Kokoro

A story of hidden motives and desires! it reminds me of Wurthering Heights told in a Japanese way. Highly recommend this book!

This is a review specifically of the hardcover Mint Editions publication of 'Kokoro.' I love Soseki's writing. The theme of this novel examines the casualties of the rapid Westernization of Japan, an oft underrepresented facet of the Japanese experience, which in the eyes of foreigners is so often buried beneath contemporary pop culture references. I relate to this story even today--of experiencing the feeling of falling through the cracks, getting left behind, and living in a world in which there is no place for me. Some things about the Mint Editions book: 1. I noticed that this translation is different to the Edwin McClellan translation. It was a pleasant surprise to find that I actually prefer this translation, which preserves the meaning and simplicity of the original text but also finds a way to be quietly lyrical with its content. 2. Oddly, the translator was not credited anywhere in the book. In fact, there was very little publication information. Another oddity was that each break in the text was presented as a new chapter, so the book was divided into many short chapters and not just into the three main parts. This isn't necessarily a problem, though, and if you are reader who likes to take frequent breaks from the text, it may actually be a draw. 3. The binding is simple but feels sturdy. The cover is attractive and not overwhelming. 4. The only reason I take off a star is because it could have used one more pass over by a copywriter. There are typos that begin partway through the text and then continue to appear with some frequency. Some of these typos interfere with understanding the text. There was also a small translation inconsistency in the early chapters, which is easy enough to overlook but still something I noticed as a fellow Japanese-English translator. Overall, this novel has my full recommendation, and this Mint Editions publication, in spite of the caveats listed above, has my recommendation as well.

If you don't know this novel or it's author, Natsume Soseki, then read this tremendous novel. Soseki was born in Tokyo in 1867, one year before Japan entered the Meiji period. He is considered to be the first "modern" Japanese novelist. What does this mean? In his forward to another Soseki novel, SANSHIRO, the author Haruki Murakami writes: "Most of his protagonists face real-life contradictions. They experience anguish over how they ought to live, and are confronted with real-life decisions that are being forced upon them. They struggle earnestly to find where they stand amid the competing demands of the pre-modern and the modern, between love and morality, between the West and Japan." The novel focuses on the relationship between two men: one older and one recently graduated from university, making his way in the world for the first time. Sensei, as the younger man refers to his older friend, is a product of a different time. And unlike his older friend, the younger man is entering a period of Japanese ascension towards a more modern way of living. How riveting is this novel, and how masterful a storyteller is Soseki? Consider this: more than half the novel, a full half, is in the form of a letter from one party to another. And for the entire time I read this riveting epistolary portion of the novel, I could not move except to delve further. I could barely take a breath again until I reached it's end. A masterpiece of writing from a masterful storyteller......

Interesting to read early-ish Japanese literature. This guy is a predecessor of Murakami and others of this generation. The writing (and translation)is certainly absorbing and the cultural aspects of early 20th century Japan well conveyed. The attitude to women is very telling and so too the male need to stay emotionally locked up. Indeed it is already better to commit suicide than to reveal a troubled soul. Reflections of a profoundly flawed society....and one wonders how much it has changed. Witness failed businessmen flagellating themselves and the ultimate refusal to admit fallibility at Fukushima. All very interesting.

Kokoro is Soseki Natume’s novel of masterpiece. It looks just like the deep work of the Jodo-Shinshu sect of Buddhism that is the teaching of Japanese famous Shinran. It seems to be written about the theme of evil which human beings have. I as narrator first met respectful Sensei in Kamakura. Sensei has no job and seems to have deep philosophy. And he seems to have deep distress. I as narrator is a student and young. Therefore the young narrator has not his own thought and has little experience . Therefore Sensei may seem to be attractive. He has a beautiful wife and no children. When they started to talk the subject of children, Sensei said that we shall have no children because we received suitable punishment. And he visits the Zoshigaya grave regularly. When I as narrator get interested in it and inquired, Sensei answered that it is his good friend grave. Afterwards Sensei leaves his last will and testament, and commits suicide . Next sentence is the passage from his will. 【You can imagine my amazement when K launched into a ponderous confession of his agonized love for Ojosan. I froze, as if his words were a magic wand that turned me instantly to stone. My mouth failed to so much as twitch in an effort to respond. My whole being was reduced to a single concentrated point---of terror, of pain. I stiffened instantaneously from head to foot, like stone or steel. So rigid was I that I almost lost the power of breath. Luckily, however, this state quickly passed. A moment later I had returned to human feelings. And now a bitter regret swept over me. He had beaten me to it. I had no idea what my next move should be, however, I was too distressed, I suppose, to think coherently. I simply remained frozen, uncomfortably aware of the nasty sweat that was soaking the armpits of my shirt. K, meanwhile, was continuing the faltering confession of his love, pausing from time to grope for words. I was in agony. My distress must have been written on my face as blatantly as some advertising poster, I thought. Even K must surely notice it. But it seemed in fact that his attention was too deeply focused on himself to register my expression. His confession never varied in tone. There was a heavy dullness to it, it seemed to me, and a kind of unyielding inertia. While part of me listened to this faltering declaration, my heart was seething with the question What shall I do, oh, What shall I do? so that I scarecely comprehended the details of what K was saying. The overall tone of his words , however, struck me to to the core. So my pain was now mixed with a kind of terror—the beginnings of a horrified recognition that he was stronger than I. When K finished, I could say nothing. I was not struck dumb by any internal debate about whether it would be wiser to make the same confession to him or to keep my secret to myself. It was simply that I could not speak. Nor did I wish to. At lunch K and I faced each other across the table. Served by the maid, we ate what seemed to me an unusually tasteless meal. We spoke barely a word during the meal. We had no idea when Okusan and Ojosan would return. 】

it is amazing that the author managed to deliver such acute description of human heart in the mere 240 pages. The plot is very simple a chance encounter at the beach, then a friendship is formed , followed by the account of a love triangle which shaped the main character's destiny. Halfway through the book, I was almost gonna to abandon it because I could not see why the death of a ruler would prompt the suicide of ordinary people. However, I think it is the essence the author was trying to convey and to me it is all clear when he described the reason K san took his own life besides the failed romantic prospects. and you don't need to be well versed in Japanese culture to fully appreciate it.

Reading this today in 2026, the book still stands well, giving me a fairly clear picture of the Meiji era. I keep imagining old narrow streets in Tokyo where they walked, and wanting to experience myself. Very sad story that will hang with me for a long time.

Whether it is the original writing or what seems to be an extraordinary translation, this book's prose is a joy to read. The succinct yet powerful sentences, the very short chapters, the matter-of-fact way in which it's written are all wonderful. Other reviewers have gone into great details of the plot; I won't for various reasons, but while it's eminently readable and easy to follow, the denouement strikes me as so classically Japanese as to be alien to our culture. The sensei who is the subject of the book commits what he believes to be an unforgivable act and spends the rest of his life atoning for it -- though "atoning" is not quite the right word; maybe it's clearer to say he spends the rest of his life feeling guilty about it and -- almost -- doesn't do anything about it. I found that part of it a bit hard to accept, but that is probably more a statement of the cultural differences between early 20th Century Japan and 21st Century America than it is about a failing of the book.

Gran novela. Natsume Soseki es uno de los grandes maestros de la literatura japonesa. Y Kokoro es una de sus cimas mas elevadas. La delicada introspeccion de los personajes de esta obra cumbre, en realidad son el alma i el espiritu de Soseki al desnudo. Todo un universo de sensaciones animicas resumen toda una cultura y una forma de sentir la vida y la muerte. Magistral.

Wonderful story, japanese of course, nicely written and quite fascinating and rather sad..the relationships between people of all genders in Japan , the family secrets.. life and death often through suicide. A beautiful story

It may be me but I think this translator assumes to much of me and I feel like I am missing the gist.

Beautiful yet tragic, a must read classic

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