Kokoro, by Soseki Natsume

Translated by Edwin McLellan

(1914, translated 2010)

Gateway Editions

(Novel)

Kokoro means “heart” or “the heart of the matter.” The novel addresses, among other issues, the transition of Japan and its culture from the Meiji to the modern period. Soseki’s work is composed of three parts: “Sensei and I,” “My Parents and I,” and “Sensei’s Testament.” In “Sensei and I,” the narrator, an unnamed college student, finds himself alone on vacation on a beach in Nakamura. He notices an older Japanese man in conversation with a foreigner. He becomes intrigued by the two, and continues to observe the Japanese man for several days after the foreigner leaves. Determining to strike up a conversation, the narrator follows the old man as he swims several hundred yards offshore and engages him in a brief chat that invigorates the youth. Over the course of their initial acquaintance, the young man begins addressing the older gentleman as “sensei.” At one point, the older gentleman tells the younger man that it is clear that he believes the boy is looking for a friend, and warns the young man that of all men, he cannot provide the honesty and commitment necessary to a human relationship; he will come to loathe Sensei, he will suffer greatly, and he will regret having come to know him. As reticent, cold, and closed off as Sensei is, the narrator is compelled to seek out his company and learn the nature of his character. He visits the home of Sensei on two occasions. In both instances, Sensei is absent, but in the second, the narrator meets Sensei’s wife, Ojosan, who confirms that Sensei does not have a job; they have some money, they live in a well-appointed home, and although he is a college graduate and a voluminous reader, he does nothing. As the years pass, Sensei gives the narrator excellent advice about his father’s health. He advises the young man to visit his father, who has kidney problems, and forget about Sensei. The narrator refuses to abandon the old man, insisting that he benefits from his discussions with Sensei. Repeatedly, the young man expresses his desire to learn the source of Sensei’s philosophy. What is the experience that shaped the old man’s vision of how to be in the world? Sensei promises that one day he will reveal the secrets of his life and explain also why, once a month, he visits the grave of an old associate.

In “My Parents and I,” the narrator visits his home and discovers that his father, who he assumed was in grave condition, appears to be making a recovery. He spends as much time as he can with his family. His father and mother are proud that their son has gone to college and look forward to their son’s graduation. They also hope that he will soon find a profitable job. The young man, however, has been a middling student. He feels like an impostor, and when he receives his diploma he feels no sense of accomplishment, only an overwhelming feeling that his parents will now desire that he get a well-paying job and begin to provide for his parents. The narrator bristles at any suggestion that he try to find a job. He claims he has no connections and points to the terrible economy as an excuse. His parents suggest that he write Sensei to ask if he has any advice or contacts. The request pains the young man. He tells them they can’t possibly know that such a request would humiliate him before Sensei, who thinks nothing of worldly matters. Nevertheless, he writes twice to Sensei. The young man receives no reply. He spends time with his father working in the garden and playing Go. His father takes a turn for the worse and thanks his son for giving him a gift he never felt worthy to receive: as an unschooled man, he had always wanted to live long enough to see a son of his graduate from college. They prepare for a graduation party for their son, but the celebration is postponed due to news of the illness of the Emperor. Soon after, the Emperor dies and the nation goes into mourning. Not long after, word comes that General Nogi Maresuke committed suicide to follow his Emperor in death. “Sensei’s Testimony” begins when the narrator receives a telegram urging him to come to Tokyo to see Sensei. The narrator writes back explaining his father’s condition. Shortly after, he receives a letter and a package containing a manuscript. The letter contains the ominous line “Before this letter reaches you, I will have already have left this world.” Terrified by the implications of these words, the narrator leaves his family and boards a train to Tokyo, reading the entirety of “Sensei’s Testimony” on the train. As promised, the packet contains the life story of the old man, in which he reveals his actions, his high ideals of truth and honesty, and his moral failings.

“Sensei lived in complete obscurity. Apart from myself, there was no one who knew of Sensei’s scholarship or his ideas. I often remarked to him that this was a great pity. But he would pay no attention to me. ‘There is no sense,’ he once said to me, ‘in such a person as myself expressing his thoughts in public.’ This remark struck me as being too modest, and I wondered whether it did not spring from a contempt of the outside world. Indeed, he was sometimes not above saying rather unkind things about those of his classmates who had since their graduation made names for themselves. This apparent inconsistency in his attitude, which was at once modest and contemptuous, I quite frankly pointed out to him once. I did not do this in a rebellious spirit. I simply regretted the fact that the world was indifferent to Sensei, whom I admired so much. In a very quiet voice, Sensei answered me: ‘You see, there is nothing we can do about it. I do not have the right to expect anything from the world.’ There was, as he said this, an expression on his face which affected me profoundly. I did not know whether what I saw was despair, regret, or grief. I had not the courage to say any more.”