LANGUAGE | BILINGUAL
Blue Sky Books is a literary treasure trove
BY DANIEL MORALES
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Learning to read Japanese is the most daunting part of studying the language. It’s helpful to have a 先輩 (senpai, older student) or a teacher to walk you through some of your first few texts.
The online literature repository 青空 文庫 (Aozora Bunko, Blue Sky Books) is a different sort of ally in the battle for Japanese literacy. Aozorais a インターネットの電子 図書館 (Intānetto no denshi toshokan, electronic internet library) that contains works of literature in the public domain. These are works by authors who have died and the 70-year posthumous period of their copyright passed. Volunteers transcribe the texts and upload the files to make them available on the internet.
There is a huge range of literature from well-known authors suitable for readers at different levels. It’s fun to browse, but the site can sometimes be intimidating and frustrating; you can spend more time looking for something to read than you do actually reading. Allow me to provide a few suggestions.
For those just getting started, you can find a number of easy-to-read fables, including one by the feminist novelist and poet 林芙美子 (Hayashi Fumiko) titled 鶴の笛 (Tsuru no Fue, “The Crane’s Flute”).
The language is simple and the story is straightforward. A flock of cranes suffers during a famine. 気の早い鶴はみんな旅仕度をして遠くへ飛んでゆきました (Ki no hayai tsuru wa minna tabijitaku o shite tōku e tonde yukimashita, “All the excitable cranes prepared to travel and flew off far away”).
This leaves a pair of lonely cranes who provide a quick lesson on using の (no) in place of が (ga) in relative clauses. 足の悪い鶴 (ashi no warui tsuru, the crane with a bad leg) is left behind with his wife. The no may seem unnatural — as opposed to 足が悪い or おなかがすいた — but you’ll pick up on this pattern quickly.
The cranes, also referred to as おなかの すいた二羽 (onaka no suita niwa, two hungry cranes), manage to struggle through with the power of the 笛の音色 (fue no neiro, the sound of the flute) after the husband crane discovers the flute, and the story provides a nice if a little saccharine moral: みんな愛し あってゆきましょう (minna aishiatte yukimashō, “let’s all love one another”).
You can also find classics from authors like 夏目漱石 (Natsume Soseki). His こころ (Kokoro, “Heart/Soul”) is from 1914, but you might be surprised how clear some of the language is. The narrator begins by describing his relationship with the Sensei: 私はその人を常に先生と呼んでいた (Watakushi wa sono hito o tsune ni sensei to yonde ita, “I always called that person sensei”).
For many years, Haruki Murakami’s 夜の くもざる (Yoru no Kumozaru, “The Night of the Spider”), a collection of “super short” stories, has been a tempting challenge for translators. The 36 stories contained in the collection are so short and funny that many aspiring translators have tried to post a complete translation online — only to receive take-down notices from Murakami’s representatives.
Soseki’s 夢十夜 (Yume Jūya, “Ten Nights of Dreams”), a short collection of 10 surreal stories, also available on Aozora, provides an interesting alternative. The stories are great practice, and you won’t receive any challenge from Soseki.
Actually, writer and translator Matt Treyvaud initially published his translations of Soseki’s public domain works on a blog before being hired by Dover Publications to do a new official translation of Yume Jūya.
Treyvaud’s lucid prose accurately captures the creepy feel of the original, such as this encounter with a ghostly woman in the first of the 10 dreams: 静かな声でもう死にますと 云う(Shizuka na koe de mō shinimasu to iu, “I am dying, she said in a quiet voice”). Treyvaud also shows that it’s best to render Japanese in natural English rather than to overthink the Japanese construction. The best example of this is the phrase that begins several of the dreams: こんな夢を見た (konna yume o mita, “This is what I dreamed”).
Texts on Aozora can also provide a better sense of the historical experience of Japanese. For example, poet and essayist 片山広子 (Katayama Hiroko) writes about the ravages of インフレ (infure, inflation) in her 1953 essay コーヒー五千円 (Kōhii go sen en, ¥5,000 Coffee).
But the most interesting historical resource is by far author 太宰治 (Dazai Osamu). Many of Dazai’s nonfiction texts on Aozora detail the war experience.
In 東京だより (Tokyo Dayori, “Dispatch from Tokyo”) he gives an account of women working in factories and provides this wonderful description of visiting a factory: ただ 算盤の音と帳簿を繰る音が爽やかに聞こえて、たいへん気持のいい眺めなのでした (Tada soroban no oto to chōbo o kuru oto ga sawayaka ni kikoete, taihen kimochi no ii nagame nano deshita, “It was an incredibly pleasant scene; I could hear only the crisp sounds of the abacus and the turning of pages in the ledgers”).
In 春 (Haru, “Spring”), Dazai details a bombing that wrecks his house, yet brings him to a somewhat ironic conclusion about life at the age of 37: 戦争のおかげで、やっと、生き抜く力を得たようなものです (Sensō no okage de, yatto, ikinuku chikara o eta yō na mono desu, “Thanks to the war, I, finally, seemed to gain the strength to survive”).
When things get bad enough, Dazai writes about evacuating his family from Tokyo in 海 (Umi, “The Sea”), motivated by the desire to show his daughter the ocean at least once before the war has a chance to kill him. The daughter’s reaction when she finally gazes upon the sea from a train is hilariously child-like, but I won’t spoil it for readers.
If you’re pressed for time, Dazai has one story that is a mere 111 characters — less than a tweet! In 田舎者 (Inakamono, “Country Bumpkin”) he brags about exactly how much of a bumpkin he is.
Aozora is a treasure chest for Japanese readers. The bonus is that because the texts are all digital, unfamiliar words and grammatical constructions can easily be copied and pasted into online dictionaries and search engines. Once you’ve finished the above recommendations, you should dig through other authors and see what you find. Happy hunting!
後半
一代茶聖千利休 ((D))
導演：
田中光敏
主演：
市川海老藏
中谷美紀
大森南朋
福士誠治
伊勢谷友介
成海璃子
市川團十郎
| (2013)改編自日本直文學大作《利休之死》，還原一代茶聖千利休之死歷史真相。為什麼只是單純的擺設茶席、評鑑茶具，卻會讓利休觸怒豐臣秀吉，甚至遭到賜死的命運？ 千宗易以獨特的風格，在茶界大放異彩，被豐臣秀吉收為茶頭。天皇賜號「利休」，意思是：「銳利也要適可而止」。 十九歲前，他叫千與四郎，是(土界)一間魚舖老闆的兒子。十九歲時，他殺了一個擁有纖白手指的女人，隨後出家，法號宗易。 他站在「美」的頂端，只要被他認可的事物，就是極品的保證。而在茶席上展現前所未有的侘茶風情之餘，利休也藉由茶席間的氛圍，屢次為豐臣秀吉的野心推波助瀾，建下奇功，但高傲的秀吉也對他不斷被推崇的榮耀感到威脅... 為什麼只是單純的擺設茶席、評鑑茶具，卻會讓利休觸怒豐臣秀吉，甚至遭到賜死的命運？讓秀吉垂涎不已的綠釉香盒是什麼來歷、讓利休無論如何也不願交出？利休在十九歲殺死的女人又是誰？他又為什麼將茶室設計得越來越窄？所有的答案隨著茶人的一生漸漸浮現，而利休之所以能將「美」展現得無懈可擊，背後竟是一段讓他終生悔恨追憶的年少愛戀。 |
讀張漢裕教授所譯的R. H. Tawney《中國的土地與勞力》（1995，協志工業叢書；原書1929年出版 Land and Labour in China by R. H. Tawney），其中有許多話很重要：
「．．．國家所需要的是受過教育的人，不是沒受過教育的畢業生，…再不可為了大量生產而犧牲內容。應該側重教學生自己思考──這是比較費力的事．．．」（中譯本，pp. 206 -207）
Tawney真是名家，他對於中國現代化的整體建議是引《浮士德》中的一句詩為喻：『設非自己心靈出，何得精神助你與 (興)。』意思是：若非從你自己心中湧出，你不能得到什麼使你心靈更爽健。（p. 209）
約1995，我第一次從中文本悟出的關鍵字眼：
one thing is needful:
Luke 10
. 41But the Lord answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: 42but one thing is needful: for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
| 38他們走路的時候，耶穌進了一個村莊。有一個名叫瑪爾大的女人，把耶穌接到家中。 |
| 39她有一個妹妹，名叫瑪利亞，坐在主的腳前聽他講話。 |
| 40瑪爾大為伺候耶穌，忙碌不已，便上前來說：「主！我的妹妹丟下我一個人伺候，你不介意嗎？請叫她來幫助我罷！」 |
| 41主回答她說：「瑪爾大，瑪爾大！你為了許多事操心忙碌， |
| 42其實需要的惟有一件。瑪利亞選擇了更好的一分，是不能從她奪去的。」 |
The adjective needful has one meaning:
Meaning #1: necessary for relief or supply
Synonyms: needed, required, requisite
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