In Japanese, Kokoro literally translates to “heart,” but it can also mean something more vague. Like, the “heart of things” or just a “feeling.” I think that any one of these definitions work very well not just for Kokoro, but for the book itself.
I had to read this book for my Modern Japanese Literature class; the book itself represents a classic of the mid-Meiji era literature that was being written at the time. It is also written is an unusual way. Each chapter is only 2-3 pages at most, and with the book length being around 240 pages, there are over 100 chapters.
I really enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. (Spoilers) To give a quick plot summary, the book deals with an unnamed protagonist who is a college student in Tokyo, coming from a countryside family. While in Tokyo, he meets a middle-aged man that shall only be referred to as sensei. The protagonist takes quite a liking to sensei, and they quickly become friends. However, the name sensei is a bit misleading; the man is not a master in any field. In fact, he doesn’t work at all. In the first third of the novel, we get to see sensei and the protagonist’s relationship develop. We learn that sensei is mistrustful of all humans, that he thinks even good or normal humans have the capacity to be bad people, and in a sense, it is clear that he has given up on life.
In the second third of the novel, the protagonist graduates from college and has to quickly return home to the countryside because his father is deathly ill. I really enjoyed this part of the novel because the protagonist feels a great distance has been created between himself and his parents. After having spent so much time in Tokyo, he finds it very hard to relate to his parents and their country ways. This is something that I think many first generation immigrant children in America feel, and I thought the book portrayed this distance in the exact right way. Personally, having spent time both abroad and in New York, with most of my friends and family having spent most of their lives in Minnesota, I also understood very well.
In the last third of the novel, the protagonist receives a long letter from his sensei. In the letter, sensei tells him why he had given up on humanity and why he will kill himself once he finishes this letter. Sensei details that when he was a college student, both his parents died. His uncle took advantage of this situation and stole his parent’s considerable wealth, which was meant to go to him. Distraught, sensei vowed never to see his family again and move to Tokyo for studies. There, he rented out a room in a house owned by a widow and her young daughter. Eventually, all three of them became very close, and sensei ended up falling in love with the beautiful daughter. Sensei was incredibly paranoid of just about everyone, which is understandable, given how his close uncle cheated him out of money. But, by growing close to these two women, his faith in people is slowly restored. Around this time, sensei had a friend about his age that we shall call “K”. K was disowned from his family after they discovered he wasn’t actually studying to become a doctor. I can’t actually personally relate to that, but I’m sure that are a lot of Indian American kids who can. (lol) K was more interested in religion; all religion in fact. He had this very noble idea of spiritual piety that he wanted to uphold. However, since his family had disowned him, he had to work many part-time jobs to pay for school, and as a result, his mental health was deteriorating. Because of this, sensei asks K to move into the house with him and the two women. This was an act of extremely good faith; sensei wanted to help his friend.
K eventually warms up to the family, and he becomes close to the daughter as well. Sensei sees this closeness, and he becomes very jealous of K. Eventually K reveals to sensei that he is in love with the daughter and doesn’t know what to do with this feeling. Sensei is distraught by this, but he is too much of a coward to reveal his own love for the daughter. Instead, sensei tries to use K’s idea of spiritual piety against him, making him feel bad about being in love. And, sensei eventually goes behind K’s back and asks the widow for the daughter’s hand in marriage. Sensei doesn’t even have the guts to tell this to K, and K has to find this information out second hand through the widow.
A day later, K kills himself in the room right next to sensei’s. Sensei believes this is his fault, and he lives with this burden for the rest of his life. He realizes that when push came to shove, he was just as bad as his uncle. Like he told our protagonist earlier, most people are usually good or normal, but in any moment they can become someone bad. He wasn’t referring to his uncle. He was referring to himself. It’s no wonder to me that he can’t trust humanity, after knowing how he drove his friend to his suicide.
After finishing this letter to the protagonist, sensei decides to kill himself. He ended up marrying the daughter of the widow, and they lived together for 20 years, but he was never the same person. He was dead inside. The guilt he felt had overrun him, and he had become a shell of a man. A lonely person, isolated in a box that he created for himself. Unable to share this information with even his wife, sensei decides to give this account to the protagonist, so the memory does not die.
(End of Spoilers) Anyways, I really enjoyed this novel. The first third of it is a bit strange to be sure, but the last third of the novel feels like an unstoppable wave, building and building to the very end. We know the sensei has this guilt in him. We know that he feels dead to the world. And we know that he will kill himself by the end of the letter. But, as you learn more about his past and his relationship with K, you still feel so much sadness for the inevitable tragedy that is to come. I hope you guys take the time to read this book because not only is it an enjoyable narrative, but the prose is also beautiful. A classic example of Meiji-era literature.
Coc0na's Pure Illusion 