吾輩は猫である
I Am a Cat, or Wagahai wa neko de aru, is a novel by Natsume Sōseki, serialized in Hototogisu from 1905 to 1906. A nameless cat living with the English teacher Chinno Kushami narrates in the first person, using observations and opinions to satirize the humans around it.
Wagahai is the cat’s grand self-reference, not its given name.
Household incidents and extended commentary unfold as connected episodes.
Magazine serialization, the first three volumes and later adaptations have different dates.
Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916) was a Meiji-period novelist who taught English and studied in Britain. He began publishing I Am a Cat in 1905. Teaching and the social world of intellectuals provide a setting for the fiction; the characters’ remarks should not automatically be assigned to the author as his personal opinions.
The opening cat says it has no name yet introduces itself with the elevated first-person expression wagahai. It recalls encountering humans and entering the teacher’s house while readily passing judgment on people. Readers hear a fictional observer’s voice, rather than an impartial explanation from an all-knowing narrator.
Osan puts the cat outside, but it slips back until the master lets it stay. From within the household it watches the teacher study and nap, searches for comfortable sleeping places, and deals with the children. Its judgments come from an animal that depends on the very household it mocks. The grand voice and the dependent position work together.
HO fictional-scene illustrations: the threshold distinguishes outside from inside. The cropped, standing figure is a schematic context, not a reconstruction of an action in the text; coat, clothing and architecture are generalized.
Meeting Kuro, a rickshaw man’s cat, the narrator takes pride in belonging to a teacher’s household. Kuro asks about rat-catching, and the narrator has to admit that it has caught none. The exchange sets imagined social superiority against practical experience. Human distinctions of rank reappear in the cats’ conversation, leaving the narrator exposed to the same comic scrutiny it directs at people.
Kushami’s home brings friends and former pupils into conversation. Meitei likes to display his knowledge through talk. Kangetsu, a former pupil, is doing graduate research on geomagnetism. Mrs Kaneda visits to inquire about him as a possible husband for her daughter, with particular interest in whether he will gain a doctorate. These encounters connect the teacher’s circle with a wealthy business household.
| Person | Connection to Kushami’s home | Concern in the conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Kushami | Host and English teacher | Receives visitors |
| Meitei | Friend | Displays learning through anecdotes |
| Kangetsu | Former pupil | Studies geomagnetism |
| Mrs Kaneda | Inquires for her daughter | Asks whether Kangetsu will gain a doctorate |
These are visits and inquiries, not a record of an agreed marriage.
The novel does not depend solely on one continuous adventure. Household encounters and visitors provide occasions for the cat’s commentary. Humans are objects of satire, but the cat can also misjudge a situation. One useful distinction while reading is between what the narrator thinks it understands and what happens to it.
Meitei offers a story about painting under the name of Andrea del Sarto. Kushami accepts it as advice worth following; later Meitei admits that he invented the anecdote. The sequence matters: a prestigious name makes the claim persuasive, belief follows, and the fabrication is revealed. Through the listening cat, the scene shows how an appearance of learning can win assent.
Mrs Kaneda’s wealth does not impress Kushami. When Meitei mentions a connection with Baron Makiyama, however, her manner toward him becomes more deferential. She then asks about Kangetsu’s studies, finding geomagnetism unfamiliar but pressing to know whether he can become a doctor. Shifts in politeness and the questions she chooses make social judgment audible in the conversation.
Before eating mochi, the cat reasons at length in a solemn, philosophical manner. The rice cake then sticks to its teeth, and frantic movements make the household laugh. Osan finally removes it at the master’s instruction. The elevated reasoning sits beside physical embarrassment, making the narrator itself part of the comedy.
After the visitors leave, the cat tries their leftover beer. It initially dislikes the taste but keeps drinking, grows warm and unsteady, then accidentally falls into a water jar. It cannot reach the rim; scratching at the wall only sends it slipping back. The struggle exhausts it. Only then does it stop resisting, ending its account with a Buddhist invocation and death. The shift from drunken confidence to failed escape brings its reasoning up against the limits of its body.
HO illustrations of the novel’s sequence. The cutaway makes the predicament visible; the coat and jar shape are illustrative choices, not reconstructed details.
Sōseki later recalled writing a piece at Takahama Kyoshi’s request, revising it after criticism and then being encouraged to continue. What he had intended as one piece developed into serialization in Hototogisu from January 1905 to August 1906. The formation account comes from retrospective authorial and editorial testimony.
The first upper volume appeared in October 1905, while serialization was still in progress. The middle volume followed in November 1906 and the lower in May 1907, jointly issued by Ōkura Shoten and Hattori Shoten. Magazine and book publication therefore overlapped: readers could obtain the upper volume before the serial ended, while the remaining volumes appeared afterward.
| Date | Magazine | Book publication |
|---|---|---|
| 1905.01 | Begins | — |
| 1905.10 | Ongoing | Upper volume |
| 1906.08 | Ends | — |
| 1906.11 | Ended | Middle volume |
| 1907.05 | Ended | Lower volume |
The table records first publication; the pictures show particular copies. The middle and lower scans are NDL items 888726 and 888727.
Aozora Bunko’s transcription uses volume 1 of the Chikuma Bunko Sōseki collection, first issued on 29 September 1987; proofreading used its fourth printing of 1994. That edition in turn derives from a 1971 Chikuma collected edition. The 1905 upper volume’s opening page places vertical columns of text beside a decorated title panel containing cat figures. That arrangement preserves a relationship between text and illustration that differs from the searchable transcription. The edition record identifies which text underlies the digital reading.
The early page and the transcription’s lineage describe different editions. The 1905 scan is not labeled as Aozora’s source edition.
The National Film Archive of Japan records a 1975 I Am a Cat directed by Ichikawa Kon, with a screenplay by Yasumi Toshio and Sōseki credited as the original author. The film is a later adaptation with its own production history. Its directing and screenwriting choices cannot all be treated as wording or decisions in Sōseki’s original novel.
The adaptation runs from novel to film, separately from the transcription lineage above.
No. The cat says it has no name. Wagahai is its elevated way of referring to itself.
Its solemn reasoning is followed by sticky teeth and frantic movement, exposing the distance between its confidence and its situation.
No. The lower volume appeared in May 1907.
Meitei’s invented anecdote mocks intellectual authority, while Mrs Kaneda’s concern with a doctorate connects learning with marriage status.
The narrator claims status through its teacher’s household, but Kuro asks about actual rat-catching. Its admission that it has caught none exposes the gap.
It becomes unsteady, falls accidentally, and fails to escape the jar. Exhaustion from struggling precedes its decision to stop resisting.
Both present the same work, but Aozora uses a 1987 Chikuma Bunko source edition. It is not a page-by-page reproduction of the 1905 printing.
Book images are unredrawn details from specific National Diet Library copies. Mochi and ending illustrations are HO interpretations of the novel’s scenes.