Natsume Sōseki’s English Translation of Hōjōki: Characteristics and Strategies

Abstract

This paper examines the English-language translation of Hōjōki by famed novelist Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916). Sōseki’s pioneering translation moved away from previous interpretive readings of the classic, which focused on its Buddhist elements, disaster narratives, and theme of reclusion. Rather, Sōseki’s interest lay in reading Hōjōki as a Romantic Victorian work on nature, to which end he likened its author, Kamo no Chōmei (1153 or 1155– 1216), to English poet William Wordsworth (1770–1850). Sōseki’s English literature professor, James Main Dixon (1856–1933), played a crucial role in the crafting of this novel and radical interpretation, yet the translation and essay present unique views on translation as well, namely that translation simultaneously comprises a critical element of cultural circulation and yet is of dubious efficacy as a mechanism of transference between cultures and languages. In addition to bringing such matters to light, this critical analysis of Sōseki’s Hōjōki translation and essay also shows how important perspectives on translation that would appear later in the novelist’s career actually took shape during his university days.