It is said that he removed the influence of gesaku literature, which had still remained strong in Shoyo TSUBOUCHI's "Tosei shosei katagi" (The Character of Modern Students) written ahead of time, and told the beginning of modern Japanese novels.
先立って書かれた坪内逍遥の『当世書生気質』に色濃く残っていた戯作文学の影響を排し、日本の近代小説の始まりを告げたとされる。