Translation in Modern Japan

The role of translation in the formation of modern Japanese identities has become one of the most exciting new fields of inquiry in Japanese studies. This book marks the first attempt to establish the contours of this new field, bringing together seminal works of Japanese scholarship and criticism with cutting-edge English-language scholarship.
Collectively, the contributors to this book address two critical questions: 1) how does the conception of modern Japan as a culture of translation affect our understanding of Japanese modernity and its relation to the East/West divide? and 2) how does the example of a distinctly East Asian tradition of translation affect our understanding of translation itself? The chapter engage a wide array of disciplines, perspectives, and topics from politics to culture, the written language to visual culture, scientific discourse to children's literature and the Japanese conception of a national literature.
Translation in Modern Japan will be of huge interest to a diverse readership in both Japanese studies and translation studies as well as students and scholars of the theory and practice of Japanese literary translation, traditional and modern Japanese history and culture, and Japanese women’s studies.

Indra Levy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University, USA.

Introduction: Modern Japan and the Trialectics of Translation Indra Levy Part I: Critical Japanese Sources 1. Maruyama Masao and Kato* Shu*ichi on Translation and Japanese Modernity Andre Haag 2. Selections by Yanabu Akira 3. From Iro (Eros) to Ai=Love: The Case of Tsubouchi Sho*yo* Saeki Junko translated by Indra Levy 4. On Tenko*, or Ideological Conversion Yoshimoto Takaaki translated by Hisaaki Wake Part II: English-language Scholarship 5. Hokusai’s Geometry Christine M. E. Guth 6. Sounds, Scripts, and Styles: Kanbun kundokutai and the National Language Reforms of 1880s Japan Atsuko Ueda 7. Monstrous Language: The Translation of Hygienic Discourse in Izumi Kyo*ka’s The Holy Man of Mount Ko*ya Miri Nakamura 8. Brave Dogs and Little Lords: Some Thoughts on Translation, Gender, and the Debate on Childhood in Mid Meiji Melek Ortabasi 9. The New Woman of Japan and the Intimate Bonds of Translation Jan Bardsley 10. Making Genji Ours: Translation, World Literature, and Masamune Hakucho*’s Discovery of The Tale of Genji Michael Emmerich Annotated Bibliography Aragorn Quinn