K, who comes from a family of Buddhist priests, is adopted by a physician’s family that sponsors his education so that he can become a respected physician himself. This hereditary shift from spiritual to material concerns reflects that of Japanese society at-large. K clings to his spiritual beliefs and interests and refuses to study medicine. Indeed, Japanese literary critic Oketani Hideaki has described K as “a symbol of the traditional Japan.” (Fukuchi 470)
As a result of him sticking to his values and passions, K is disowned by his adoptive family and scorned by his birth family. K is thus without any family and Sensei is his only friend. However, as we see on their summer vacation and visit to a Buddhist temple, Sensei is more concerned with romance and K’s status as his competitor than truly understanding K himself and his spiritual inclinations. Even the Buddhist priest with whom K speaks cannot understand K’s spiritual interest in Nichiren, and can only provide him with one of his nicknames instead.
We can see that K is rejected and isolated due to his beliefs at every turn, and so upon returning to Tokyo, K begins to open up to Ojosan and falls in love with her; in a way, this reflects K’s attempt to assert his individualism, take part in modern Japan and reject his prior belief in “the true way”, which “necessitated not merely restraint of appetite, but total abstinence.” (Sōseki 215) Yet his closest and only friend, Sensei, places the straw that breaks the camel’s back with a cruel response that parrots a statement K had previously made: “Anyone who has no spiritual aspirations is an idiot.” (Sōseki 215)
K learns that him and his spirituality have no place in modern Japan, and yet Sensei essentially rejects K’s attempt to abandon his spiritual beliefs in favor of modern trends. Faced with Sensei’s betrayal, K kills himself to escape from the isolation he faces at every turn.
As Ericson states, “Modernization in the material sphere had not been accompanied by a parallel development of values.” Sōseki’s depiction of K being driven to suicide severely criticizes Japan’s modernization (specifically, its loss of spirituality). Yet Sōseki is also resigned to the inevitability of this loneliness, given the emergence of individualism in modern Japan (of which he is a fervent proponent):
“Herein lies the loneliness of individualism. Before he will take a stand based on what others are doing, the individualist chooses a course of action based on the merits of the case. Sometimes, as a result, he will find himself quite alone. He will miss the comfort of having allies. And that is as it should be: even matchsticks feel secure in a bundle.” (Rubin & Sōseki 43)
In my next blog post, “Isolation in Modern Japan - Sensei and Narrator”, I’ll explore how Sōseki criticizes modernization by depicting betrayal among family members and friends.