The rainy season cleared and it's hot!! (*´Д｀；) Still, salesmen make their rounds. In a break I found a small stone monument — about ten minutes on foot from Palaceside Building, beside the west gate of Ochanomizu Elementary (Kanda Sarugakucho 1-1-1, Chiyoda), behind Meiji University's Surugadai campus.
The inscription reads "I am a cat. Name as yet none. Meiji 11. Soseki Natsume. Studied at Kinka" — the Soseki Natsume memorial stone.
Ochanomizu Elementary opened in April 1993 by merging Kinka, Ogawa and Nishikanda schools on the Kinka site. Soseki attended Kinka for just one year in 1878 (Meiji 11). A plate nearby says "Graduation memorial — Class of 104." Kinka opened in 1873 (Meiji 6), so the monument was likely built around 1975–1980.
Soseki (born Kinnosuke) changed schools often. Born 1867 (Keio 3) in Ushigome Babashita, Edo (now Takadanobaba), amid Meiji upheaval — adopted out and back, father and foster father at odds — he came to Kinka via Ichigaya School (now Aichi Elementary, Shinjuku).
The transfer aimed at Tokyo Prefectural First Middle School (now Hibiya High). He entered, but in "regular course" — no English required for university prep (later First High, now the University of Tokyo) — so he left after about two years. Famous as an English teacher at Fifth High (now Kumamoto University), his English path was winding; it's interesting that this Kanda elementary school is part of the story.
After leaving middle school, studying at private schools, he awakened to English and entered university prep in 1884 (Meiji 17), classmates including Shiki Masaoka and Saneyuki Akiyama — as in "Saka no Ue no Kumo." Graduated English from Imperial University (later Tokyo Imperial University = now the University of Tokyo) in 1893. A prodigy either way.
Beside Soseki's monument is Kinka Park; Chiyoda Tourism Association's site calls it "a historic park that was a daimyo garden... water, greenery and sandbox play equipment — an oasis in the city... students and businessmen lunch, Jimbocho used-book visitors rest." I too escaped the sun under the trees... Boss, close your eyes for a short break!(≧∇≦)