Before the Dawn (novel)

First English edition

Before the Dawn (夜明け前, Yoakemae) is Tōson Shimazaki's most famous historical novel. It was originally published in Chūōkōron 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" (木曾路はすべて山の中である Kisoji wa subete yama no naka de aru).^[1] The Kisoji ran through Shimazaki's hometown in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

Following a character modeled closely after Tōson's own father, 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, 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. As the Hirata movement, having achieved its initial goals, deteriorates into political impotence, he is driven insane 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 Shindō and directed by Kōzaburō Yoshimura (吉村 公三郎 Yoshimura Kōzaburō). 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, ISBN 0-8248-0914-9

Original work[]

• Yoakemae is now an open source text:

Part 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b (in Japanese)

References[]

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