The author charts Futabatei Shimei’s dual career as translator and novelist to demonstrate the importance of the innovative language and style of translation he initiated. Futabatei’s attempt to translate the original text as an invisible unit of linguistic form and narrative content necessitated the creation of a new target language. The language that he created in Japanese is known as genbun-itchi, a term that broadly refers to that vernacular but that emphasizes the relationship between speech and writing. The author demonstrates with extensive examples the specificities of the new language he created and the new gender archetype he introduced, and examines his legacy and impact on the Naturalists. His creation and successful deployment of the genbun-itchi style was to constitute the very foundation of the modern Japanese novel. The form of literature he produced using this style was so new as to ultimately create a radical divide between modern Japanese fiction and all that preceded it.