Born Natsume Kinnosuke, Soseki was brought up in a middle-class family at the beginning of the Meiji period. After an extensive education in English, Chinese, and Japanese literature, Soseki taught English at the University of Tokyo. In 1907, he gave up teaching to devote himself to writing and produced a number of books, including Botchan, The Three-Cornered World, and Mon. He died in Tokyo in 1916.