Kokoro: Natsume Sōseki's Tokyo and Kamakura

Kokoro begins by the sea. A young student, left alone at Kamakura after the friend who invited him is called home, swims every day and notices a man in the changing house. The novel states it plainly: they first met at Kamakura. Their friendship starts on this beach in summer, and when they part, the narrator asks if he can visit Sensei's home in Tokyo. The book does not name a stretch of sand, so the pin marks Yuigahama, the main beach of Kamakura.

場所の精度: The novel names only Kamakura, not a particular beach; the pin marks Yuigahama.

訪問のヒント: Yuigahama is the beach at Kamakura where the pin sits; the book does not say which stretch of sand.

The narrator keeps calling on Sensei in Tokyo and learns that on the same day every month Sensei goes out to visit a friend's grave. Only in his long letter does the reader learn that the friend is K, whose burial he arranged "in the nearby Zōshigaya Cemetery". Natsume Sōseki chose this real public cemetery, founded in 1874, for K before he was buried there himself. It is a nonsectarian cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo.

訪問のヒント: Zōshigaya Cemetery is a public cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo.

Back in Tokyo, the narrator goes with Sensei to Ueno at cherry-blossom time. Ueno Park, opened in 1873 on land that once belonged to the Kan'ei-ji temple, has about 800 cherry trees in the park itself.

訪問のヒント: Ueno Park is a public park in Tokyo; the book places the visit at blossom time.

In Part II the narrator's father lies dying in the countryside, reading the newspapers as the Meiji Emperor declines. Then comes news that General Nogi has taken his own life to follow his Emperor in death. Nogi and his wife died on 13 September 1912 at their home in Akasaka. Nogi Shrine now stands on the site of the house, a one-minute walk from Nogizaka Station; the current shrine was built in 1962.

訪問のヒント: Nogi Shrine is a one-minute walk from Nogizaka Station (Chiyoda Line, exit 1).

In his letter Sensei tells how he left his noisy lodgings and moved to Koishikawa, where a widow's quiet household took him in, and where he persuaded his friend K to join him as a second boarder. Later he took K on a walk that circled along the road by the botanical garden. The book names no street for the house, so the pin marks the garden. It was founded as a medicinal herb garden and moved to Koishikawa in 1684.

場所の精度: The novel names Koishikawa and the road past the botanical garden but not the house; the pin marks the garden.

訪問のヒント: The garden is run by the University of Tokyo, open daily except Mondays; an admission fee is charged.