The Broken Commandment is a Japanese novel written by Tōson Shimazaki published in 1906 (late Meiji period) under the title Hakai (破戒).

This novel also touches on the dangerous, destructive nature of gossip, and questions society's inability to accept what is not understood.

After the idea of the novel was formulated, Toson approached his father-in-law, Hata Keiji, and a wealthy landlord, Kozu Takeshi, asking for their support in his full-time writing of the novel.

With his pregnant wife and three daughters Toson left Komoro and moved to Minami Toshima-gun in Tokyo to complete his work.

His three daughters died one after another, from meningitis and intestinal catarrh, and Toson came to regard their deaths as "sacrifices" − their deaths were most likely triggered by malnutrition which deprived them from "maintaining adequate physical resistance to the fatal diseases because of the tightly budgeted life Toson subjected his family to".