Translation Within the Polyglossic Linguistic System of Early Meiji-Period Japan

Abstract

During the mid- to late nineteenth century, Japan’s linguistic situation was complicated. There were multiple writing styles and literary authors would select from them based on genre and subject matter. Among the “high” literary styles used by educated people was one called kanbun yomikudashibun-chō (漢文読み下し文調), a style that had developed in imitation of the Japanese adaptations of Classical Chinese texts. This chapter examines the stylistic choices faced by translators as they completed some of the first important literary translations from European languages in the midst of this complicated linguistic system. As case studies, this chapter examines two famous translations dating from 1878: the translation of Jules Verne (1828–1905) by Kawashima Chūnosuke (1853–1938) and the translation of Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) by Niwa Jun’ichirō (1851–1919). Although both were published in the same year, they reveal radically different translation strategies and a profoundly different attitude toward the use of language.