Hon'yaku
Bungaku: Meiji Translations of Western Literature
By
Brian
Dowdle
This
bibliography provides an overview for
finding when Western literature was translated into Japanese during the
Meiji
Period. Many of the sources listed include reprints of the work or
provide the
information necessary for finding copies of the works using traditional
bibliography sources, such as the National Diet Library.
This field of study is often referred to in
Japanese as Honyaku Bungaku. This term, however, seems to be limited to
only
western works; Chinese, Korean, and most other Asian literatures are
handled
separately.
Although not as frequently researched as
other
aspects of Bungaku, there are numerous secondary works written on this
subject.
These works tend to focus on particular authors and their reception and
influence on Japan. There are also works on specific time periods. Many of the catalogs of Honyaku Bungaku seem
to be based on the same library catalogs, but there is, nevertheless,
some
variation between catalogs.
Honyaku Bungaku published
in Newspapers and Magazines
Kawado
Michiaki, Sakakibara Takayoshi eds.,
Meiji hon'yaku bungaku zenshu <shinbun
zasshi hen> Tokyo:
Ozorasha, 1996-2000 PN6065 .J3 1996
Volumes 1-50 are off site, and 51 & 52 are
in Starr Library reference section.
As the
title
states, this is a collection of reprints of literature translated
during the
Meiji period published in newspapers and magazines. In addition it has
commentaries and essays on translations and other related issues such as reception. The series has 52 volumes.
Volumes
1-50 focus on a particular country or
region. Many deal with prominent individual authors from that country
or
region, such as Shakespeare or Hugo. They contain a selection of
reprints from
the newspapers or magazines, essays and commentaries. Finally, each
book has a
separate and comprehensive timeline for those authors whose works are
listed (a
real plus).
Volumes 1-16 England,
17-22 America, 23-33
France, 34 & 35 Germany, 36-45 Russia, 46-50 Northern and Southern
Europe.
Volume 51
is a general time-line. It provides a
good overview by year of what was published.
Vol. 52
has general indexes and the table of
contents for the series (use this to find out if the writer you are
interested
in is covered in the series). These indexes include: index by work
title in
Japanese, index by translator, index by newspaper or magazine, and a
list of
commentaries and essays in the series. It also has a brief introduction
for
each of the 50 content books. Finally it has a works cited guide―that
is broken
down by author, translator, title in Japanese, and newspaper and
journals
listed in the series.
This is a
good place to begin your search. The
timelines, particularly the author specific ones―if available―are a
great guide
for finding when and in what format works were translated into
Japanese. They
include information about publisher, as well as, translator. This also
seems to
be one of the best sources for finding literature that was published in
newspapers and magazines, without using journal or newspaper specific
resources.
Honyaku bungaku published
in books
It
is always a good idea
to start with the National Diet Library’s (NDL) search engine. http://opac.ndl.go.jp/index.html
This has several advantages over other systems. First, you can do
author
searches in English and Japanese. The results often include multiple
spellings
of names, which are often impossible to find otherwise, e.g. Hugo, ヒューゴ,
ヒュゴ.
Second, you can tweak
the settings to display results in reverse chronological ordering, and
adjust
your search in many ways. Finally, this database includes many
educational and
academic works, which are often excluded from other sources. However,
because
the results are a computer generated list, care should be taken to
review it
more thoroughly; particularly as some translations were published over
a span
of years and thus, may defy a strict chronological ordering
Kokuritsu
Kokkai Toshokan ed., Meiji Taisho Showa honyaku
bungaku mokuroku: Kokuritu
kokkai toshokann hen.
Tokyo : Kazama
Shob¯o, Sh¯owa 34 [1959] (Sh¯owa 59 [1984] printing) Z 3308 .T7 K6 1984
Title
in colophon: List of
foreign literary works done
[sic] into Japanese, comp. & ed. by
The National Diet Library.
Part 1
contains entries listed by original
author as transliterated into Japanese.Entries
include: name of author, years lived, country, name of
work,
translator, publisher, year published, name of publication, and name in
original
language. However, this is limited from
the 1912 to 1955. Part 2 is a time line. Indexes include two author indexes; one is for
Russian the other is for all other western languages.
As far as the Meiji era is
concerned, this work is useful only for the timeline―although it does
not seem to
be better
than other sources. However, having
this book handy can help with online searches at the NDL. The contents
are
naturally more limited and outdated then the online database.
Kokuritsu
kokkai toshokan Meiji-ki kankô tosho mokuroku. 6 vols. NDL, 1971-76.
Call no: REF Z955 .T585 K58 1971 M/S: I-18. IHJ: 1018 (Meiji Microfilm)
There are three
main ways to use this database
to find literature in translation:
1) First, in the printed
catalogs
volume 4 (from page 855) there is a section entitled Honyaku bungaku.
This list
is relatively short (useless?) compared to the other sources, but
Columbia has
all of the works listed on microfilm.
2) Second is the CD
terminal in Starr Library. One
relevant search limit in this database is to select bungaku, and then further select honyaku
bungaku (be sure to
scroll to other windows)
3) Finally, there is
the online version of this
database. http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/index.html, which however remains incomplete, particularly for holdings
of translated Western literature. The search engine seems
superior and many of the
works are
available online (this link is listed on Starr’s home page under
Japanese
electronic resources). The online images of the text are clear and can
be
enlarged.
Fukuda,
Naomi Comp., A Biography of Translations: American Works into
Japanese,
1868-1967 (Meiji, Taisho, Showa honyaku
Amerika
bungaku shomoku). Tokyo : Hara Shobo, Showa 43 [1968] Ref
Z1231 .T7 F8 (as of Jan 04 it listed as being in the reference section
on Clio,
but was not really shelved in the reference section).
This work
is the same material found in the
Meiji Taisho Showa honyaku bungaku
mokuroku, listed above. The compilers selected only those works listed
with an
American author, or whose authorship could not be determined. It includes magazines and newspapers only
for Meiji. It excludes translations
founded in academic textbooks. It has a good English title dictionary.
Meiji
Shinbun Zasshi Bunko. Eds,. Meiji
Shinbun Zasshi
Bunko shozo tosho shiryorui mokuroku : Showa 53-nen 3-gatsu genzai. Tokyo Daigaku
Shuppankai, Showa 58 [1983] REF Z3309 .T645 1983
This is a
cataloging of texts in the Meiji
Shimbun zasshi bunko shozou(明
治新聞雑誌文庫所蔵) as of
Showa 56. All entries appear to be in the National Diet Library, so
this
cumbersome catalog is virtually outdated and obsolete.
Kimura, Ki.
Meiji shoki hon'yaku bungaku sen,
kaisetsu. Tokyo : Yushodo
Shoten, 1978. 903.9 K57
This short
pamphlet has
a few
articles on the study of Honyaku Bungaku in the early Meiji period. It
gives
some interesting anecdotes about problems faced by early translators.
It also
has a few essays on Scott, Swift, and Shakespeare.
Kimura,
Ki,
ed. Meiji honyaku bungaku-shuu vol. 7. Tokyo : Chikuma
Shobo, Showa 47 [1972] 910.82
M473 v. 7
This is
the 7th volume in the Meiji
literature collection. It has a few complete texts, including War and
Peace.
The appendix includes a timeline comparable to the others.
There are many secondary works, which
have more
author specific contents. They are not reviewed here but can be found using the following search terms in
Clio.
LC
Subjects:
American
literature--Translations into Japanese--Bibliography.
Literature,
Modern--Translations into Japanese.
Literature--Translations
into Japanese.
Literature--Translations
into Japanese--Bibliography.
Literature--Translations
into Japanese--History and criticism.
Japanese
imprints--Catalogs.
Japanese
literature.
Japanese
literature--Bibliography.
Japanese
periodicals--Bibliography--Catalogs.
Japanese
newspapers--Bibliography--Catalogs.
Meiji
Shinbun Zasshi Bunko--Catalogs.
Translators--Japan--Biography.