Natsume Soseki

1867-1916

       Natsume Soseki was a novelist and English literary scholar in the Meiji and Taisho periods (about 1905-1916). He was born as the youngest of five sons and three daughters to Kohei Naokatsu Natsume Kohei Naokatsu and his wife, Chie, in the town of Babashita in the Ushigome region of Edo (present- day Shinjuku, Tokyo), where his father was the town head. His given name at birth was Kinnosuke. Placed in foster care immediately after his birth, he was adopted the following year by Shonosuke Shiobara Shonosuke, but he returned to the Natsume family in 1875 (and was reinstated in on the family register in 1888). After dropping out of First Tokyo First Middle School, he studied at Nisho Gakusha and Seiritsu Gakusha, and entered Tokyo Imperial University through a preparatory course, graduating with a degree in English (in 1893). While at prep school, he met Shiki Masaoka Shiki, from whom he learned much about haiku and Chinese poetry. He used the pen name Soseki for the first time in an essay for Shiki Masaoka Shiki's Nanakusa shu ("Collection of Seven Grasses"). He worked as an English teacher at Tokyo Higher Normal School, Matsuyama Middle School, and Kumamoto Fifth High School. After his transfer to Kumamoto in 1896, he married Kyoko, the eldest daughter of Shigekazu Nakane Shigekazu, the head secretary of the House of Peers. In 1900, Soseki was selected sent by the Ministry of Education to study in England, and. (he left in September of the same year.) He stayed in London until 1902, returning to Japan in January 1903. While Although his time abroad gave him the opportunity to study literary theory and compare Eastern and Western civilization, it also led to is also said to have sent him into a "nervous breakdown, it is said." After returning to Japan, he taught English literature as a lecturer at Daiichi First High School and Tokyo Imperial University. His These lectures are collected compiled in the books Bungaku ron ("The Criticism of Literature") and Bungaku hyoron ("Literary Criticism").

       His satirical portrayal of the world of a cat in Wagahai wa neko de aru ("I Am a Cat "), published in the literary journal Hototogisu in 1905 at the suggestion of haiku poet Kyoshi Takahama Kyoshi, caused a sensation. He and was followed this work with by Botchan, Kusamakura ("The Three-Cornered World"), and other popular works. In 1907, Soseki resigned from his position at Tokyo Imperial University to join the Asahi shimbun newspaper and devote himself to creative writing. Many of his novels, including Kojin ("The Wayfarer"), Kokoro ("Heart"), and Michikusa ("Grass on the Wayside") focused on the ethics and alienation of the modern intellectual. While writing his last major work, Meian (Light and Darkness), Soseki Natsume died of complications of chronic stomach ulcers while writing his last major work, Meian("Light and Darkness"). Upon In death, he was given the posthumous Buddhist name Bunken-in Kodo Soseki Koji and was is buried at Zoshigaya Cemetery in Toshima Ward-ku, Tokyo. In addition to the titles listed above, other major works of his include Gubijinso ("The Poppy"), Kofu ("The Miner"), Sanshiro, Mon ("The Gate"), and Higan sugi made ("To the Spring Equinox and Beyond"), and his short stories include as well as such short stories as Rondon-to ("The Tower of London") and Yume juya ("Ten Nights of Dreams"). Among his literary disciples were Toyotaka Komiya Toyotaka, Sohei Morita Sohei, Miekichi Suzuki Miekichi, Torahiko Terada Torahiko, Shigeo Iwanami Shigeo, Jiro Abe Jiro, Yoshishige Abe Yoshishige, Hyakken Uchida Hyakken, and Ryunosuke Akutagawa Ryunosuke, who would gather at Soseki's the Natsume house for what came to be called the "Thursday Meetings."