Setchubai (Plum Blossoms in the Snow, 1886), written by Suehiro Tetcho, is a quintessential example of the Meiji political novel. The story opens in the future, AD 2040, when Japan has become a dominant world power. A landslide reveals an artifact that leads to the discovery of a story written in 1890, four years in the future for contemporary readers of the novel. The story describes the young patriot Kunino Motoi and his fiancee, Tominaga Oharu, as they struggle to establish the principles of the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement. Suehiro draws upon his own experience in prison to add realism to the story, which critics have noted transcended the typical romances of the day by being useful and instructive as well.
See also SCIENCE FICTION.
Historical dictionary of modern Japanese literature and theater. J. Scott Miller. 2009.