Shimazaki Toson

Shimazaki Toson (shēˈmäˈzäˈkē tōˈsōn) [key], 1872–1943, Japanese poet and novelist. A pioneer in the establishment of a new Japanese verse form, Toson later turned his talents to prose fiction. Hakai [the broken commandment], a story of an outcast schoolteacher, is considered the first Japanese naturalist novel. Subsequent works were somewhat autobiographical in nature; his masterpiece, Yoake no mae [before the dawn], a historical novel, traces the growth of modern Japan through a fictionalized account of his father's life.

See J. A. Walker, The Japanese Novel of the Meiji Period and the Ideal of Individualism (1979).

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