Kokoro
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Kokoro (心) is a novel by Natsume Soseki. It deals with the author's own feelings of the changes that modernity inflicted 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 and an older man he calls 'sensei'. 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 that in some way resonate with Sensei's own life, such as the ritual suicide by seppuku of General Nogi Maresuke and his wife following the death of the Meiji Emperor.