Chapter 20 Section 3 "The Story of the Floating City"

In the Nanjin theory novels, the writer who is more famous than Sudo Nansui is Yano Tatsuki.In Meiji 16-17 (1883-1884), Yano Ryukei wrote the book "School of Famous Military Scholars Jing Guomei Tan", which greatly promoted the development of the civil rights movement. Yano Ryukei was born in Saeki's samurai family. In Meiji 3, because his father was appointed governor of Katsushika Prefecture, he came to Tokyo and studied at Keio University.In Meiji 8, he worked as a teacher at Keio University Osaka Branch.In Meiji 11, he was recommended by Fukuzawa Yukichi to enter the Ministry of Finance. He served successively as Taizhengguan and Grand Secretary. At the same time, he participated in the drafting of the draft constitution as a steady civil rights theorist.After the Meiji 14 coup d'état, the Shimokuma cabinet stepped down, and Yano Tatsuki also withdrew from the officialdom and served as the president of "Post-Ben Hochi Shimbun". At the same time, together with Inukai Takeshi and Ozaki Yukio, he formed the Constitutional Improvement Party.

"Jing Guo Mei Tan" is set on the stage of Sebe, ancient Greece. The first part tells the story of how the patriotic citizens who were persecuted by the oligarchs tried to restore the civil government. The story of the Greek lord composed of independent city-states.This work self-evidently describes the image of Japan's "should ideal future" in pursuit of unification after breaking away from the shogunate system, and then became a treasure book for people with lofty ideals from the 10th to 20th years of the Meiji era. After the book was published, Yano Tatsuki went to study in Europe and America.Examined constitutional assembly politics in France and England, while also experiencing racial discrimination, and witnessed the huge gap between rich and poor and the state of poverty in the colonies.After returning to China, Yano Tatsuki engraved the constitutions and parliamentary systems of European and American civilized countries in his heart, and at the same time deeply realized the fact that Europe and the United States, which are great civilizations, are also military powers that invade other countries at will.Therefore, he serialized what he saw and heard during his overseas study in the column "Hochi Strange News" of "Yoben Hochi Shimbun" (January 16-March 19, Meiji 23).

This serialized novel belongs to the expansion of national power on the theory of southward expansion. In the novel, there are two characters who symbolize "literature" and "martial arts", Sakuichi Fumi and Tachibana Katsumu.Under their command, the volunteers sailed southward on the ship Kaiwangmaru, encountered pirates on the way, and finally captured the pirate ship after a fierce battle, and named the ship Ukijo Maru, and then moved around the Indian Ocean. After the serialization was over, it was compiled into "The Story of the Floating Castle", which became a bestseller and a work that aroused great controversy.

One of the reasons why this novel has caused controversy is that some people think that the purpose of Yano Tatsuki writing this novel is to change from "civil rights" to "national rights".Yano Tatsuki was not the only one who had this tendency of thinking.With the enactment of the Constitution and the convening of the Imperial Conference, sound civil rights advocates believe that the people have already obtained certain civil rights. In order to further expand civil rights, the rights of the Japanese and the country that were deprived by unequal treaties must be restored, that is to say In order to expand civil rights, national power must be expanded. This is also the consensus of Yano Tatsuki, Sudo Nansui, and Ozaki Yukio.

In addition to being criticized politically, because the view of literature in Japanese society was also in a major turning point at that time, there were also disputes about the value of "literature" and who should "literature" serve.For those who advocate the view of modern literature, "The Story of the Floating Castle" has become a representative of old literature and has been strongly criticized. This is the so-called controversy about "The Story of the Floating Castle".