Tokyo, November 1905. The Meiji Era began about 30 years ago, propelling Japan into the modern era. Never before had a country experienced such profound transformations in such a short time. It is in this context, at the same time totally changed and intensely Japanese, that the writer Natsume Soseki, back from England, begins the writing of his most famous work: Botchan... It will have taken twelve years to Jirô Taniguchi and Natsuo Sekikawa to complete the 5 volumes of the vast fresco that is At the time of Botchan.