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Natsume Sōseki: 19 works in the original Japanese, with translation

Natsume Sōseki (9 February 1867 – 9 December 1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke, was a Japanese novelist, poet, and scholar regarded as one of the greatest writers in modern Japanese history. His major works include I Am a Cat, Botchan, Sanshirō, Kokoro, and his unfinished final novel Light and Dark.

Works in the library

Cultural notes (selection)

書生 I Am a Cat

In the Meiji period, a shosei was a young man who lodged in someone else's household, doing odd jobs while pursuing his studies—often a poor student. The cat's claim that shosei 'boil and eat cats' plays on exaggerated popular rumours about them at the time, used here for comic effect.

四つ目垣 Botchan

A type of traditional Japanese bamboo fence, woven from bamboo in a crisscross pattern that forms square grids, hence the name. It was often used as a simple enclosure for gardens and vegetable plots, and plants could climb on it.

掛茶屋 Kokoro

A simple tea shed temporarily set up on the beach, where seawater bathers could rest, leave their belongings, and change clothes. In the Meiji period, when seawater bathing was popular, the Kamakura coast had no proper changing facilities, and holidaymakers generally relied on such communal tea houses.

蛸薬師のそばで玩具を買って Sanshiro

Tako-Yakushi is a street name in Kyoto, named after the Tako-Yakushi temple hall on that street.