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Ukigumo

novel by Futabatei Shimei
Also known as: “Japan’s First Modern Novel: Ukigumo of Futabatei Shimei”(Show More)

Ukigumo, novel by Futabatei Shimei, published in 1887–89. It was published in three parts, at first under the name of the author’s more-famous friend, Tsubouchi Shƍyƍ. It was published in English as Japan’s First Modern Novel: Ukigumo of Futabatei Shimei. Ukigumo was one of the first attempts to replace classical Japanese literary language and syntax with the modern colloquial idiom. Utsumi Bunzƍ, the novel’s antihero protagonist, lives in Tokyo and refuses to compromise the ancient...