After writing in "Shosetsu shinzui" (The essence of the novel), about a literary criticism that refused to accept didacticism and advocated realism, he began to write "Ichidoku santan Tosei shosei katagi" (literally, "the character of modern students that makes you sigh three times every time you read it") in April 1885 and published the first volume in June.
勧善懲悪を否定し、写実主義を主張した文学論『小説神髄』の執筆に続いて、明治18年4月に書き始め、6月に『一読三歎　当世書生気質』第1巻を刊行。