Humble clerk Sosuke and his wife Oyone live in a modest house at the bottom of a cliff. Oyone was once married to another man - now her adultery seems to hang over their marriage like a curse. Despite multiple pregnancies, they have no living children; and Sosuke, born into an affluent family, finds his income growing ever smaller. They are left with little besides each other, and a beautiful painted screen as a souvenir of better days.Then a series of crises rocks their shabby but harmonious domestic existence. Sosuke's wastrel brother moves in with them; they find themselves forced to sell the screen to buy winter shoes; and Oyone's ex-husband is rumoured to be visiting a wealthy neighbour at the top of the cliff. Beset by reminders of his flaws and failures, Sosuke runs away to a temple, hoping to escape into enlightenment. But can he learn what the monks have to teach him? Will he return to Oyone changed - or not at all? One of the great works of the literature of indecision, this is also one of the founding texts of modern Japanese letters.



Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) was one of Japan's most prominent novelists of the Meiji Era. After studying in England on a government scholarship, Soseki taught English literature at Tokyo University, but the immense success of his satirical novel I Am a Cat led to his own career as a writer. A highly influential figure viewed as the father of modern Japanese letters, from 1984 until 2004 his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1,000-yen note. Pushkin Press publish several of his major novels, including Kokoro and The Three-Cornered World.