Botchan as An Elegy,” Because I think of Kiyo as my other half.”

挽歌としての『坊つちやん』―「淸をおれの片 かた 破 わ れと思 ふからだ」―

Botchan as An Elegy,” Because I think of Kiyo as my other half.”

Creators Kuwahara Rie

Abstract: In Botchan, the other half can be seen as a partner (often of the opposite sex) with whom one shares one's soul, both in
the traditional Japanese usage and in the Western context derived from Plato. Jun Eto investigated Soseki's secret love for his
brother's wife, Tose, but was unable to find any conclusive evidence.
The main purpose of this paper is to show that, as Eto infers, Botchan can be positioned as one of a series of elegies for Soseki's
brother's wife. n the process of proving this, we will examine the issue of graves and Soseki's view of the soul. Soseki believed
that love at the soul level is a fundamental power that transcends the present world, and that the spiritual power of love transcends
three-dimensional limitations and time and space.
By confirming Soseki's recognition of the duality of spirit and flesh and his idea of the transcendence of the soul over the body,
and by examining the cosmic consciousness that occasionally peeks into Soseki's work, we can also touch upon the essence of
Soseki's literature, which is open to cosmic truth.