Since the Meiji period, various efforts have been made along with the introduction of Western literary theory, which was represented by the work of "The Essence of Novels" by Shoyo TSUBOUCHI, and to an extent some of them produced excellent results.
明治時代以後、坪内逍遥によって『小説神髄』が著されるなどして西洋の文学理論が導入されるに伴いさまざまな試みがなされ、中には部分的にはそれなりの成果を上げたものもあった。