is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki, about Japanese society during the Meiji Period; particularly, the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions, and the aping of Western customs. Sōseki's original title, Wagahai wa neko de aru, uses very high register phrases more appropriate to a nobleman, conveying a grandiloquence and self-importance intended to sound ironic, since the speaker is a house cat. The book was first published in ten installments in the literary journal Hototogisu. At first, Sōseki intended only to write the short story that cons...