Kokoro

Natsume Soseki's novel Kokoro deals with the author's own feelings of the changes that modernity is inflicting on Japanese Meiji society.

Kokoro literally means 'heart' and can be translated as 'the heart of things' or 'feeling'. The book explores the friendship between a young man (written in first person) and an older man he calls 'sensei' (literally, teacher). Sensei has some long hidden secrets about the history of the relationship with his wife and the grave of a friend which he visits mysteriously. The story occurs against the backdrop of real historical events such as the suicide of General Nogi Maresuke that in some way resonate with Sensei's own life.