Botchan
Encyclopedia
Botchan is a novel
written by Natsume Sōseki
in 1906. It is considered to be one of the most popular novels in Japan
, read by most Japanese during their childhood
. The central theme of the story is morality
.
in the first nine paragraphs.
, and dwelling in Matsuyama was his first experience living elsewhere. The novel reflects his feelings during that experience.
adapted parts of the novel into his ten-volume series—published in Japan beginning in 1986—called The Times of Botchan in English
. Others translations have appeared in French
(Au temps de Botchan), Italian
(Ai tempi di Bocchan) and Spanish
(La epoca de Botchan), all published by Coconino Press. A new translation has also appeared in Spanish, published by Editorial Impedimenta. There is also a 1935 film adaptation, as well as an adaptation as an episode in the anime
television series , which was released in North America by Central Park Media
.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Soseki
, born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...
in 1906. It is considered to be one of the most popular novels in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, read by most Japanese during their childhood
Childhood
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...
. The central theme of the story is morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
.
Narrative
The time point the narrator is settled at is not given. It is also notable that pronouns are omittedPro-drop language
A pro-drop language is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they are in some sense pragmatically inferable...
in the first nine paragraphs.
Background
The story is based on the author's personal experience as a teacher being transferred to Matsuyama, which sets the stage for this novel. Natsume was born in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, and dwelling in Matsuyama was his first experience living elsewhere. The novel reflects his feelings during that experience.
Main characters
- Botchan: the hero of this novel. Born in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, he has the spirit of an EdokkoEdokkois a Japanese term referring to a person born and raised in Edo . The term is believed to have been coined in the late 18th century in Edo. Being an Edokko also implied that the person had certain personality traits different from the non-native population, such as being assertive, straightforward,...
. He graduates from the Tokyo Academy of Physics, currently Tokyo University of ScienceTokyo University of ScienceTokyo University of Science is a private university of science and technology in Japan...
, and becomes a mathematics teacher. His defining characteristics are common sense and a strong moral grounding. - Yamaarashi (Porcupine): A fellow teacher. Yamaarashi is the nickname for a teacher by the name of Hotta, born in AizuAizuis an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
. Yamaarashi has a great, samuraiSamuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
-like sense of justice. - Akashatsu (Redshirt): Another fellow teacher and Doctor of Literature. He is the typical intellectual. He represents the continental European intellectual tradition, in its modern form, as it drifts toward collectivism (socialism and communism (thus the red shirt)) and relativism/nihilism. He speaks of morals but is Machiavellian and immoral. A rumormonger who for a short time was able to deceive even Botchan. The battle for the heart and mind of Botchan between Yamaarashi and Akashatsu represents the social and political tensions existing in Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Soseki clearly rejects Akashatsu. Soseki himself was a Doctor of English Literature graduated from Tokyo University and later wrote that "if I were to assign an actual person to every fictional character that appears in Botchan, then Akashatsu would have to be me." He also wrote, "The development of modern Japan must be seen as an on-the-surface phenomenon" and worried that Japan was absorbing European culture at a shallow and elitist level as represented by the character of Akashatsu.
- Nodaiko (The Clown): Art teacher. Nodaiko is a Tokyoite, like Botchan. He prides himself on his good taste but follows others without much thought, which earns him Botchan's contempt.
- Uranari (Green pumpkin): Uranari is a very melancholic, but refined, gentleman. Botchan looks up to him. Most agree that Uranari, or some combination of Uranari and Botchan, is Soseki's ideal of contemporary Japan.
- TanukiTanukiis the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...
(The Raccoon Dog): The principal of the school where Botchan teaches. He has a very indecisive nature. - KiyoKiyoAccording to Japanese folklore, was the daughter of a village headman or landlord named Shōji, on the Hidaka riverbank...
: Botchan's servant in Tokyo. Now an old woman, she took care of him when he was young. She is a fallen aristocrat, dealing heroically with her new situation.
Supporting characters
- GeishaGeisha, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
: Woman entertainers, often found performing Japanese dances at banquets. - Students at the school: Botchan thinks they are devious, and they often puzzle him.
Important places
- School: the main stage of the novel.
- Dōgo OnsenDogo Onsenis a hot spring in the city of Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Japan.-History:Dōgo Onsen is one of the oldest onsen hot springs in Japan, with a history stretching back over 1,000 years. The springs are mentioned in the Man'yōshū is a hot spring in the city of Matsuyama,...
: Hot spring where Botchan likes to go. Thanks in part to the novel, the springs are now a famous sightseeing spot in Japan.
Major themes
- Botchan's observations and thoughts about Matsuyama, on ShikokuShikokuis the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
, one of the four main islands of Japan. Botchan lived in the ultra-modern Tokyo before moving to the traditional Matsuyama, and is often surprised by their unusual customs. - The battle for the heart and mind of Botchan between Hotta and Akashatsu. Will Botchan's common sense and moral grounding become corrupted by Akashatsu, or will he team up with Hotta to battle the increasing break from tradition and morals, for purely selfish gain, that Akashatsu represents? This is the question posed throughout the novel.
- At the time of the writing of Botchan, Japan was in the midst of a rapidly accelerating westernization, where traditional Japanese values and way of life were disappearing, especially in big cities such as Tokyo. Soseki himself had spent 3 years in London to study English literature. In his later works, Soseki seems to imply that the antagonist Akashatsu represents the author himself; an elitist intellectual who has only a shallow understanding of European culture, at odds with Japanese values and morals.
Main scenes and events of the novel
- Botchan goes to Matsuyama: Eight days after Botchan graduates from a college in Tokyo, his principal calls him to his office and tells Botchan that a middle school in Shikoku needs a mathematics teacher. The salary is forty yen a month, and Botchan can not think of anything else he could become other than a math teacher.
- Botchan is disappointed with his new position.
- Fishing: Botchan recognizes that Akashatsu is a devious man when he and Akashatsu go fishing together.
- Locusts: The students tease Botchan by putting locusts in his bed.
- Uranari's transfer: By abusing his authority, Akashatsu schemes to and succeeds in transferring Uranari to another school for Akashatsu's own profit.
- At the end of the novel, revenge: Botchan and Yamaarashi get revenge on Akashatsu and Nodaiko. Both resign from their jobs and leave for Tokyo. Botchan returns to Kiyo and finds a job as a tramway engineer.
Adaptations
Jiro TaniguchiJiro Taniguchi
is a Japanese manga artist.- Biography:He began to work as assistant of the late manga artist Kyota Ishikawa. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kareta Heya , published in the magazine Young Comic....
adapted parts of the novel into his ten-volume series—published in Japan beginning in 1986—called The Times of Botchan in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Others translations have appeared in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(Au temps de Botchan), Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
(Ai tempi di Bocchan) and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
(La epoca de Botchan), all published by Coconino Press. A new translation has also appeared in Spanish, published by Editorial Impedimenta. There is also a 1935 film adaptation, as well as an adaptation as an episode in the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
television series , which was released in North America by Central Park Media
Central Park Media
Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...
.
External links
- Botchan (jp) - natsumesoseki.com
External sources
- Unabridged audiobook of the translation by Yasotaro Morri at LibriVoxLibriVoxLibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...