High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Natsume Soseki (February 9, 1867 ? December 9, 1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke, 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 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.