is Tōson Shimazaki's most famous historical novel. 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. 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). The Kisoji ran through Shimazaki's hometown in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Following a character modeled closely after Tōson'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 Hanzō, 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. Hanzō, fearing that Japan's native values and 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 Shindō and directed by Kōzaburō Yoshimura (吉村 公三郎 Yoshimura Kōzaburō). It was also later adapted into a play by Joseph Stein. List of characters Historical characters mentioned or appearing in the story include: Shimazaki Masaki (Aoyama Hanzō) Tsunoda Tadayuki (Kureta Masaka) (Hachiya Kozō) (Miyagawa Kansai) Kurimoto Jōun (Kitamura Zuiken) Yamakuni Hyōbu Takeda Kōunsai Tokugawa Yoshikatsu Matsudaira Yorinori Itagaki Taisuke Itō Hirobumi Shimazu Hisamitsu Charles Richardson Makino Narisada Engelbert Kaempfer (Iseya Kyūbei) Sagara Sōzō Yoshida Shōin Saigō Takamori Higashikuze Michitomi Oguri Kozukenosuke Katsu Kaishū Yamaoka Tesshū Townsend Harris Léon Roches Mermet de Cachon Princess Kazu Nakae Chōmin Matthew C. Perry Tokugawa Iemochi Tokugawa Yoshinobu Emperor Meiji Emperor Kōmei Maki Yasuomi Tokugawa Nariaki Etō Shinpei Sanjō Sanetomi Harry Parkes William Keswick Kanagaki Robun Takano Chōei Kusaka Genzui Kirino Toshiaki Matsudaira Katamori Ii Naosuke Gotō Shōjirō Iwakura Tomomi Motoori Norinaga Hirata Atsutane Hirata Kanetane Hirata Nobutane Robert B. Van Valkenburgh Richard Boyle Edmund Morel Translation Before the Dawn, transl.