Kokoro

Plot

Part I: "Sensei and I"

The narrator has been left on his own in Kamakura after his friend, who invited him to vacation there, is called home by his family. One day, after finishing his usual swim in the sea, he takes notice of a man in the changing house who is being accompanied by a foreign guest, preparing to head for the water. He sees the same man each day thereafter, though no longer with his foreign companion. After some days, he finds an occasion to make the man's acquaintance. As they grow closer, he comes to refer to the man as “Sensei.”

On parting in Kamakura, as Sensei prepares to return home to Tokyo, the narrator asks if he can call on Sensei at his home sometime. He receives an affirmative, though less enthusiastic than hoped for, response. Several weeks after his own return to Tokyo, he makes an initial visit, only to find Sensei away. On his next visit, when he again finds Sensei away, he learns from Sensei's wife that Sensei makes monthly visits to the gravesite of a friend.

Over subsequent months and years, through periodic visits, the narrator comes to know Sensei and his wife quite well. At the same time, Sensei insists on maintaining a certain distance. He refuses to talk of his deceased friend and is reluctant to explain his own reclusion and lack of occupation. He also cautions the narrator that intimacy and admiration will only lead to disillusionment and disdain. However, he does promise that one day, when the time is right, he will divulge in full the story of his past.

Part II: "My Parents and I"

The narrator returns home to the country after graduation. His father, who had been in ill health, enjoys a respite from his illness. They set a date for a graduation celebration, only to have their plans put on hold by news of Emperor Meiji falling ill. As the weeks go by, the narrator's father gradually loses his vigor and becomes bedridden. From his bed, he follows the papers as the Emperor declines and eventually dies.

After the Emperor's passing, the narrator is pressured by his mother to secure employment to put his father at ease. At the same time, his father's condition holds him close to home in the country. At his mother's urging, he writes to Sensei to request assistance in finding a position in Tokyo. While not expecting any favorable response on the matter of employment, he does at least expect some reply and is disappointed when none arrives. Summer wears on, and the rest of the family is summoned home in anticipation of the father's final hour. All are moved when news comes of the suicide (junshi) of General Maresuke Nogi, who takes his own life to follow his Emperor in death.

Shortly thereafter, a telegram from Sensei arrives, summoning the narrator to Tokyo. Unable to leave his father, the narrator refuses Sensei's request, first by telegram and then by a letter detailing his situation. Some days later, a thick letter arrives by registered mail from Sensei. Stealing away from his father's bedside, the narrator opens the letter to find it's the previously promised accounting of Sensei's past. Leafing through the pages, a line near the end catches his eye: "By the time this letter reaches you, I'll be gone from this world. I'll have already passed away."

Rushing to the station, the narrator boards the first train for Tokyo. Once on board, he takes out Sensei's letter and reads it through from the start.

Part III: "Sensei's Testament"

The narrator reads Sensei's letter on the train toward Tokyo. Sensei begins by explaining his reticence over the summer as he wrestled with the problem of his own continued existence. He then explains the motivation for his current actions. The remainder of the letter is an accounting of Sensei's life.

Sensei grows up in the countryside and loses both of his parents to illness while still in his late teens. As an only child, he inherits the family's considerable wealth, which his uncle steps in to help manage during the years over which, as previously planned, he pursues his education in Tokyo. Each summer Sensei returns to his home, where his uncle suggests that he should marry soon and establish himself in the community as the family heir, but Sensei, uninterested yet in marriage, declines. Eventually it comes to light that the uncle's businesses are struggling, and much of Sensei's wealth has been poured into losing ventures. Sensei salvages what remains, arranges for the sale of his house and possessions, visits his parents' gravesite one last time, and turns his back on his home town, severing all ties with his relations.

Back at his studies in Tokyo, Sensei decides to trade his boisterous student lodgings for calmer quarters. He hears of a widow looking to take in a boarder, and is accepted after a brief interview. The household is quiet, with just the widow, her daughter, and a maidservant. Sensei is smitten with the daughter at first sight, but at the same time the deceit of his uncle has left him generally distrustful. After some time, he thinks to ask the widow, who treats him as family, for her daughter's hand, but still holds back for fear that the women are playing him just as his uncle had.

Sensei has a friend and classmate from the same hometown, whom he refers to simply as K.[a] K is the son of a Buddhist priest, but was adopted by the family of a prominent local physician who funds his study of medicine in Tokyo. Contrary to their wishes, K pursues his own passions of religion and philosophy, and is disowned as a result. Sensei feels some obligation to assist his friend, who is struggling to maintain an aggressive course of study while at the same time supporting himself. With the widow's approval, Sensei convinces K to join him as a second boarder, arguing that K's presence there will serve toward his own spiritual betterment. After a while, K warms to his new surroundings and grows more sociable. Sensei is pleased with the improvement he's worked in his friend's demeanor but also begins to see K as a rival for the daughter's affection. During a walking tour he and K set out together on the Boshu peninsula, Sensei is tormented by suspicions, wondering if K might not have his eye on the daughter and fearing that the daughter may in fact favor K. He longs to divulge to K his feelings for the daughter, but he lacks the courage to do so.

Autumn comes and classes begin again. Sensei returns home at times to find K and the daughter conversing amiably, and he worries they're growing close. He thinks again to ask the widow for her daughter's hand, but again holds back, this time for fear that K holds the daughter's affection. K finally confesses his love for the daughter to Sensei. Sensei, shocked and dismayed, is unable to muster a response. In the days that follow, K confides in Sensei that he is torn between his long-held ideals and his newfound passion. Sensing K's vulnerability, and at the same time seeking to serve his own interest, Sensei reminds K of his own words on discipline and servitude to a cause. K withdraws into reticence. Sensei fears that K is preparing to shift his life's course out of love for the daughter. After confirming that K has not yet approached her, Sensei asks the widow for her daughter's hand. She acquiesces, and the matter is easily settled. That same day, the widow talks to her daughter. Only K remains unaware of the arrangements until he learns of these from the widow. She scolds Sensei for leaving his friend in the dark. Sensei resolves to talk with K the next morning, but during the night, K takes his own life. K leaves behind a note, but absent is the rebuke that Sensei dreads. K's feelings for the daughter, along with Sensei's betrayal of his friend's trust, will remain a secret.

Sensei notifies K's family and arranges K's burial in the nearby Zōshigaya Cemetery with the family's approval. Shortly after, Sensei and the ladies relocate to a new house. Sensei finishes his studies, and half a year later weds the daughter. Sensei makes monthly pilgrimages to K's grave. His betrayal of K, and K's death, continue to cast a shadow over his married life, yet he remains unable to burden his wife with his secret. Having lost faith in humanity in general, and now in his own self, Sensei withdraws from the world to lead an idle life. As the years pass and he reflects further on K, he comes to realize that K's suicide was less about lost love and more about alienation and disappointment in oneself. Sensei feels himself drawn, more and more, to follow K's path. With the ending of the Meiji era and the passing of General Nogi, Sensei decides that he's outlived his time and must part from the world. His final request to the narrator is that his wife never know his story, and that it be held private until after she's gone.


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