Before the Dawn

I was going to Japan, sometime hence--and I knew zippo about the place. Encountering an article on the Smithsonian website, I read where the author had encouraged his travel companion to read Toson's book, before they set out together for an extended journey down the country's backroads.So I ordered the book (hardcopy--it's over 800 pages, after all). What arrived was a 2-inch tome of dense print (and denser writing) that I subsequently never managed to lug anywhere, keeping it always bedside. But I was hooked on the first page.This is a story that, like any Dickens novel, first appeared as a serial (in 1929), and--true to the format--is in no hurry (ever) to make its way. "David Copperfield" says right off: "To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born . . . ," while "Bleak House" famously opens with its leisurely camera pan of London-in-the-fog. Toson's story, anchored on the Kiso Road, similarly begins at the beginning: "The Kiso road lies entirely in the mountains. In some places, it cuts across the face of a precipice. In others it follows the banks of the Kiso River, far above the stream. Elsewhere, it winds around a ridge and into another valley. All of it runs through dense forest."(It's almost a declaration of how the author himself will proceed!)The geography (despite a couple of maps) is hard to follow. But a richly textured historical sense informs nearly every sentence. Still on the first page: "Centuries of feudalism and the extreme caution characteristic of such an order were reflected in ... changes in the road which still left travel more difficult than it needed to be. The roads remained unsuitable for wheeled traffic as a matter of national policy, and travelers were searched for guns or to see if there were any women among them. No place was so well suited for this purpose as this deep valley through which all inland travelers between eastern and western Japan had to travel."Many events, many characters (with the translator's helpful list of dramatis personae) . . . It's a commitment to read this book. And, as with any commitment, you'll need a substantive reason to embark. But whatever your reason--as long as you have one--you'll be rewarded by this very substantive telling of the Westernization of Japan.

It is a slow but interesting read. The author writes a fictional account of life as head man in a village on the Kiso road at the time the Black ships arrived and sent the regulated life into turmoil. Written from a Japanese pre WW2 perspective, it is fascinating to understand the arrival of Westerners and the impact this made on the whole of Japanese society from the dissolving of the feudal way of life and the Shogunate, to the creation of a modern industrial Japan. Though fiction, it is a heavily biographical account based on the life of the author's father and grandfather.It is also interesting to see from a modern perspective how the arrival of a culture so different from the indigenous culture can totally change, alter or destroy the life of the native people.

A delicious historical novel. I have walked several sections of the Kiso road and have seen many of the locations, markers, shrines, and scenes described in the book not exactly knowing at the time what I was seeing. Now, I want to do it again with some historical context. The author describes the toughness of the mountain people and you cans still see that today.

College reading material, what can I say... delivered as promised.

A classic tale of the period before the Meiji Restoration. The author is a product of his time and still sees the Restoration as a sort of Renaissance. Today we are much less sanguine.

Haven't had a chance to read it yet. I will. Wish I had known that it was such a large book. More information up front would be beneficial. I probably would still have bought it - eventually.

The kindle version is a mess. Translation terrible. Incomprehensible. The paperback is perfect.

Japanese classic! I really liked the story, it has a touch of old Japan, similar to Shogun, definitely a recommended book