Postmortem of Kokoro
Postmortem of Kokoro Reporter: “I” 1. Incident Summary This report is written from the perspective of “I,” the narrator who received Sensei’s testament. It organizes a sequence of serious events involving Sensei, K, Okusan, Ojosan, and myself. This case should be treated not as a single event, but as a two-stage incident. The first incident concerns the conflict of interest that arose between Sensei and K over Ojosan. Although this conflict had emerged, it was never explicitly mediated. Instead, Sensei made a private prior commitment by asking Okusan for permission to marry Ojosan. Afterward, K died by suicide. However, no sufficient explanation or testament from K can be confirmed, and therefore K’s motive cannot be determined. The second incident concerns Sensei’s long-term burden of guilt after K’s death. Sensei continued to carry this guilt without sharing its core with his wife, gradually becoming socially and psychologically isolated. The death of the Meiji Emperor and the ...