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K’s grave symbolizes Sensei’s secret, lifelong guilt over his role in his friend K’s suicide. As he explains in his letter to the narrator, he and K had fallen in love with the same girl, Ojosan, while at university together. Instead of confronting their shared romantic interest, Sensei goes behind K’s back to marry her. This betrayal, compounded by heartbreak and loneliness, ultimately drives K to suicide. Though K does not blame Sensei in his suicide note, Sensei is consumed by guilt, knowing the role he played in his friend’s death. His own history with his uncle’s betrayal—and the pain it caused him—makes this guilt all the more poignant; while Sensei once believed himself to be better than the rest of the world, he now sees that he is just as greedy, selfish, and sinful as everybody else.
Unable to escape the guilt from his betrayal of K, Sensei increasingly contemplates killing himself. Though he refrains from doing so, fearing the trauma it would cause Ojosan, he feels pulled towards death and resigns himself to living as though he were already dead. His weekly pilgrimage to K’s grave embodies this fatalistic liminality. Increasingly confident that he will end his life in the same fashion as K, Sensei’s graveyard visits serve as both a means of atonement, as well as an omen of where he himself is headed. As such, K’s grave embodies the destructive, gnawing power of guilt: Haunted by his role in his friend’s death and unable to fully face living with his guilt, Sensei already has one foot in the grave.
K’s Grave Quotes in Kokoro
The Kokoro quotes below all refer to the symbol of K’s Grave. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 3: Sensei and his Testament Quotes
Finally, I became aware of the possibility that K had experienced loneliness as terrible as mine, and wishing to escape quickly from it, had killed himself. Once more, fear gripped my heart. From then on, like a gust of winter wind, the premonition that I was treading the same path as K had done would rush at me from time to time, and chill me to the bone.
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Get the entire Kokoro LitChart as a printable PDF.
K’s Grave Symbol Timeline in Kokoro
The timeline below shows where the symbol K’s Grave appears in Kokoro. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Sensei and I
...the third attempt, the narrator meets Sensei’s wife, who informs him Sensei is visiting the grave of an old friend, a customary Sunday practice for him.
(full context)
...explains how he came to find him. Sensei inquires if his wife told him whose grave he visits, and the narrator says no. They leave the cemetery together and Sensei, reacting...
(full context)
...the narrator occasionally sees a shadow cross his face. The narrator asks to visit the grave with Sensei, but Sensei refuses, saying it is a serious matter and not even his...
(full context)
...it. Sensei apologizes, then he asks if the narrator knows why he visits his friend’s grave. The narrator says nothing, and Sensei apologizes again. He concludes by saying that there is...
(full context)
...outlook. He dismisses the possibility of marital conflict and contemplates the significance of the mysterious grave. Granted another opportunity to speak privately to Sensei’s wife, the narrator inquiries about their relationship....
(full context)
Part 3: Sensei and his Testament
...finds his uncle’s treatment of him has changed, becoming cold and unkind. Visiting his parents’ grave, he experiences an epiphany, which he attributes to his parents: just as a teenager suddenly...
(full context)
...a dark shadow looms over him. After the wedding, Ojosan asks Sensei to visit K’s grave together. They do, but Sensei vows never to do so again. Despite his hopes that...
(full context)
