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Before the Dawn (novel)
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Wikipedia article
is Tson Shimazaki's most famous historical novel. It was originally published in 'Chkron' in 1929 as a serial work. Shinchosha later published the work in novel form, with the first part being released in January 1932 and the second part being released in November 1935. It started with the phrase "The entire Kisoji is in the mountains" ( 'Kisoji wa subete yama no naka de aru').[http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000158/card1504.html 'Yoakemae' (Part 1a)]. Tson Shimazaki. Aozora Bunko. Accessed May 14, 2008. The Kisoji ran through Shimazaki's hometown in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
Following a character modeled closely after Tson's own father Shimazaki Masaki, the novel carries its story through the turbulent decades before and after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate sparked by the arrival of Commodore Perry's ships in 1853. The protagonist Aoyama Hanz, a devout follower of Hirata Atsutane's idealistic nativism but tied down by his duties as the head of a rural mountain village, observes the tide of events leading to the opening and Westernization of Japan.
In the years after the civil war of 1868, the Hirata movement achieves its initial goals and becomes superficially incorporated into the new bureaucracy, but deteriorates into political impotence and is gradually expelled by the progressive-minded leadership. Hanz, fearing that Japan's native way of life will be discarded and forgotten by future generations enamored by things Western, is driven insane by despair and ultimately dies after being imprisoned by his own family.
In 1953, a film based on the novel was released. It was adapted by Kaneto Shind and directed by Kzabur Yoshimura ( 'Yoshimura Kzabur'). It was also later adapted into a play by Joseph Stein.
Translation
*'Before the Dawn', transl. by William E. Naff, University of Hawaii Press, April 1987, 798 pages,
Original work
*'Yoakemae' is now an open source text:
:Part [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000158/card1504.html 1a], [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000158/card1505.html 1b], [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000158/card1506.html 2a], [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000158/card1507.html 2b]
References
Category:1935 novels
Category:Novels by Tson Shimazaki
Category:Historical novels
Category:Novels first published in serial form
Category:Works originally published in Chkron
Category:Novels set in Gifu Prefecture
Category:Boshin War
Category:Shinbutsu bunri
Category:Shinchosha books
Category:Japanese novels adapted into films
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