Kokoro

Natsume Kin’nosuke, who wrote under the pen name Sōseki, was a prominent Japanese novelist and writer. Many of his works deal with the complex relationship between western and Japanese culture, and he is often considered the literary poster child of the Meiji era—his work portrays Japan’s emergence as a modern nation, and the cultural struggles that came with it. The sixth child of a powerful Japanese official, Sōseki was born unwanted in 1867. He was adopted in infancy by a childless couple, but he returned to his biological parents eight years later when the couple divorced. Sōseki’s early interest in literature was discouraged by his family, and when he entered the Tokyo Imperial University in 1884, he did so with the intention of becoming an architect. He kept taking literature classes, and in 1890 he joined the English Literature department. He married Nakane Kyōko in 1896 and in 1900 was was sent to Great Britain as “Japan’s first Japanese English literary scholar.” His time in Britain was miserable, however, as he spent most of his time inside studying. Returning to Japan in 1903, Sōseki assumed several high-profile university positions and began writing haikus and renkus for literary journals. However, it was not until the 1905 satirical novel, I Am a Cat, that Sōseki’s work was met with any public recognition. He wrote several other successful novels, including Botchan and Kusamakura, and in 1907 left his university position to write full time. Until his death in 1916, Sōseki wrote one novel a year, including Kokoro and the unfinished work Light and Darkness.

Kokoro is set in the final years of the Meiji Era, which ran from 1868 to 1912. Characterized by rapid industrialization and modernization, the Meiji Era saw Japan emerge as a modern nation, abandoning its feudal, shogunal roots in favor of western scientific, technological, philosophical, and political ideals. While these changes were welcomed by many as a necessary to bring Japan into the modern era and stymie the predations of western colonizers, they had profound effects on Japanese society, politics and culture. The initiative meant the creation of massive infrastructure projects like the railways, the implementation of the western political and educational systems, and the national adoption of western ideals like individualism. Many of these changes outwardly clashed with traditional Japanese values like community, loyalty, and familial duty, causing many Japanese to openly rebel, citing the corruption of Japan’s essential character and culture. Even those who did not openly oppose Japan’s modernization, like Soseki himself, struggled to integrate western ideals with existing Japanese ones. Like the fictional characters K and Sensei in Kokoro, this ideological confusion led many to feel socially alienated and confused, torn between modernity and tradition.

  The final novel of a trilogy, Kokoro shares many common themes with its predecessor, To the Spring Equinox and Beyond (1912) and The Wayfarer (1912). Specifically, To the Spring Equinox and Beyond deals with youth and education, while The Wayfarer, the story of an unhappy marriage, touches on themes of betrayal, distrust, and mental instability. Another recurring theme of Sōseki’s—which he also explores in Kokoro—is the impact of Meiji-era westernization and modernization on traditional Japanese culture. This theme is in present in novels Sanshirō and Botchan, each of which, like Kokoro, also revolve around a troubled, young protagonist. Outside of Soseki’s canon, Yasunari Kawabata’s novel Snow Country (1935–1937), also often draws comparison to Kokoro. Set in the Japanese countryside, the novel tells the story of a rich Tokyo man and his relationship with a provincial geisha and explores the relationship between the modern and the traditional, as well as the power of beauty. Jun’ichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters (1936) also shares many thematic overlaps with Kokoro. Set in Japan on the eve of World War II, the novel explores the clash between traditional Japanese culture and modernization through the perspective of four sisters as they navigate marriage and family dynamics in a rapidly transforming society.