Before the Dawn (novel)
Before the Dawn (夜明け前, Yoakemae) is a historical novel by the Japanese writer Tōson Shimazaki. It was originally published in Chūō Kōron 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.
First English edition | |
| Author | Tōson Shimazaki |
|---|---|
| Original title | Yoakemae (夜明け前) |
| Translator | William E. Naff |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Publisher | University of Hawaiʻi Press (English) |
Publication date | 1929 (serial), 1932 and 1935 (novel) |
Published in English | April 1987 |
Regarded in Japan as the definitive novel of the period it portrays, it tells about the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, an event precipitated by the arrival of Commodore Perry's Black Ships, and the early years of the Meiji Restoration.
It begins with the famous line "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). The Kisoji ran through Shimazaki's hometown in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Before the Dawn became Shimazaki's most popular novel.