Descriptions:
A new handwritten letter from Natsume Soseki, whose existence was previously unknown, has been discovered. After reading the contents, I learned something really interesting. Michiaki Nipei, professor emeritus at Tohoku University, discovered a handwritten letter from Natsume Soseki, a literary giant of the Meiji era. He is a leading authority on Soseki studies and has written numerous articles on Soseki. I found the letter this spring. Apparently, he found it at an online auction and bid on it himself. The seller does not appear to be the original owner, and it is unknown how the item came to be auctioned. Only one was found, and it started in the middle of a sentence, so we don’t know who wrote it or who it was addressed to, but it appears to have been in the middle of a letter. Professor Emeritus Nipei gives the following reasons for Soseki’s letter: (1) Handwritten paper for “Soseki Sanbo”. First of all, paper. A special handwritten paper consisting of 19 characters and 10 lines, with the words “Soseki Sanbo” written on top. This is exclusive to Soseki. For example, this paper was used for the manuscript of the work “Michigusa”. (2) Letter by letter. Let’s compare the letters in Soseki’s letter and manuscript. Just by looking at some of them, you can tell that they were written by the same person, Soseki. (3) If we focus on the content, the first thing we notice is the word “House of Sunagi”. These are the characters and facial expressions in Soseki’s Higan Kage. And all instructions are dedicated to Rubin/Furigana. Soseki first published The Higan Kage in the Asahi Shimbun series of newspapers, but it is known that he exchanged letters many times with the person who proofread the book before it was published as a book. Most emails also contain instructions regarding Ruby. (4) Traces of four folds. If you look at the back, you can see that there are three folds on the sides. Apparently, the letter was folded into four and placed in an envelope. In other words, we can assume that this is a series of correspondence with a proofreader. Based on the above, there seems to be no doubt that this is a letter written in Soseki’s handwriting. Even connoisseurs of modern literature are surprised by the discovery of this letter. Associate Professor Masato Nihira, Graduate School of Letters, Tohoku University: “Even for such a famous writer as Soseki, whose various works have been researched, there is still a possibility that basic materials can still be found. It’s amazing how often these letters come. I think they are very valuable when thinking about Soseki’s literature because they represent letters about the process of creating his own works.” It does not appear to be related to the discoverer, Professor Emeritus Nipay. Now let’s read the contents of the letter further. Six lines, making up more than half a page, are used to emphasize the onyomi reading of this character, which means “concubine,” and how it is pronounced in the female first person. Quote from the letter (original text): “In the clipping, the concubine I wrote was given the pseudonym “I.” (Omitted) When I get angry, I ask “I” to change my mind. In other words, when Soseki wrote something, he intended to say “I”, when it was published in the newspaper, the ruby was “Watashi”. This is incorrect, so I would like you to correct these proofreading instructions before turning it into a book. Soseki was troubled by the difference between “I” and “me.” I tried to count and find out how many there are. The Complete Works of Teibon Soseki, published by Iwanami Shoten, is based on Soseki’s handwritten manuscripts and is neatly typed, including rubies. Let’s compare this with newspaper publications of that time. Then I found 6 places where the newspaper article said “I”, although in the “Complete Works”, that is, in the manuscript written by Soseki, it was “I”. All words are spoken by one of the characters, a young woman named Chiyoko. I was only able to see one image of the Higan Kage handwritten manuscript. It clearly says “I” and a nickname. It is clear that Soseki deliberately wanted this word to be read as “atashi”. In this part, the ruby on the newspaper also has “atashi” written on it, which accurately reflects Soseki’s intentions. For this reason, I think it was a shame that Soseki couldn’t come to terms with the fact that there was a part of the story that was mistaken for “I”. In particular, in this part it turns out that “I” and “me” are mixed in a series of words and there is clearly no consistency. So why does it have to be “I”? This is written in a recently discovered letter from Soseki. Quote from the letter (original): “The word “I” is limited to a certain degree of change (omitted). “I” is funny in the way the young woman speaks in a family manner.” It is true that “I” and “I” are different impressions of a person, completely different. Associate Professor Masato Nihira, Graduate School of Letters, Tohoku University: “This shows that he really thought carefully about what words to use to express a lively character.” One of the delights of Soseki’s novels. This is a unique feature of this novel. that the characters’ vibrant personalities ooze from their language, evoking the reader’s sympathy. The secret lies, for example, in the way young women talk to their loved ones. I’ve come to realize that there is subtlety in drawing different pictures of a person with the same letter, as if they were saying “I” instead of “I”. The handwritten letters discovered this time represent extremely valuable material that clearly reveals Soseki’s creative process and thought process. Ka