Although he preferred Chinese classics, he started studying English at that time, feeling that it might prove useful to him in his future career, as English was a necessity in Japanese college. However, his family disapproved strongly of this course of action, and when Sōseki entered the Tokyo Imperial University in September 1884, it was with the intention of becoming an architect. His desire to become an author arose when he was about fifteen when he told his older brother about his interest in literature. Sōseki attended the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School), where he became deeply enamored with Chinese literature, and fancied that he might someday become a writer.

His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers died in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity. He returned to his biological family and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. A childless couple, Shiobara Masanosuke and his wife, adopted him in 1868 and raised him until the age of nine, when the couple divorced. Having five children and a toddler had created family insecurity and was in some ways a disgrace to the Natsume family. When he was born, he already had five siblings. Sōseki began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life, forty years old and his father then fifty-three. He was a descendant of Natsume Yoshinobu, a Sengoku period samurai and retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

His father, a powerful and wealthy nanushi, owned all land from Ushigome to Takadanobaba in Edo and handled most civil lawsuits at his doorstep. Natsume Kin'nosuke was born on 9 February 1867 in the town of Babashita, Ushigome, Edo (present Kikui, Shinjuku, Tokyo), the fifth son of village head ( nanushi) Natsume Kohē Naokatsu and his wife Chie. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1,000 yen note. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. He is best known around the world for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat, Kusamakura and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. Natsume Sōseki ( 夏目漱石, 9 February 1867 – 9 December 1916), born Natsume Kin'nosuke ( 夏目金之助), was a Japanese novelist.

Kokoro soseki natsume