Genealogical Study of the Genesis of Translation Practice in Japan

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  • 日本における翻訳実践の淵源をめぐる系譜学的考察
  • ニホン ニ オケル ホンヤク ジッセン ノ エンゲン オ メグル ケイフガクテキ コウサツ

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<p> The purpose of this paper is to search for the genesis of kanji and kana mixed writing in modern Japanese, and to clarify the correlation between Japanese notation and the transference of foreign ideas.</p><p> First, I present a brief description of the definition of translation in translation studies. For instance, Schleiermacher suggests that the ideal translation creates an image that incorporates great familiarity with the foreign language, in assigning importance to a sense of foreignness.</p><p> Second, I describe how the Japanese devised and developed an ingenious annotation system called kanbun-kundoku, the method of reading Chinese texts. This method allows Japanese speakers to read original Chinese texts without translation. As a result, critical references to translation were rarely found in intellectual history, until Kokugaku (study of ancient Japanese classics) scholars who studied Japanese classics criticized the kanbun-kundoku method.</p><p> Third, I argue that nationalism is a form of translation. Following the French Revolution, ethnic languages were established as official languages and nationalism was uplifted. Japanese as the standard language became an issue in the elevation of nationalism in the early 20th century. As the result of national language policy, the vernacular languages scattered across the Japanese archipelago were destroyed.</p><p> Fourth, I briefly describe Nishida's idea of pure experience. He conceives of the concrete ground of reality in terms of an immediate state prior to differentiation between the experiencing subject and the experienced object. Against object-centered logic (grammatical subject-predicate), he proposes a perspectival shift away from the objectified object. The shift allows for an unobjectifiable dimension, “the predicate-plane,” which ultimately designates the whole situation. The predicate qua basho (locus) signifies the “universal” as the pre-objective surrounding background. Nishida's analysis of predicate-centered logic suggests the logic implied in Japanese notation, kanji-kana mixed writing. Based on Nishida's logic of the basho, Tokieda proposes a unique grammar which articulates the function of postpositions in the Japanese language.</p><p> Lastly, I discuss the correlation between Japanese notation and the transference of foreign ideas in the history of ideas in Japan. Some critics argue that Japanese have received foreign ideas but have never accepted them. This has been caused partly by the characteristics of Japanese notation. I suggest a shift of framework towards re-positioning the self in the history of ideas in Japan.</p>

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