The previous articles traced Sōseki’s vocabulary — his movement between native Japanese and Sino-Japanese. This article turns from vocabulary to the shape of a sentence’s ending itself.
What Sōseki inherited
Sōseki began writing fiction in 1905. Before that, from the early 1880s, there had already been a movement away from the Edo-period written language — the epistolary sōrōbun style and the classical-Chinese-reading style — toward a written language closer to speech: the genbun itchi movement. Its pioneering work is generally taken to be Futabatei Shimei’s novel Ukigumo (1887). As seen in the feature reading Mishima’s Bunshō Tokuhon, Mishima himself assessed it this way: “after Futabatei Shimei, our prose underwent a revolutionary change.”
By 1905, when Sōseki began writing fiction, eighteen years had already passed since Ukigumo. In other words, it is more accurate to place Sōseki not as the person who invented the genbun itchi style from nothing, but as a writer who inherited a style that had already built up some track record, and refined it further.
A novel’s ending — plain form (“da,” “de aru”)
Let’s return to the opening of Botchan, paying attention to the shape of its sentence endings.
My father’s recklessness, passed straight down to me, has had me losing out since I was a child. (working translation)
“Has had” — a plain-form (“de aru”-lineage) statement, declaring the present state flatly. This style is used consistently in Kokoro (article 009) and Kusamakura (article 263) as well. The narrative prose of Sōseki’s novels is written, almost without exception, in this plain, “da/de aru” form.
A lecture’s ending — formal declarative form (“de arimasu”)
And yet, that same Sōseki, in his 1914 lecture “My Individualism,” uses an entirely different sentence ending.
I don’t hesitate to declare myself an individualist. (working translation)
I hope, deeply, that you will be free. (working translation)
“I declare,” “I hope” — a formal, polite register, addressing the audience directly and courteously. This is clearly a different register from a novel’s plain form. It is the style fitting the occasion of a lecture, seen in the feature on My Individualism, addressed to students at the Peers’ School.
Choosing according to the occasion
This difference points to something simple but important. For Sōseki, the plain “da/de aru” form was not the single, absolutely “correct” form of modern prose — it was one option, suited to a novel’s narrative prose. In the setting of a lecture, with a listener right in front of him, he chose, without hesitation, the polite, formal declarative register.
| Novels (Botchan, Kokoro, Kusamakura) | Lecture (My Individualism) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sentence ending | Plain form (“da/de aru”) | Formal declarative (“de arimasu”) |
| Assumed reader/audience | An unspecified reader | The Peers’ School students, present in the room |
| Function | Narrative prose, telling events and inner states | Speaking directly to an audience |
The genbun itchi style had not, at this point, settled into “one fixed type.” Sōseki was selecting the fitting style, according to the occasion, from among multiple possibilities.
Worth checking as you read
First, the detailed history of the genbun itchi movement — earlier attempts before Futabatei Shimei, or the contributions of other writers — is beyond this article’s scope. Here, the broad positioning is enough: Sōseki inherited a style that had already achieved some measure of establishment.
Second, this article has not verified whether the formal “de arimasu” register was standard for the occasion of a lecture in general, or a choice specific to Sōseki himself. Comparison with other contemporary lecture transcripts is a task for future work.
Summary
| Point | Content |
|---|---|
| What was inherited | The genbun itchi style dating to Futabatei Shimei’s Ukigumo (1887), already carrying some track record |
| A novel’s style | The plain “da/de aru” form — narrative prose for an unspecified reader |
| A lecture’s style | The formal “de arimasu” form — speaking directly to an audience in the room |
| Sōseki’s position | Not the inventor of genbun itchi from nothing, but a writer who chose from among its possibilities and refined it |
In short — Sōseki inherited a still-unsettled new style, genbun itchi, and chose precisely between the plain form for his novels and the formal declarative form for his lectures, according to the occasion.