Souseki Natsume, born as Kinnosuke Natsume (夏目金之助), is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era (1868-1912).
He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat, and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2007, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.
