseki and Shakespeare; Historical Backgrounds
Question 11: What is Dramatic Irony in Kokoro and
Shakespearean works?
Question12: What is todays significance of Sosekis
Kokoro?
Question 13: Continue the story after Senseis death?
Your Mid-term essay: My Criticism on Sosekis Kokoro
A4 size at least 2 pages and send it to Koji as an attached
file on line by March 31.
6

Grouping for Discussion

Group A: Bryan, Maxime, Jessica, David,
Joshua, Emily
Group B: John Paul, Ameria, Ka Rhim,
Tim, Hwisun, Vincent
Group C: Alexandra, Andrew, Angela,
Kyle, Ji Soo, Yuki
Group D: Jerome, Anna, Richard, Faiza,
Aurora, Patrick
Group E: Asim, Alana, Caroline, Kai,
Samuel, Kumi
7

Sosekis lodging house in Matsuyama

and his own house in Tokyo

Soseki was sent to Univ. of London by Japanese

Government scholarship from 1900-1902 in order to bring
back the advantages of modernization in England. However,
he witnessed and learned the loneliness of modernization as
a price for freedom, independence and individualism, which
affected his works, especially Kokoro..

10

Water painting by Soseki

11

Soseki studied at University of London (1900-1902)

Sseki's lodgings in Clapham, South London

12

 Kan San Ju discusses Soseki in his book .

Kan San Ju, a Korean, brought up in Japan and became Prof. of Tokyo
Univ. Kan is the most respectful intellectual in Japan. He is familiar with
Said, Soseki and Weber. His latest and sensational book Nayamu
Chikara discusses the greatness of Soseki in comparison with Max
Weber in terms of human inner agony and the value of worrying in life.
Kan says, I love Soseki by nature. I am from
Kumamoto and there are many historical traces of
Soseki in Kumamoto. I am a fan of Soseki s
works as he used to teach English at my high
school in Kumamoto.

13

Works of Soseki

14

Sseki's major works

English title

Year

Japanese title

1905

Wagahai wa Neko dearuI Am a Cat

Rondon TThe Tower of London Kairo-kKairo-k
BotchanBotchan KusamakuraThe Three-Cornered
World (lit. The Grass Pillow)latest translation uses Japanese title
Shumi no IdenThe Heredity of Taste,
Nihyaku-tkaThe 210th Day
GubijinsThe Poppy

1906

1907
1908
1909
1910
1912
1914
1915
1915
1916

KfuThe Miner Yume J-yaTen Nights of Dreams

SanshirSanshiro
SorekaraAnd Then, a novel
MonThe Gate Omoidasu Koto nado
Higan Sugi MadeTo the Spring Equinox and Beyond
KjinThe Wayfarer
KokoroKokoro One of the Masterpieces. (Q) WHY
Watakushi no Kojin ShugiMy
Individualism A famous speech
Michi KusaGrass on the Wayside Garasu Do no
UchiInside My Glass Doors English translation, 2002
Mei AnLight and Darkness, a novel

Unfinished and died.

15

Kokoro represented in Movies.

(Q)Why did he
visit a grave of K, his best male friend every month?

16

Kokoro represented in Movies

17

Kokoro represented in Movies

18

Kokoro in Manga and Animation

19

The novel, Kokoro has always appeared in high school

modern Japanese textbooks. Kokoro has been read and
loved by almost all Japanese people for 98 years. (Q) Why?

20

(Q) What are the key words of this famous novel, Kokoro?

Kokoro, True way ( , Spiritual Aspiration

Individualism and Confucianism
Freedom and independence in Modernization and
Filial piety in Confucianism
Guilt (Egoism) and Self-punishment (Suicide)
Spiritual aspiration (True Way) and Reality
Friendship and misanthropy, Divine punishment
Fatal Romantic love triangle
The power of love and jealousy
Dramatic irony and self-analysis
Loneliness in the modern world
Aloofness, isolation from worldly society
Trust and distrust, despair and revenge
The heart of Meiji in Japan
21
Money and its influence on human nature.

 What are the themes of Kokoro?

What is human heart ? Human

weakness and human destiny in which we cannot live

without human relationships, including love and friendship.
The Testament is not only for Watshi but also for all the
people (readers) at that time as universal lesson in life
and a warning for modernization. (Kokoro has gone
beyond time and space since since 1914.
Friendship and a string of compassion between
Watshi and Sensei based on trust and respect beyond age
and value systems. Sensei is a man in Meiji. Watshi is a
new generation living in Taisho era which has more
freedom and independence influenced by modernization.
Watashi deserves Senseis Testament to get.
Watshi got material life from his parents and got mental and
spiritual life from Sensei.
22

 What are the themes of Kokoro?

The psychological conflict between individualism and
Confucianism.

(Senseis inner conflict between his Individualism and his collectivism

influenced by Confucianism and traditional Japan in Meiji era) His
individualism was influenced by his education at Tokyo Univ.
Westernization and Modernization.

Guilt in Romantic Love Triangle and Self-punishment

The impossibility of romantic love and fragility
of friendship involved in jealousy and egoism.
Timeless psychological analysis of one mans alienation
from society in Meiji era influenced by Westernization and
modernization. Sosekis intention (Loneliness in modern world.)
Soseki expresses in human hearts through the
changing attitudes of humans.
(Nothing is immortal and perfect and everything is
transit and changeable)
Ex. The attitude of the uncle, K and Sensei himself. 23

(Q) What is the charm of the novel

Kokoro ?
What are the prerequisite of great fiction?
1 Novel= novelty 2, romance involved in Hero and heroin, 3,
The power of confession. Ex. ??

The power of confession echoes from person to

person throughout the story.
Ks confession of agonized love for Ojosan.
Senseis inner confession of his passionate love
for Ojosan
Senseis Confession as a Testament as a
Monologue and the final dialogue with
24
Watashi.

 (Q) What is the charm of the novel Kokoro ?

(Q) How many characters and personal names

are there in Kokoro? (Q) Why are there the first
person and second person often in the story?

The narrator I ( Watashi)

Do (Watashi) I represent the readers in Chapter III?
Sensei the protagonist = Soseki himself ?
K Senseis best friend with lofty mind:
the dark shadow of Senseis life
Ojaosan honorable daughter
(Q)Why was she named ?
Manifestation of traditional but modern woman in Meiji.
What also impressed me was that fact that though her ways
were not those of an old-fashioned Japanese woman, she had
not succumbed (yield) to the then prevailing fashion of using
modern words. (p.37)

Okusan = traditional Japanese woman,

wife of Soldier (Samurai)
25

 (Q) What is the charm of the Organization in Kokoro ?

=private person, personal hidden secret against public
The narrator I ( Watashi) = What Sensei used to be
as an innocent young man with sincerity.
Sensei (The protagonist)
K who used to be an ideal of Sesei became his enemy.
The life story of three different men are interwoven in the narrative of
Kokoro These three characters experienced their chosen individualism.
Sensei said, My own past, which made me what I am, is a part of human
experience. (p.247)

(Q) What are the individualism of Sensei, K and I?

ORGANIZATION: Sosekis inner dialog in terms of monolog (His

testament). 1 I always called him sensei. I
shall therefore refer to him simply as Sensei, not by his real name. (p1)
This story is a dialog between Watashi, ( I ) and Sensei from the very
beginning to the end until Sensei left this world.

26

ORGANIZATION
Chapter 1
Sensei and I (p1-80) the encounter and friendship
with Sensei
Chapter 2
My parents and I (p.81-124) Family
Chapter 3
Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)
As the book is narrated in the first person I,
Watashi the reader feels immediately included in
and participant of the story that unfold.
The story engulfs human agony between friendship
and romantic love. (these are human truth in life)27
The story shows moral guilt and divine punishment

(Q) What is the charm of the Kokoro as a novel

based on Sosekis intention ? (

Appellation:The effect of appellation in the main

character
Kokoro: there is no real name except Shizu
which came from the wife of General Nogi
who followed his husband to the grave.
K is the initial of Kokoro. ???? Senseis dark
shadow
Sensei used when he told his past to young

Sensei told his inner and hidden world in his
Testament as . This is Kokoro itself and the
theme and title of the story. This is the depth of
this novel and the charm of the organization and
28
the flow of the story.

(Q) What is the charm of the Kokoro as a novel

based on Sosekis intention ? (

Soseki succeeded the best dialogue between

Sensei and I by using Senseis monologue.
(A profound monologue enlivens the dialogue.)
Sosekis method of appellation came from Jorge
Eliot. (ex. Mr. Fox )
Mr. Kaneda and his daughter Tomiko
in I am a Cat
Kiyo, Bochans best nurse in Bochan

The
effect of the dialog between the first person and the
second person based on Zen Buddhism which had
29
an influence on Soseki.

(Q) What is the nature of Sensei?

A man capable of love, or I should say rather a man who was by
nature incapable of not loving; but a man who could not
(p.12)
wholeheartedly accept the love of another such a one was
Sensei.

Aloofness, silence, Unapproachable person, misanthropy,

Not sociable but had a strong passion for love
Love affair is a kind of violent passion and later it will be a regret.
Solitary way and alienation from society, pessimism
It is not you in particular that I distrust, but the whole of humanity.
I can hardly trust others. I do not even trust myself. suspicious
after his uncles deception
(p.130)
This nature of mine led me not only to suspect the motives of
individual persons but to doubt even the integrity of all mankind.
You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in
this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own
egotistical selves. (P. 30) (Sensei is critical of modern age)
Money. Give gentlemen money, and he will soon turn into a
30
rogue

(Q) What does Sensei think about money?

When a man dies suddenly, his estate

causes more trouble than anything else.

(P.60)
Under normal conditions, everybody is
more or less good, or at least, ordinary. But
tempt them, and they may suddenly change.
That is what is so frightening about me. One
must always be on ones guard. (p.61)
Money, ofcourse. Give a gentleman money,
and he will soon turn into a rogue. (p.64)31

Sensei and His Testament

248)

(p.125-

(Q)What kind of person is K? How do you describe the

personality of K?
Okusan said htat K was an unapproachable sort of person.
(p.178)
Having grown up under the influence of Buddhist doctrines,
he seemed to regard respect for material comfort as some kind
of immorality.(p.176)
Indeed, he seemed at times to think that mistreatment of the
body was necessary for the glorification of the soul. (p.176)
K used to say, Anyone who has no spiritual aspirations is an
idiot.
This words has been echoed between K and Sensei.
Consequently this word made K to decide his last action as
the final blow by Sensei.
32

Sensei and His Testament

248)

(p.125-

K and I were friends from the time we were children p.166

K and I entered the same faculty of Tokyo Univ.
K decided to go against his foster fathers wishes
(becoming a medical doctor) and to follow his own
inclinations. (p.170) Circumstances had so far made me
sympathize with K; but now I was determined to stand by K,
whether he was right or wrong. (p.171)
I became a monster of jealousy and got sick and K became
humanized after K moved into.
K was expelled from his biological fathers house
K used to say, What was important , he said , was that he
should become a strong person through the exercise of
will-power. (p.173)
Sensei persuaded him to live with him in the same house.
Okusan said that I would later regret having brought such
a
33
person into the house. (P. 174) (Prediction of tragedy)

Plots of disinheritance K

K was the second son of a Buddhist priest of Jodo

Shinshu.
K was an adopted son to become a doctor in the doctors
family. But he used his money sent by the adopted family
in order to study religion and philosophy at Tokyo Univ. to
pursue True Way. He believed in that Anyone who has
no spiritual aspiration is idiot.
His biological father punished him by barring him. (expulsion)
This later expulsion by hi adoptive father and biological
father intensified Ks distrust of , disillusionment with, and
contempt for the world and all humanity.
K was expelled from the family and no financial security.
K was also shocked by the fact that even his biological
father cut his relationships and Snesei felt K was more
hurtful. Deceit and disinheritance breed both sympathy 34and
distrust.

(Q) What are the views of Senseis romantic love?

In all the world I know only one woman. No woman but my
wife move me as a woman. And my wife regards me as the
only man for her. From this point of view, we should be the
happiest of couples. (p.21)
Do you know that there is guilt also in loving? (p.26)
The friendship that you sought in me is in reality a preparation for the
love that you will seek in a woman.(p.27)

--that true love is not so far removed from religious faith.

Whenever I saw Ojosans face, I felt that I had myself
become beautiful. Whenever I thought of her, I felt a new
sense of dignity welling up inside me. If this
incomprehensible thing that we call love can either bring
out the sacred in man or, in its lowest form, merely excite
ones bodily passions, then surely my love was of the
highest kind. I am made of flesh too. But my eyes which
gazed at her, and my mind which held thoughts of her, were
35
innocent of bodily desire. (p.154)

Gender Romantic love Triangles

Sensei warmly welcomed K into his lodging house in order to humanize,
socialize K and restore his human trust which both of them lost in their
family drama. However, serious discord occurred when both Sensei and
K fell in love with Ojosan. Imbroglio came about when the irrational
jealousy haunted Sensei and he became a green monster like Othello.
Sensei tried to destroy Ks hope and human restoration in order to win
the love of Ojosan.

Shizu Ojosan)

Sensei

36

Gender Romantic love Triangles

in the Novel of Natsume Soseki
Sorekara (And Then, 1909)
Michiyo

Hiraoka

Daisuke

37

Gender Romantic love Triangles

in the Novel of Natsume Soseki
Mon (Gate, 1910)
Oyone

Yasui

Sosuke

38

Gender Romantic love Triangles

in the Novel of Natsume Soseki
Kojin The Wayfarer, 1913
Nao

Ichiro

Jiro

39

(Q) What are similarities between Sensei and K?

Both are from the same country, Nigata Prefecture, Japan Sea area
Both went to the same secondary school and University of Tokyo
Sensei and K had Family Drama and traumatic disinheritance
Sensei: Traumatic disinheritance which brought him distrust of men.

Personal integrity and family pride were endangered and threatened

Mistreatment by his uncles and relatives.

K: K was totally expelled by his adoptive and biological fathers,
financially, socially and institutionally .
Disillusioned by his own family, Sensei is drawn to and stands by his
similarly disillusioned friend, K.
Both were brought up in ethical context, especially K was the
second son of the priest family. I was born an ethical
creature and I was brought up to be an ethical man. (p. 128)
Both fell in love with Ojosan
Both died on his own will.
The only difference was that Sensei was loved by his parents before
they died of typhoid fever almost at the same time when Sensei was 18
years old before going to Tokyo.
40

Shizu ( ), Ojosans entity and Verbal Power

(Q) Is Kokoro a romantic love story as a pretext for male-male
intimacy?
(Q) Is this a story about mens courtship of Ojosan and friendship with
each other ended tragically narrated by a young man (Watakushi)?
(Q) Was she just a Senseis beautiful but constantly infantilized wife?
This characterization derives from the simple fact that there are two male
nar ators, Watakushi and Sensei, and no self-characterization by Shizu.
Some literary critics said Shizu ( is just quiet, peaceful and still
just like her own name, which was named after by Soseki.
Soseki was aware of the name of , the wife of Genral Nogi who
followed him after his death following Meiji Emperor.
Kojis veiw of Shizu:
Shizus verbal implication proved that she seemed to know Senseis
agony, his strong will to die and almost everything, except Ks
confession of love for her to Sensei. When Sensei said that the spirit of
the Meiji era ended with the Emperors death and Sensei and others were
left behind to live as anachronisms, Shizu suggestged, Well then,
junshi, is the solution to your problem.( p.245) (Junshi, means
41
following ones lord to the grave)

(Q)What is the spirit of Meiji?

?
Rectitude, honesty and loyalty, especially
national , social and family loyalty.
Bushido is based on the harmony between Zen Buddhism
and Shintoism (loyalty, respect for ancestors
and filial piety) and Confucianism

e
Honor Honesty
Loyalty Politeness
Benevolence is mans mind and Rectitude is his path.
Indeed, neither Shakespeare nor the Old Testament itself contains an
adequate rendering of Ko ( , our conception of filial piety, and yet
in such conflicts, Bushido never wavered in its choice of loyalty.
Nitobe, 1900)
Loyalty includes the duty of loyalty to nation state as well as filial
piety to each parents. The sprit of Meiji is national, social and family
loyalty and filial piety based on Bushido and Confucianism.
42

(Q) What is True Way? (Spiritual Purification)

Enlightenment and purification in Buddhism
Nothingness is seen not as a state of non-existence as
opposed to existence but as an absolute, transcending the
opposition of existence and none-existence, or as an ideal
and absolute human state identical to religious
enlightenment
(Satori)
To eliminate all
human
desire and reach the stage of
enlightenment, it is necessary to realize that all is empty,
transient
and mutable.
Worldly
Passion
and desires lead human beings into

delusion, suffering and anger. The way to emancipate

ourselves from the bond of worldly passion and desires.
1. We can feel peace of mind only if our mind can get rid of
limitless worldly passion and desires. The causes of delusion
and suffering are rooted in the minds desires for what we
do not have and attachments to possessiveness and
materialism.

People should learn endurance: they should learn to endure the

discomforts of heat and cold, hunger and thirst. They should learn to
be patient when receiving abuse and scorn.
People should learn to see and to avoid all danger. We should not
make friends with evil men.
(The teaching of Buddha 1996)
43
You can thin k of True way in terms of Ks pet theory; Anyone
who has no spiritual aspiration is an idiot.)

The power of Confession

K confessed to Sensei his love for Ojosan at the cost of
their friendship.

(Q) Why did K confess his love for Ojosan to Sensei?

1. Ks honesty, loyalty and trust with Sensei.
2 To prevent the loss of friendship
3 examining their friendship
K might feel or assume Senseis display of jealousy is
simply a response to Ks shift of affection from their
male friendship to a romantic attachment.

44

The power of Confession

(Q) Sensei did not confess his love for the same
woman when K confessed his love. Why?
(Q) Why did Sensei hid his feeling and thereby
betraying his friendship with K?

1. Senseis inferiority to K
2 Senseis fear that K might ridicule or despise him.
3. Not to test K but actually to destroy his rival K.

(I confess to you that what I was trying to do was for

more cruel than mere revenge. I wanted to destroy
whatever hope there might have been in his love for
Ojosan. (p.214)

4. Sensei angered that K chose woman rather than friendship by

confessing his love for Ojosan. This goest against Ks conviction
that Anyone who has no spiritual aspiration is an idiot.
And K seemed to abandon his claims to The True Way of
spirituality and thus to betray his own moral self.

45

The Power of Confession without confession

(Q) Sensei did not tell K his love for Ojoansa. Why?
I told myself that I should be honest with K, and tell him that I
too had fallen in love with Ojosan. (p.205)
I thought I could hear a voice whispering into my ear: You ll
never get rid of himPerhaps I was beginning to think of
him as a kind of devil. Once, I even had the feeling that he
would haunt me for the rest of my life. (p.207)
He needs kind words, as dry land needs rain. I believe I was
born with a compassionate heart. But I was not my usual self
then. (p.213)
Sensei could not open the sliding door which divided Senseis
room and Ks room. The door represents the wall of human
weakness, not only physically but also mentally.
Soseki made most of the power of confession and confession
without confession throughout the story, Kokoro.
46

 Sensei and I

(p1-80)

(Q) Why did Sensei attract me more than professors at

Tokyo Univ? My irresistible desire to become closer to
Sensei comes from his loneliness and unapproachable
quality.
I feel a certain pride and happiness in the fact that my
intuitive fondness for Sensei was later shown to have not
been in vain. A man capable of love, or I should say rather
a man who was by nature incapable of not loving; but a
man who could not wholeheartedly accept the love of
another-such a one was Sensei. (p.12)
I can live with my loneliness, quietly. (p.15)
Divine punishment. Sensei answered, (p.17)
47

 Sensei and I

(p1-80)

I should never have noticed him (sensei) had he not been accompanied
by a Westerner. (P.3) (The sign of Westernization)
His attitude seemed somewhat unsociable. He was always aloof, he
seemed totally indifferent to his surroundings. (P.5)
The sea stretched, wide and blue, all around us, and there seemed to
be no one near us. P6. ( I could enter Senseis world distant from the
seashore) That was the beginning of our friendship. (p.6)
It was then that I began to call him Sensei. (p.6)
I would perhaps find in him those things that I looked for. (P. 8)

I behaved quite so simply towards others. I did not understand then
why it was that I should behave thus towards Sensei only. But now ,
when Sensei is dead, I am beginning to understand. It was not that
Sense dislike me at first. His curt and cold ways were not designed to
express his dislike to me, but they were meant rather as a warning to
me that I would not want him as a friend. It was because he despise
himself that he refused to accept openheartedly the intimacy of others.
I feel great pity for him. (P.8)
48

 Sensei and I (Friendship?) (p1-80)

It was Senseis custom to take flowers to a certain grave in the

cemetery at Zoushigaya (p.9) (every month to Ks grave)
P. 68 is the concluding part of the first chapter which leads us to
chapter 2 and especially the last chapter, Senseis Testament.
(Q) Why did Sensei reconfirm his friendship with me as follows?

Senseis face was pale. I wonder if you are being really

sincere, he said, Because of what happened to me, I
have come to doubt everybody. In truth I should like to
have one friend that I can truly trst. I wonder if you can be
that friend. Are you really sincere? (p.63)
I have been true to you, Sensei. I said, unless my whole
life has been a lie. (p.63)
This conversation was proved in the last chapter p. 128.
For Watashi I, his father is a biological father and Sensei
49
became his spiritual father in life.

Sensei and I (Friendship?) (p 128)

In truth, if there had not been such a person as you, my
past would never have become known, even indirectly , to
anyone. To you alone, then, among the millions of
Japanese, I wish to tell my past. For you are sincere; and
because once you said in all sincerity that you wished to
learn from life itself. (P. 128)
Now, I myself am about to cut open my own heart, and
drench your face with my blood. And I shall be satisfied it,
when my heart stops beating, a new life lodges itself in
your breast. (p. 129)
(Q) What does this sentence reminds you of ?

50

 My parents and I (p.81-124)

I (Watakushi) and my parents.

Watakushis fathers serious illness and the
good relationships with his father.
Suddenly Watakushi got a very sick letters from
Sensei, which shocked Watakushi.
By the time this letter reaches you. I shall
probably have left his worldI shall in all
likelihood be dead. (p.122)

51

 Sensei and His Testament

(p.125-248)
Senseis first love (p.148-149)
I was filled with a new awareness, far greater than
any that I had ever experienced before, of the
power of the opposite sex. (p.148)
I had come to distrust people in money matters,
but I had not yet learned to doubt love. (p.150)

Sensei felt love of religion towards Ojaosan.

Koto = symbol of a young Japanese lady

Flower arrangement = gentleness of women

52

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

Ks confession of love
And so I was shocked. Imagine my reaction when K, ih his
heavy way, confessed to me his agonized love for Ojoasan.
I felt as if I had been turned into stone by a gagician7s
wand. I could not even move my lips as K had done.
Exactly what the emotion was that I felt then, I am not sure.
Perhaps it was fear; or perhaps it was terrible pain.
Whatever it was, its physical effect was to make me feel
rigid from head to toe, as though I were a pieece of stone
or iron. (P. 204)
When finally K stopped talking, I found myself unable to
say anything. I want you to understand that I was not silent
because I was debating with myself whether I should make
a similar confession to K or whether it would be wiser
policy to say nothing about my love for Ojosan. (p.204)53

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

(Q) What was the contradiction within Senseis mind?
Friendship changed into antipathy and hatered
Kindness changed into jealousy and stress.
Supporting K changed into destroying him.
Humanizing K changed into agonizing him.
If his new serenity had come as a result of his contact with
Ojosan, then I would find it impossible to forgive him.
(p. 187)
Sesnsei gradually hated him because of his self-confidence
and lofty mind.
Once, I grabbed Ks neck from behind, What would you do,
I said, if I pushed you into the sea?
Without looking back, he said:That would be pleasant,
Please do. (p.186) (Prediction and analogy of this tragedy) 54

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

The power of jealousy within Sensei
I had scored a victory over K, and my heart was filled with a
sense of triumph. (p.194)
I have no intension of denying that I was jealous. (p.199)
After Ks entrance on the scene, however, it was the
suspicion that Ojaosan might prefer him to me that was
responsible for my inaction. (p.200)
Now is the time, I thought , to destroy my opponent.
I confess to you that what I was trying to do was far more
cruel than mere revenge. I wanted to destroy whatever hope
there might have been in his love for Ojosan. (p. 214)
I said again :Anyone who has no spiritual aspiration is an
idiot. I watched K closely, I wanted to see how my words
were affecting him. An idiot? he said at last. Yes, Im
an idiot. (p.215)
55

Love and Jealousy in Sensei s Kokoro

Distrust
Suspicion

Regret

Jealousy

Jealousy

Love
Despair

Anger

Anxiety

Agony
56

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

(Q) What was the strategy of Sensei to win
Ojaosans love?

Sensei secretly tried to get a permission to get
marred with Ojaosan from her mother without
saying anything about his love for Ojosan to K.
Okusan, I blurted out, I want to marry Ojosan.
All right, she said finally, You may have
her(p.222)

57

Senseis agony

(p.125-248)

Senseis inner agony and pain as a betrayer.

I felt very tense that afternoon, it is true; but where
was my conscience? I returned to the house.
As usual, I went into Ks room in order to get to
mine. It was then that I felt guilty for the first time.
(p.224)
Are you feeling better now? Have you seen the
doctor? Suddenly, I wanted to kneel before him
and beg his forgiveness. It was a violent emotion
that I felt then. I think that had K and I been alone
in some wilderness, I would have listened to the
cry of my conscience. But there were others in the
house. I soon overcame the impulse of my natural
self to be true to K. I only wish I had been given
another such opportunity to ask Ks forgiveness.
58
(p.225)

Sensei s Agony

(p.125-248)

Senseis inner agony and pain as a betrayer.

K, then had known about it for over two days,
though one would never have guessed this form
his manner. I could not but admire his calm,
however superficial it may have been. It seemed to
me that he was much the worthier of the two of us.
I said to myself: Through cunning, I have won.
But as a man, I have lost.
My sense of defeat then became so violent that it
seemed to spin around in my head like a whirlpool.
And when I imagined how contemptuous K must
be of me, I blushed with shame. I wanted to go to
K and apologized for what I had done, but my
pride-my fear of humiliation restrained me.
(p.228)
59
But that night K killed himself. (p.228)

Senseis Agony (p.125-248)

Senseis Agony
Senseis agony like Hamlet, To be or not to be, that is the
question Should I go on living as I do now, like a mummy
left in the midst of living beings, or should I ?
I was a coward. And like most cowards I suffered because
I could not decide. (p.125)

I am an inconsistent person. (p.126)

When I speak of darkness, I mean moral darkness. For I was born an
ethical creature, and I was brought up to be an ethical man. (p.128)

moral
darkness

How could I continue to have hope, no matter how forlorn,

when the sight of her face seemed always to bring back
haunting memories of K? Some times, the idea occurred to
me that she was like a chain that linked me to K for the rest
of my life. (p.237)
60

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

Senseis shock when K killed himself.
My first thought was, its too late It was then that the
great shadow that would forever darken the course of my
life spread before my minds eye. And from somewhere in
the shadow a voice seemed to be whispering: Its too
late Its too late My whole body began to tremble.
(p.229)
But even at such a moment I could not forget my own
welfare. When I had quickly read it (Ks note for Snesei:
will) through, my first thought was: Im safe. (I was
thinking only of my reputation: at the time when others
thought of me seemed of great importance. (p.230)

61

Sensei and His Testament (p.125-248)

Senseis shock when K killed himself.
The letter was simply written. K explained his suicide only
in a very general way. He had decided to die, he said,
because there seemed no hope of his ever becoming the
firm, resolute person that he had always wanted to be.
He thanked me for my many kindness in the past: and as a
last favor to him, would I, he asked, take care of everything
after his behalf for causing her so much trouble. And he
wanted me to notify his relatives of his death. In this brief
businesslike letter, there was no mention of Ojosan. I soon
realized that K had purposely avoided any reference to her.
But what affected me most was his last sentence, which
had perhaps been written as an afterthought: Why did I
wait so long to die? (p. 230)
62

 (Q) Why did K killed himself?

1. His falling in love woman goes against his religious True
Way and he was ashamed of himself, although he was
humanized.
2 Senseis criticism on K by giving back Ks pet theory;
Anyone who has no spiritual aspirations is an idiot which
became the final blow to Ks dicision to kill himself. He
found himself idiot within the framework of his conviction,
Anyone without spiritual aspiration is an idiot.
3. His shock when he heard the engagement of Sensei with
Ojosan from her mother not from Sensei. (His innocence)
4.He felt he hurt Sensei by confessing his love for Ojosan in
the face of Senseis silence.
5. He has already prepared to die after he could not trust
anything except Senseis friendship and human warmth.
6 Then he said suddenly: Am I prepared? Before I could say
anything, he added: Why not? I can will myself He seemed to
be talking to himself . (p.217)
63

 Senseis suicide

Why did Sensei leave this world?

I felt very strongly the sinfulness of man. It was his

feeling that sent me to Ks grave every month, that
made me take care of my mother-in-law in her illness
and behave gently towards my wife. It was this sense
of sin that led me to feel sometimes that I would
welcome a flogging even at the hands of strangers.
When this desire for punishment became particularly
strong, I would begin to feel that it should come from
myself, and not others. Then I would think of death.
Killing myself seemed a just punishment for my sins,
Finally, I decided to go on living as if I were dead.
(p.243)

64

(Q) Why did sensei want to keep the

truth secret from his wife?
I want both the good and bad things in my
past to serve as an example to others. But
my wife is the one exception- I do not want
her to know about any of this. My first wish
is that her memory of me should be kept as
unsullied as possible. So long as my wife is
alive, I want you to keep everything I have
told you a secret-even after I myself am
dead. (p. 248) The End.
(Q)Why?????
(Q)What did happen to Watashi and Shizu after Senseis65
death? Can you continue the story>

(Q) What are causes of Senseis Suicide?

1.

2.

Very complicated as we see in our daily lives and

human relationships. However, the indirect trigger was
the General Nogis self-immolation death on the death
Emperor Meji as Sensei was well aware of General Nogis
agony like his own after the death of K.
Eto Jun pointed out a dual motivation a personal desire
to end his years of egoistic suffering, and a public desire
to demonstrate his loyalty to the emperor. (through
loyalty to the spirit of the Meiji era.)
Direct trigger must be Senseis sense of guilt and the
death of K, which resulted from his betrayal and his
skillful engagement despite the fact that K confessed his
love for Ojosan to Sensei. (Escape from his guilt)
K restored his integrity by writing nothing about his
relationships with Ojosdan in his last note for Sensei
when he died. Sensei became a loser and K became a
winner in terms of True Way based on spirituality and
66
ethical code in Meiji.

(Q) What are causes of Senseis Suicide?

3 Senseis wrong doing by deceiving K and
approached Okusan to win the love of Ojosan.
4. Sensei made use of the Ks conviction of
Anyone who has no spiritual aspiration is
idiot. and put it back to K when he confessed.
But actually Sensei suffered from this words for
many years after Ks death. Anyone without
spiritual aspiration is an idiot. (

5. Sensei repeated again and again deep in his

mind, Where was my conscience?
(Self-blame)
6. Whatever the reason, Senseis failure to be
honest ( with K has brought about the most
disastrous consequence as well as Senseis 67

(Q) What

is the difference between Ks death and that of

Sensei?

K left this world as he could not accept his natural desire of

romantic love which goes against his spiritual aspiration and true way.
Snesei left this world by giving love for his mother-in-law as a human as
he tried to humanized Ks heart by welcoming him into his lodging house
and introducing lovely Ojosan and Okusan under the same roof.
Sensei met Watshi ( I ) as the most trustful person who respected
him, and, he had a young man whom he can finally confessed everything
as a testament.

A man capable of love, or I should say rather a man who was by nature
incapable of not loving; but a man who could not wholeheartedly accept
the love of another such a one was Sensei. (p.12)

68

The role of Watashi in Kokoro

both in retrospect and prospect
Sensei & K= (Past), Shizu (Present) , Watashi= (Future)
Anachronism

One speculation and possible prediction is that Watashi will

live with Shizu as a mature man, confirming the fact and truth
of Senseis drama, accepting Shizu as what she was and what
she is, and starting family with responsibility to make Shizu
happy.
Put yourself in the place of Watashi who got modern education
at University of Tokyo in this dramatic tragedy, and you will
see the next action that Watashi will take after the death of
Sensei for the sake of a beautiful, innocent and emotionally
wounded young wife who was left alone in this world as a
victim of the man of loneliness in anachronism in Meiji era.
69

What is Sosekis warning for the problem of

modernization

You see, loneliness is the price we have to

pay for being born in this modern age, so
full of freedom, independence, and our own
egotistical selves. (p.30)
In those days, such phrases as the age of
awakening and the new life has not yet
come into fashion. But you must not think
that Ks inability to discard his old ways
and begin his life anew was due to his lack
of modern concepts. (p.218)
70

Historical and Cultural background for

Kokoro
Japanese society
European society
Confucianism
The collective harmony
based on Confucianism
and agriculture

Individualism
The individual values
based on Christianity
and democratic capitalism

In Kokoro, published in 1914, he Soseki expresses deep sorrow about

the inevitable growth of individualism at the expense of Confucianism,
leading ultimately to irreversible personal social isolation and despair.
Like William Faulkner he is a modernist in theme and tone of writing.
And like Faulker he is reacting to the rapid changes of his time.
In a book on Natusme Soseki, Beongcheon Yu, expresses as follows;
Meiji Japan, in its radical departure from feudal tradition, was as
profoundly romantic as Renaissance England, a comparison which
has often been suggested by historians. Few artists could escape its
pervading romantic spirit in their zealous pursuit of art and life.
71
(Yu 22.).

Senseis inner Conflicts between

Filial Piety of Confucianism and Individualism
Individualism and freedom influenced by Western modernization

and capitalism
Symbolic representation:
1) Senseis uncle: a modern entrepreneur as well as an unfaithful
husband and selfish guardian of Sensei
2) Sensei: Sensei repeatedly violated the Confucian moral of Filial
Piety by refusing uncles offer of arranged marriage with his daughter.
3) Senseis offense against his best friend K, by violating true
friendship for the sake of his romantic love for Ojosan.

Collectivism based on Confucian moral ( Senseis self

punishment)
1) Senseis ultimate suicide can finally be explained by his selfpunishment (traditional moral ) which won over Individualism in
modernism.
2) While still alive, Sensei had come to the conclusion that his only
choice at that time was to go on living as if he were dead.
72

Collectivism and Individualism

Sosekis Intention in Kokoro
The book Kokoro stands as a reminder of
destructiveness of individualism.
Soseki described the loneliness of the outcasts as the
direct price paid for the pursuit of individualistic
tendencies at the expense of the collective.
Soseki concludes that hopelessness, pessimism, and
despair seem to be the only certain outcome of the
breakdown.
Soseki reveals the didactic purpose of his book to us with
Senseis comments in his testament.
To you alone, then, among the millions of Japanese, I wish
to tell my past. For you are sincere and because once you
said in all sincerity that you wished to learn from life itself.
(p.128) 73

(Q) What

is the todays significance of Soseki ?.

We could compare Soseki with Shakespeare in

terms of his excellence in dramatic irony and
human analysis. I found some similarity between
Othelo and Kokoro. We can learn timeless and
priceless values and significance through the eyes
and the heart of Soseki in Meiji era influenced by
the powerful Westernization and Modernization.
Soseki already predicted and warned the problems
of 2011 in his works in Meiji Era. We can see human
loneliness, aloofness, alienation from society, guilt
in loving and human agony.
Only the works of great writer like Soseki survive
through the judge of time. Popular writer will be
forgotten when their readers die. However great
writer can give some answers to the questions of
human loneliness and suffering beyond time and
culture.
(Nakamura, 2011) 74

 Comments on Kokoro
by Jun Eto, famous critic of Soseki
Soseki tried to prove the impossibility of love
between man and woman rather than exploring
the possibility of love.
The significance of Kokoro is that Soseki
consistently tried to describe the impossibility
of love between man and woman with all his
intelligence and power, albeit he felt in his bone
the absolute necessity of love.
No other novel has ever described so
objectively and calmly the hopeless shadow of
love between man and woman than the work
75
Kokoro Jun Eto (1979)


Sosekis ideal is Leaving everything to
the heaven (The hand of God) and
forgetting self
However, Soseki has been suffering
from his individualism, ego, and
personal desire.

76

Collectivism in Confucianism
and Individualism in Westernization

Soseki specialized English and English Literature at Tokyo University

and graduated with honored bachelors degree. However, deep in his
mind he said he could not but have a feeling of emptiness. My only
regret was that though I had studied, I had never mastered the heart of
things. (qtd. In Yu 25) This desire to master the heart of things
motivates him later to write one of his master works, Kokoro.
He was sent to England as one of the promising young scholars.
Overseas to absorb Western way and help Japanese culture expand to
new horizons. His experiences in England changes Soseki into a
modern Japanese writer and not into an English classicist as he had
hoped.
In England he was homesick and longed for the safety and security of
the past while understanding all along that life can only move forward,
never backwards. The discovery of the self and his individuality was a
lonely and painful process. He describes this journey and its
consequences in Kokoro. The lonely journey will be part of his entire
life. (p.76)
77

Contrast and Comparison

Shakespeare and Soseki
Shakespeare (1564-1616) age 52
Elizabethan Age in England

Soaseki (1867-1916) age 50

Meiji era in Japan

Colonial rule of the British in Dublin

Religious and political reformation
Outward-going dramatist

Industrial imperialism by USA

Modernization of Japan
Introvert novelists

similarity

The contrast and the conflict between the old and the new
Dealing with human truth, such as love, trust, jealousy, guilt, deceit,
sinfulness, punishment in their works of Tragedy.
Dealing with what is real in human nature and what is common to
all humanity both in their works of Comedy and Tragedy.
Sharp observation of human psychology and human analysis
The quality of satire and criticism in Comedies
Human weakness such as changes and contradiction caused by

ambition and jealousy in their works of Tragedy

78

The power of jealousy: Kokoro (K and Senseis suicides)

Othello (Othello Killed his wife and his suicide)
Othello
Sensei
Green Eyes

Othellos
best
Soldier
Cassio

Jealousy
and Inferior
complex to K
made him
Irrational

Jealousy
for Cassio
made him
Irrational
and cruel

The most
The
Faithful
designer
Beautiful
of jealousy
Wife
Iago
Desdimona

and selfish

Student
Trustful
I
Watashi

Honorable
Daughter
Wife
Shizu

Senseis
shadow
Senseis

best friend
who became
his shadow

K
79

Dramatic Irony in Shakespeare and Soseki

In Shakespearian drama, there are many
scenes that presents us the dramatic irony in
relation to the development of the stream of
the drama. Dramatic irony has a dramatic
effectiveness on the tragedy or comedy as long as the
truth is alive. One of the approaches to the
appreciation of Shakespearean drama is to
understand the dramatic irony involved in the hero or
heroines innocence.
(Nakamura,
1972)

Dramatic irony can be defined as a dramatic context

in which the author, readers and audience know very
well but the hero or heroine does not know a fact
(human truth), and consequently they are actually
80
suffering from this. (Nakamura, 1972)

The parallel between Shakespeares play and

Sosekis novels by Peter Milward
In the case of Elizabethan England, it was the
religious and political reformation inaugurated by
Henry VIII and completed under his daughter
Elizabeth I that cut off Englishmen in the present
from their mediaeval past and thus exposed them
to the sway of European fashions.
In the case of Meiji Japan, it was the restoration of
imperial rule and the opening of he country to
Western trade and influence that similarly cut off
Japanese in the present from their feudal past and
thus exposed them to the sway of Western
fashions. (Peter Milward)
81

The parallel between Shakespeares play and

Sosekis novels by Peter Milward
And to these change the attitude of Soseki was
much the same as that of Shakespeare in
Elizabethan England.
When we find in almost all Sosekis novels from
Wagahai wa neko de aru onwards is an outspoken
satire on the aping of Western manners that came
in with Japans opening to the West. Not that he
himself hated or despised the West. His own novels
are sufficient evidence of his willingness to avail
himself of Western ideas and influencebut not a
the expense of his Japanese identity. .
(Peter Milward)
82

The parallel between Shakespeares play and

Sosekis novels by Peter Milward
He wanted by all means to remain distinctively Japanese.
He prized the traditions of old Japan. Yet at the same time
he saw the need of accommodating himself and his
writings to the new order, so long as he did not have to
sacrifice what was dearest to himself as a Japanese. It
was, in fact, in his honest confrontation of his serious
problemthat of the relative claims of new and oldthat
we may say his genius as a novelist, like the genius of
Shakespeare as a dramatist, consists. If it led him at
times dangerously close to a neurotic condition, the same
may be said--and has been said by eminent scholars---of
Shakespeare both at the beginning and at the end of his
tragic period.
(Peter Milward, p.312)
83

Senpai=Kohai in academia
Many students today reading Kokoro for the first time
frequently assume a gay relationship between Sensei and
Watakushi and, while not ruling out such a possibility, I
would point out that the senpai-kohai relationship is a
common one in Japan (probably evident in all Asian
countries with a Confucian heritage and the bunjin,
literatus, or gentleman scholar, tradition). One doesnt
study alone as in the American myth of the lucubrating Abe
Lincoln, ubt rather one sees a sensei. The sensei
traditionally will require an apprentice who serves
variously as errand boy, assistant, ink grinder, and
companion.
(p.102)
84

(Q) What is the todays significance of Soseki ?.

Soseki consistently explored the difficulty

and impossibility of human love, albeit he
also needed the absolute necessity of
human love. In the main
theme is human agony through the bliss
and pain of love in triangle human relations
and it ends up with when Soseki died.
Soseki could not finalized the story and he
left the rest to the readers imagination as
he passed away while he was writing.

85

Hidden Secret
The Sliding Door separates Sensei and K

(Q) What does the sliding door which separates Senseis room and Ks
room symbolize? K
Senseis room= Self , Ks room= Others (
is a reflecting mirror of Senseis mind (K )
At about ten oclock, the door between our rooms was suddenly
opened, and I saw K looking at me from the doorway. What are you
thinking about ? he said. (p. 202)
Were you asleep?. K stepped back into his room and
closed the door. (p. 219).
As I opened my eyes, I saw that the door between Ks room and
mine was ajar. (p. 229)
K left the door open a little for the last communication with Sensei for
two nights. Sensei was not aware of that or ignored it.
If Sensei had opened the sliding door of his mind and confessed his passionate love for
Ojosan to K like K did, K and Sensei s life would have been different.

Sensei deceived K and himself for the sake of love by ignoring the
door of Kokoro.
86

Hidden Secret sin and crucifixion

Sensei and I Jesus Christ and St. John

You wished to cut open my heart and see the blood flow. I was then still alive.
I did not want to die. That is why I refused you and postponed the granting of
your wish to another day.
Now, I myself am about to cut open my own heart, and drench your face with
my blood. And I shall be satisfied it, when my heart stops beating, a new life
lodges itself in your breast. (p. 129)
Original Sin= Senseis sin ( winning Eve=Shizu by deceiving K)
Jesus s (compensation)=crucified =Senseis suicide
As the disciple, St. John drank Jesuss wine, I (Watashi) drank Senseis blood and
lodged new life.
Jesus said, I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me.
You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.
(JOHN: 7-33, The New Testament)
If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in
my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. (JOHN 5:31, The New
Testament)
You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human
testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
(JOHN 5:33-34, The New Testament)
87

The hidden truth of love in Kokoro (in retrospect & prospect)

Evidence The first encounter of Watashi with Shizu. (p.16)

The first time I met Senseis wife in the front hall, I thought her
beautiful. And each time I saw her after that I was similarly impressed
by her beauty. (p.16)
My memory of the early part of our acquaintance, then, consists of
nothing more than the impression of her beauty. (p.16 )

Evidence The number of letters.

Sensei wrote two letters. I received from him only two pieces of
correspondence that might strictly be called letters. One of them
was the simple letter that I have just mentioned, and the other was a
very long letter which he wrote me shortly before his death.(p. 48)
But Watashi received another letter. Who wrote?
I received from them a letter with a maple leaf enclosed. (p.18 )
A letter with a maple leaf enclosed at that time means close
friendship, intimacy, warm closeness and affection
88

The hidden truth of love in Kokoro (in retrospect & prospect)

Evidence p.33-p.43 The private and serious conversation between

Watashi and Shizu when Sensei was out. (10 pages)

I was deeply impressed by her capacity for sympathy and
understanding. (p.37)
True, being a man, I felt an instinctive yarning for women. (P. 38)
I did not even feel, when I was with her, that intellectual gulf which so
often separates men from women. (p. 38) (Respect for Shizu)
As Senseis wife said this, I noticed that there were tears in her eyes.
(p.39)
I tried, as far as I was able, to comfort Senseis wife. And it seemed that
she was trying to find some comfort in my company. (p.42)
Sosekis belief that Pitys akin to love, reflects throughout his works
and Watashis compassion for Shizu in Kokoro is one of them.
Soseki wrote Pitys akin to love in the works of Sanshiro and we
found many love stories in which compassion can transform into love
in his works. (And Then, Gate, The Wayfarer, Lights and Darkness)89

The hidden truth of love in Kokoro (in retrospect & prospect)

Evidence Shizus unhappy marriage life

Sensei wrote It was my wife who unwittingly reminded me of harsh

reality every time we were together. How could I continue to have hope,
no matter how forlorn, when the sight of her face seemed always to
bring back haunting memories of K? (p.237)
* Shizus doublt about man.
My wife once asked me: Cant a mans heart and a womans heart ever
become a part of each other, so that they are one? (p.242)

Evidence Sensei knew Shize would be left alone when he died.

My mother- in-law did. There remained only my wife and myself. My
wife said to me: In all the world, I now have only you to turn to.
I looked at her, and my eyes suddenly filled with tears. How could I,
who had no trust in myself, give her the comfort she needed?
I thought her a very unfortunate woman. (p. 241)

Evidence Senseis last words are very selfish as a man who

passionately proposed a woman.
So long as my wife is alive, I want you to keep everything I have told
90
you a secreteven after I myself am dead. (p.248)

The hidden truth of love in Kokoro

Evidence

It would be so nice if we had children.

Senseis wife said to me. Yes, wouldnt
it ? I answered. But I could feel no real
sympathy for her. At my age, children
seemed an unnecessary nuisance. (p. 17)
(translated by Ewin McClellan in 1957)

(

91

The hidden truth of love in Kokoro

both in retrospect and prospect
Evidence
It would be nice if we had children, you know, she
said, turning to me.
Yes, Im sure. I replied. But I felt no stir of
sympathy at her words. I was too young to have
children of my own and regarded them as no more
than noisy pets.
(P. 18. Translation by Meredith Mckinney in 2010)

(
92

Translation problem.
I, who did not have any children at that time,
thought they are an unnecessary nuisance.
(Kojis translation)
We can imagine from Japanese original sentence,
(not English translation by McClellan) that Watashi
who is writing this today seems to have children.
Whose children?
Well never have one of our own, you know, said
Sensei. Divine punishment, Sensei answered,
and laughed rather loudly (p.17)
(Can Watashi accept Senseis justification?)
93

Gender Romantic love Triangles caused by jealousy

in the Novel of Natsume Soseki
Kokoro (The heart, 1914)
Shizu Ojosan)

Sensei

94

Gender Romantic love Triangles caused by compsssion

in the Novel of Natsume Soseki
Kokoro

95

(1974 . p.153
1867 1900

1916
50
2
96
3

97