Abstract
The Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of the Stone, is regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese literature and has been translated into many languages. Its English translation has been a subject of scholarly interest whereas much less attention is paid to its multiple translations into Japanese. The rich literary connection between China and Japan cannot be overemphasized. From Heian prose to Edo stories, Chinese classical literature has influenced and left its mark on Japanese literature. Considering the towering figure of the Red Chamber in Chinese literature and the significance of literary communication between China and Japan, this paper attempts to bring the Japanese translations of the Red Chamber into focus and map out the itineraries of its journey in Japan. The authors will scrutinize the translators’ educational background and social status to reveal how these factors contribute to the distinct features of each translation and its circulation. It is hoped that the examination of the Japanese translations of the Red Chamber will become a springboard for more research into the vibrant intersection of Chinese and Japanese literature, thus contributing to the fields of translation studies and world literature.
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Notes
- 1.
In 1921, the Chinese scholar Hu Shi (1891–1962) published Hongloumeng kaozheng (a study on the Red Chamber) in which Hu argues that Cao Xueqin only wrote the first 80 chapters of Red Chamber and the last 40 chapters were pseudographs written by Gao E. See Hu Shi, “Hongloumeng kaozheng.” In Mingjia jiedu Hongloumeng [Scholars’ reading of Red Chamber], ed. Zhang Baokun. Jinan: Shandong renmin chubanshe, 1998. Since Hu Shi and the emergence of multiple hand-copied versions, it is almost a consensus that the first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin while the last 40 chapters were by Gao E or someone else. As this study looks into the Japanese translations of Red Chamber, its author(s) and versions are not the concern of this chapter.
- 2.
Nüwa 女娲 is a goddess in Chinese myths and she is said to have created humans and mended the sky.
- 3.
It was normal practice in premodern China for cousins to be married.
- 4.
The Japanese scholar and translator of Red Chamber Itō Sōhei recalls in his essay that Hawkes consulted Itō’s Japanese translation when translating Red Chamber into English. See Itō (1997).
- 5.
Jiu Tanshu, vol. 199, Dong Yi [Eastern Land of Barbarians].
https://zh.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8A.
Access on 19th of October 2021.
- 6.
There were many hand-copied manuscripts of the first eighty chapters in circulation before Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E’s edited 120 chapters printed in 1791. The existent earliest hand-copied manuscript dates to 1754.
- 7.
The Edo Shogunate (1600–1868) forbade international trades other than the trades with China and the Netherlands, and Nagasaki was the only harbour that opened for trade.
- 8.
Yomihon is a genre of literature common in the Edo period and adaptations from Chinese vernacular (baihuawen) novels were quite popular.
- 9.
Perhaps some of the characters and plots of Red Chamber were painted and printed in the Edo era though none of those have survived to the present which also indicates its unpopularity.
- 10.
In fact, Mori Kainan’s research on Red Chamber is even earlier than the “New Redology (xin hongxue)” in China. New Redology refers to the studies on Red Chamber after the May Fourth Movement in 1919.
- 11.
This English translation of “fengyue baojian” is borrowed from David Hawkes. See David Hawkes’ translation of The Story of the Stone.
- 12.
Recall Shionoya On translated the first and the 120th chapter of Red Chamber in 1919.
- 13.
Matsueda Shigeo in his essay “Iwanami bunko to Kōrōmu to watashi to [Iwanami, Red Chamber and myself]” recalls how he was supported by Iwanami Shoten. See Matsueda bunshū [Collective works of Matsueda], vol. 1. Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 1998.
- 14.
Translations of Japanese texts quoted in this chapter, unless otherwise indicated, are the work of the author of this chapter.
- 15.
Lai Shangrong is the son of Lai Da, who is the chief steward of Rong-guo Mansion. In Red Chamber, Lai Shangrong is not an important character who does not have any stories depicted around him.
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Ni, J., Qi, L. (2022). A Translational History of The Dream of the Red Chamber in Japan. In: Qi, L., Tobias, S. (eds) Encountering China’s Past. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0648-0_3
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