The Gate (novel)

The Gate (門, Mon) is a Japanese novel written in 1910 by Natsume Sōseki. It was a commercial success when published in Japan and has been translated into English by Francis Mathy. A new translation by William F. Sibley, with an introduction by Pico Iyer, was published by New York Review Books in 2012.

Plot synopsis

The Gate concerns a middle-aged married couple, Oyone and Sosuke, who married for love in their student days. The couple first suffered exclusion from society due to their ill-advised marriage – it was revealed (very obliquely in the course of the novel) that Oyone was the wife of a former friend. As the novel opens, they languish in ennui because they have no children, and Sosuke has to focus on his career. Oyone's ill health and a visit from Sosuke's younger brother provoke a familial crisis which becomes the central story. Oyone feels her childlessness was a punishment sent by the gods for abandoning her previous husband.

Thematically and by the author's own reckoning, The Gate is the third in a trilogy of novels begun by Sanshiro (1908) and And Then (それから, Sorekara) (1909). All three novels deal with the themes of self-knowledge and responsibility – on the one hand, accountability to society, and on the other, responsibility to one's own emotions. However, the three novels do not share characters.