During the late 19th century, the Meiji era in Japan paved the way for the Japanese to move from traditional values ​​to modernized Western values. The influence of Western powers has had a significant impact on Japan's traditional ideals. Western influence had transformed Japan into a modernizing nation, thus allowing the loss of traditional practices. Soseki Natsume expresses his point of view on this transition to modernization as a loss of Japanese identity through a variety of characters in the book. His intention in creating Kokoro was to project the message of Japan beginning to lose its sense of identity due to the influence of Western powers. In the novel Kokoro, Natsume expresses Japan's loss of identity and efforts to preserve its existence in the character of K. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayK symbolizes the traditional identity of Japan through its efforts in following its righteous Buddhist path. K is visualized as a spiritual Buddhist who has completely succumbed to the abandonment of materialized ideals. Buddhist beliefs consist of being “concerned with experiencing Enlightenment and are generally not too interested in the physical world,” (Structured Practices). This representation of Buddhism followed by K is the reason why he represents the traditional identity. This can be seen through the narrator's description of K's personality: "Without any display of bad conscience, he began to follow his beloved 'true path' with the money his adoptive parents had sent him" (Natsume 129). Through his management of his adoptive parents' money, K. had neglected their desire to go to university to become a doctor and had instead used the money for the purposes of his spiritual well-being. K had decided to ignore his parents' wishes in order to pursue his own divine self. He had believed that “academic knowledge was not his only goal. What was important, he said, was that he become a strong person through the exercise of willpower” (Natsume 134). The abandonment of his parents' wishes represents the strong identity K had believed in regardless of their beliefs. Furthermore, K's contradictions to his parents' wish symbolize Japan maintaining its principles of identity regardless of the temptations of Western influence. K's actions of sticking to his spiritual beliefs had gained his parents' influence on him as he progressed through his education. Although the traditional sense of identity is expressed in K, he like many others in Japan became a victim of Western values. K was presented in the novel as a man struggling to complete his spiritual path; however, once he met his host daughter, Ojosan, he felt more comfortable seeing her interfere with his spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, this female distraction presented through Ojosan is expressed when “K and Ojosan, then, were alone in the house. I couldn't help but marvel at it,” (Natsume 141). Since K and Ojosan were alone in the same room, he was beginning to break his personal barrier that represents traditional identity. The idea of ​​Buddhism, followed by K, is that one must renounce living beings to pursue enlightenment. Not only had K been distracted by the presence of a woman, but he had also fallen into temptation himself by falling in love with her. One character describes an encounter with K with: “K in a heavy way, confessed to me..