Natsume Sōseki’s novel “Kokoro” first saw the light in 1914 on the pages of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The work consists of three parts and includes one hundred and ten chapters. The central theme of the novel, indicated right in the title, is the inner world of a person—his “kokoro”—in an era of dramatic events that Japan experienced at the turn of the century and of formations.
In the author’s homeland, the novel is a true bestseller and has been adapted for film more than once.
“Kokoro / Heart” is one of the earliest and landmark works of modern Japanese literature translated into Russian. In 1935, a translation by academician N. I. Konrad was published, and in 1943—translations by S. Shakhmatov and H. Hirai. In both cases, the novel’s title was translated as “Heart.” In a third Russian translation, the novel’s title sounds like “Kokoro.”