Meiji melodramatic novels achieved unmatched social penetration by riding the wave of Meiji print capitalism. This chapter discusses the two major novels: First, Konjiki yasha, the blockbuster novel by Ozaki Koyo that stands as the definitive example of the form, appeared in the Yomiuri shinbun between 1897 and 1902. Second, Onna keizu, by Izumi Kyoka, was carried by Yamato shinbun in 1908. The family constituted the thematic center of Meiji melodramatic fiction for specific historical reasons. At the turn of the twentieth century, immense ideological forces were focused on the family, which the Meiji state and its propagandists sought to employ as an instrument for social stability amidst the disruptions of modernity. Japanese scholars have had difficulty positioning melodramatic fiction within modern literary history. The powerful presence of melodramatic fiction at the turn of the twentieth century and the audience it continued to hold in adapted forms call for a better accounting of its historical position.