#natsumesoseki — Public Fediverse posts

はいく

すみれほどなちいさきひとにうまれたし。

#haiku #natsumesoseki #sosekinatsume

Quote of the day by Natsume Soseki: ‘I believe that words uttered in passion contain a greater living…’ – Japanese literary giant on the power of emotion

A thought can be crafted in a very precise, neat and logical way. Yet sometimes, it is the…
#EuropeSays #Japan #JP #humanemotions #intellectvsemotion #Japanese #Japaneseliterature #Kokoro #literaryquotes #modernJapanesenovelist #NatsumeSoseki #powerofemotion
https://www.europesays.com/japan/90671/

Book of da Month: I Am a Cat (Volume 1) by Natsume Sōseki 🐈‍⬛

I Am a Cat (吾輩は猫である—Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) was published in 1905, a satirical novel by Japanese poet, novelist, and scholar Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916).

Told from the perspective of a feline narrator, the once stray kitten is adopted into the home of an upper-middle-class family. The cat observes the world around it, lampooning the Meiji-era society as it preens itself, and presenting playful mockery for all ages. Meow indeed.

Satire and Self-Importance in I Am a Cat (Volume 1)

“Living as I do with human beings, the more that I observe them, the more I am forced to conclude that they are selfish.”

It’s a fun idea, to mock human society from the perspective of a cat. The animals that have little respect for the things we take so seriously. It’s also now an intriguing historical record on the Meiji period (1868-1912) of Japan.

From the same era, over in Victorian era England, Edwin A. Abbott penned the novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884). It shows how long satire has played on creative minds, anyway, even if Abbott’s work is better.

A key difference is I Am a Cat is a long book. You can but it in three volumes, or 10 instalments, so it’s worth flagging up why the concept ended up so protracted. The 2025 edition we picked up has a new translation by Nick Bradley. In his introduction, he notes:

“What eventually became the novel I Am a Cat originally began as a short story published in 1905 in the literary magazine Hototogisu (the Japanese word for ‘cuckoo’). The story, when it was published, was so incredibly popular that Sōseki, similar to Conan Doyle and his popular Sherlock Holmes character, found himself pressured by the Japanese reading public into writing more stories from the perspective of his feline narrator.”

Intended as a one-off novella, then, but commercial pressure mounted and the writer was compelled to do more.

Despite its title, I Am a Cat isn’t entirely from the perspective of a feline. As it does cut quite regularly to conversations between citizens, such as Mr. Sneaze and his fast-talking friend Waverhouse. These are set alongside biting witticisms from the cat, notably on Japan’s modernisation and a greater focus on individualism.

“In the old days, a man was taught to forget himself. Today it is quite different: he is taught not to forget himself and he accordingly spends his days and nights in endless self-regard. Who can possibly know peace in such an eternally burning hell? The apparent realities of this awful world, even the beast lines of being, are all symptoms of that sickness for which the only cure lies in learning to forget the self.”

And then there’s the cat stuff like this.

“Had I the time to keep a diary, I’d use that time to better effect; sleeping on the veranda.”

These philosophical musings continue at a slow pace, playing out over 500 pages if you want to read the full collection, so we generally found the book better to leaf through and pick random pages to enjoy. As the book is very much of its time, marketed now as an obscure delight for readers to discover, but it won’t be quite what some want (we saw many online reviews claiming the work is “boring”).

Ironically, that kind of plays into what Natsume Sōseki was intending for I Am a Cat. The entitlement and fussiness of the human condition.

“Artfulness, uncharitableness, self-defensive wariness: these are the fruits of worldly learning. The penalty of age is this rather ugly knowingness. Which would seem to explain why one never finds among the old a single decent person. They know too much to see things straight, to feel things cleanly, to act without compromise.”

To heighten the sense of casual mockery, Sōseki used a high-register writing style. As in, it’s quite pretentious and full of grand-scale big old words to look all clever. That decision was to poke fun at Japanese higher society.

That begins with the very title of Wagahai wa Neko de Aru.

Wagahai is now classed as a really pompous pronoun to use, along the lines of those people who use “one” or “oneself”. It’s now associated with aristocratic behaviour. Basically, its use implies the user of the term considers themself to be superior to all around them.

A great little bit of nuance there that can easily get lost in translation.

However, as we’ve flagged, it is very much a book of its time. From what we’ve seen, readers claim each book from the 10 initial instalments can be read as a standalone work. Which is good, as we wouldn’t want to go through 500+ pages of this stuff.

Japan’s obsession with cats, alongside the classics status of Sōseki’s work (it’s a frequent one to read in Japanese schools), mean it’s played its way into Nippon’s public conscience.

But in the West with this new release, its cultural impact won’t be the same as that longstanding reverence isn’t established. Regardless, we find it a historical marvel and an important work of Japanese literature. In that sense, it’s worth having in your collection (and showing to your cat).

Natsume Soseki’s belief that true expression transcends literal wording supports the point that AI handling translation frees people to create rather than convert language. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/02/25/japan/sorry-soseki-i-wish-we-had-ai-translation-aeons-ago/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #natsumesoseki #guntergrass #artificialintelligence #translations #books #writing

レジで3000円のお釣りをもらった⇨千円紙幣が「OB会」で凄かった。「上から順にノーマル、レア、スーパーレアですね」
https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/story_jp_68da2efee4b0a3d9991e086b

#huffingtonpost #アートとカルチャー #ネットで話題 #北里柴三郎 #千円札 #野口英世 #夏目漱石 #nettodewadai #kitazatoshibasaburo #senensatsu #noguchihideyo #natsumesoseki

Now reading:

漱石の家計簿
(そうせきのかけいぼ)
2018

by

山本芳明
(やまもと よしあき, Yamamoto Yoshiaki)

#Japanese #literature #nonfiction #books #natsumesoseki #bookstodon #日本語 #日本文学 #読書 #夏目漱石

Natsume Sōseki: The Three-Cornered World
(japanista englanniksi kääntänyt Alan Turney)

Toinen #JapanilainenKirja toukokuun #AvoinLukupiiri -teemaan.

Kirja minäkertoja on taiteilija, joka lähtee vaeltamaan vuorille ilmeisesti tavoittaakseen aitoja luontokokemuksia taiteensa lähteeksi. Hän päätyy kaatosateessa pieneen kylään ja kohtaa siellä salaperäisen naisen, jota kyläläiset tuntuvat pitävän hieman hulluna. Nainen näyttäytyy taiteilijalle aina yllättäen ja erikoisissa tilanteissa. Näiden juonta eteenpäin vievien kohtaamisten välillä taiteilija enimmäkseen pohdiskelee filosofisesti luonnon ja taiteen olemusta, ja suurin osa kirjasta onkin tätä jaarittelua.

Kirja on kirjoitettu jo 1906. Siihen nähden varsinkin naishahmo oli kiinnostavan moderni: hän oli eronnut aviomiehestään ja palannut isänsä kylään, mutta vaikutti elävän varsin itsenäistä elämää ja laukoi rohkeasti mielipiteitään asiasta kuin asiasta. Taiteilija sen sijaan oli ärsyttävä wannabe-miesnero, joka oli niin taiteilijuutensa lumoissa, ettei vaikuttanut tajuavan käytännön maailmasta mitään.

Minun makuuni kirja oli liian filosofinen ja hidastempoinen, vaikka taiteilijan pohdinnoissa oli välillä kyllä ihan kiinnostavia, kauniita tai hauskojakin ajatelmia. Mysteerinaisen rooli jäi tarinassa harmillisen pieneksi, hänestä olisin halunnut tietää enemmän.

#luettua #kirjafedi #kirjamastodon #kirjat #lukeminen #thethreecorneredworld #natsumesoseki

#vendredilecture avec le premier roman de #NatsumeSōseki #夏目漱石, « 吾輩は猫である » (Je suis un chat) de 1905, publié deux ans après le retour de ses études à Londres où il s’était si profondément ennuyé qu’il précipitait sa rentrée à Tōkyō. Je lis la traduction allemande de #OttoPutz de 1996, « Ich, der Kater », qui rend – mieux que celle en français de #JeanCholley – très fidèlement le ton hautain du chat narrateur, plus intelligent et raffiné que ces incultes humains et félins autour de lui, et certainement pas moins arrogant qu’eux car tous les personnages du roman ont une opinion grandement exagérée d’eux-mêmes et très peu de considération pour autrui. 1/3

Natsume Sōseki's (夏目漱石) 'Gubijinsō' (虞美人草 'The Poppy'), published in 1907, helped to popularise the Hozugawa Kudari (保津川下り).

In Natsume's story a young couple buys their tickets for Tanba, getting off at Kameoka, where the boatsmen would wait for their guests.

#NatsumeSoseki #Japan #Arashiyama #Kyoto

Petruccio might wish he could read, but I'm sure he knows everything in that book.

#CatsOfMastodon #Cat #JapaneseLiterature #NatsumeSoseki #IAmACat

Tomar café en Tokio significa muchas cosas. Es un lugar de silencio y de trabajo. Algunos duermen, otros estudian. Y uno debe interpretar todo el rato los rostros de la gente. De alguna manera, tenemos que leer todo el rato. ¿Cómo influye la jerarquía en la forma en que nos expresamos?https://silviazuletaromano.com/japon/en-tokio-se-lee-en-todos-lados/ #japon #natsumesoseki #literaturajaponesa #haiku #basho

Combined my Sunday Run with a little Soseki pilgrimage
#夏目漱石 #Soseki #NatsumeSoseki #ランニング #Running #SundayRun #日曜日のランニング

Un 9 de diciembre
de hace 107 años muere,
🖋️ #NatsumeSōseki (1867-1916)
Un gran escritor japonés que ha calado en occidente.
@satorilibros editorial especializada en #Litertura japonesa, le dedica una cuidada sección, con ediciones maravillosas:
VER 👉 https://t.co/QDdf8woz4k

Un 9 de diciembre
muere con 49 años
🖋️ #NatsumeSōseki (1867-1916)
Influyente poeta y narrador.
Necesario clásico moderno
de la #Literatura japonesa.
Por suerte, su obra, está muy bien atendida en castellano.
Sugiero visitar la biblioteca
de @edimpedimenta
👉 https://t.co/h4s6Q7853n

Well now I have seen everything. I did not expect a manga version...

Soseki Natsume's I Am A Cat: The Manga Edition: The tale of a cat with no name but great wisdom!

eBook : Natsume, Soseki, Kobato, Chiroru, Davisson, Zack:

Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09298KVTB

#Japan #JapaneseCulture #JapaneseTranslation #Translation #Literature #Manga #NatsumeSoseki