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Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) was a Japanese novelist. Born in Babashita, a town in the Edo region of Ushigome, Sōseki was the youngest of six children. Due to financial hardship, he was adopted by a childless couple who raised him from 1868 until their divorce eight years later, at which point Sōseki returned to his biological family. Educated in Tokyo, he took an interest in literature and went on to study English and Chinese Classics while at the Tokyo Imperial University. He started his career as a poet, publishing haiku with the help of his friend and fellow-writer Masaoka Shiki. In 1895, he found work as a teacher at a middle school in Shikoku, which would serve as inspiration for his popular novel Botchan (1906). In 1900, Sōseki was sent by the Japanese government to study at University College London. Later described as “the most unpleasant years in [his] life,” Sōseki’s time in London introduced him to British culture and earned him a position as a professor of English literature back in Tokyo. Recognized for such novels as Sanshirō (1908) and Kokoro (1914), Sōseki was a visionary artist whose deep commitment to the life of humanity has earned him praise from such figures as Haruki Murakami, who named Sōseki as his favorite writer.
