I Am a Cat

I Am a Cat is masterpiece written by Soseki Natsume who lived 1867-1916.

The first phrase in the story is “I Am a Cat. As yet I have no name”, which is famous for Japanese. The story is set in the Meiji era (1968-1912) in Japan and depicts the appearance of human beings. It begins with the scene that a cat, which was abandoned shortly after birth, arrived at the Chinno family. And whole story is told from cat’s satirical point of view. For example, there is the scene when the cat saw how humans divide land and buy and sell ownership. He commented to this that if it is, then air can be divided and sold per cubic meter. This is quite satiric and interesting scene.

The phrase “Wagahai wa neko de aru (吾輩は猫である)”, which is translated in English as “I Am a Cat”, is well known by most of Japanese.