Natsume Soseki | The Gate

9781805332510

02/07/26

PB

Translated by Francis Mathy

‘Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature’ Haruki Murakami

‘A sensitive, skilfully written novel by the most widely read Japanese author of modern times’ Guardian

‘Soseki’s prose is so delicate that each page is like looking at a set of dreamy watercolours’ Telegraph

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 the couple’s marriage like a curse. Despite multiple pregnancies, they have no living children; and once affluent, Sosuke finds his income growing ever smaller. They are left with little besides each other and a beautiful painted screen to remind them of better days.

Then a series of crises rocks this shabby but harmonious domestic existence. Sosuke’s wastrel brother moves in; the couple 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 – at all? One of the great works of the literature of indecision, this is also one of the founding texts of modern Japanese letters.