Shimasaki Toson/Broken Commandment

Wow, what a book. It's about the burakumin (outcaste) in Japan at the turn-of-the-century (entering the 20th century). It's the story of one teacher who is burakumin (eta during those days) and his struggle to--essentially--come out as burakumin. It's well written and I hear that the translation that we're reading is a good translation. Broken Commandment is a great novel that I'll expand upon in a few weeks--after I've had more time to take it in.