Gouranga Charan Pradhan | Ryukoku University (original) (raw)
Papers by Gouranga Charan Pradhan
Journal of Waseda International House of Literature, 2024
This essay analyzes British Modernist poet Basil Bunting's poetic adaptation of the Japanese clas... more This essay analyzes British Modernist poet Basil Bunting's poetic adaptation of the Japanese classic Hojoki(1212) and doing so, revisits the problems of untranslatability and ethical consideration towards the Other, as discussed by Gayatri Spivak, Emily Apter, and other theorists. I suggest that the existing frameworks of the postcolonial theory of untranslatability, which for valid reasons focuses on the ethical dimensions, may still be inadequate when (un)translatability has the potential to become a productive tool of world-making.
Religious Studies Review, 2021
アリーナ（ARENA）、vol.20, 中部大学 , 2020
This co-authored review article discusses cultural anthropologist Talal Asad’s latest volume Secu... more This co-authored review article discusses cultural anthropologist Talal Asad’s latest volume Secular Translations (2018) from a postcolonial perspective. After a brief description of Asad’s early scholarship on the theme of cultural translation and his critical perspectives as regards to approaching the Other, this article offers an overview of the main arguments as provided in his latest book, and concludes with a brief comparative analysis of Asad’s stance as regards to postcolonial understanding of the notion of translation with other scholars like Gayatri Spivak and Naoki Sakai.
荒木浩編『古典の未来学 Projecting Classicism』Publisher: 文学通信, 2020
After a brief discussion on the notion of “projection” as it was discussed in the early 20th cent... more After a brief discussion on the notion of “projection” as it was discussed in the early 20th century Western scholarship, this article adopts this theoretical framework in order to unravel how Japanese noted novelist Soseki Natsume’s translation of Hojoki (1891) produced during his under-graduation days shaped, at least to certain extent, one of his theoretical magnum opus “Bungakuron” (1907). It also discusses how contemporary European ideas shaped his own understanding of literature.
『越境する歴史学と世界文学』, 2020
本稿では、グローバル・ヒストリーと世界文学の関係性に触れながら、現在の世界文学論に内在するいくつか根本的な問題点を指摘し、最後に希望の「世界文学」についていささかながら考えてみた。
大阪府立大学人文学会 人文学論集, 2019
This paper discusses the circulation and consequent transformation of a 12th century Japanese cla... more This paper discusses the circulation and consequent transformation of a 12th century Japanese classical work Hojoki in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America and Britain. It also briefly discusses how Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki was involved in making this Japanese text as part of world literature.
This paper examines the English-language translation of Hōjōki by famed novelist Natsume Sōseki (... more 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.
Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki (1212) has a long history of readership. Throughout the history of Japane... more Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki (1212) has a long history of readership. Throughout the history of Japanese
literature, it continuously invited attention, not only from readers in Japan, but also from abroad. It is well
known that Natsume Sōseki translated Hōjōki into English while he was a student at the request of James
Main Dixon, his English literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University. Dixon, building upon Sōseki’s
translation, further authored an article comparing Kamo no Chōmei with English poet William Wordsworth,
and also produced his own English translation. It is owing to the endeavours of these two that Hōjōki became
available to readers in the West for the first time. Hence, in order to study the history of Hōjōki’s reception,
especially its circulation in the West, the insights offered by Sōseki and Dixon are particularly crucial. With
this in mind, the focus in this paper is to deepen our understanding of Hōjoki’s reception through a close
analysis of relevant English language resources that mention this work. We have found, from our study of late
nineteenth century resources, that Hōjōki had already appeared, albeit in fragments, in English-language
literature before Sōseki’s translation. Dixon was perhaps the first Westerner to show a keen interest in
Hōjōki, and his primary thematic interest was the issue of reclusion and solitude. Also, the contents of
Dixon’s talk on Chōmei show that the Western audience appreciated Hojoki and its author from the
perspectives of the Christian cultural ethos. This paper also discusses the intertextual affinity between
Sōseki’s essay and Dixon’s article. It demonstrates how the latter built his arguments based on the former’s
ideas.
Presentations by Gouranga Charan Pradhan
日本における異文化交流は古代に遡るが、近世以前において、少数の例外を除けばそのほとんどが、大陸を中心に行われた。大陸との交流は、多くの場合一方向的なものであり、大陸から日本へと文化の諸様式が輸入... more 日本における異文化交流は古代に遡るが、近世以前において、少数の例外を除けばそのほとんどが、大陸を中心に行われた。大陸との交流は、多くの場合一方向的なものであり、大陸から日本へと文化の諸様式が輸入される形であったが、その主な原因の一つに日中間にあったヒエラルキー的な力関係が働いていたと思われる。そして、開国後も同じような力関係が、幕末から少なくても明治中期ごろにかけて、今度は日本と西洋列強の間で現れた。その状態は、このとき作成された文芸作品の中からも看取できる。その一つの事例として、本研究では、夏目漱石が帝国大学の学生時代に英訳した『方丈記』を取り上げることにする。
漱石は、１８９１年に帝國大学の英文学科の先生であったディクソンの依頼で『方丈記』を英訳した。これによって、この作品が国境を超えて世界文学の仲間入りすることになるが、この英訳の最も興味深いところは、その描写の中にみられる西洋の影響にある。この文化的なハイブリディティ（異種混淆性）は、漱石により西洋の文化を消化することで生じたと思われる。即ち、漱石は『方丈記』の従来の理解と全く異なる観点から、今まで存在しなかった「自然観」という新しいスタンスからこの作品の理解を求めたのである。その背景に、漱石が受けた西洋文学の教育の影響を見逃すことができない。しかし、この英訳を形作った最も主要な原因は、特定の勢力関係にあると思われる。つまり、西洋列強と日本の間にあったヒエラルキー的な地位、次に、日本の高等教育の近代化のために西洋から招かれたディクスン教授と生徒であった漱石の間の師弟関係や、『方丈記』という既にキャノン化された古典作品の権力などが、漱石の英訳に強い影響を与えたと思われる。
本研究では、明治中期という歴史的な時点において漱石により行われた『方丈記』の最初の外国語訳に現れる文化的なハイブリディティや勢力関係に関して考えてみたい。
Translation, from the very outset, forms an indispensable part of Japan’s cultural interactions w... more Translation, from the very outset, forms an indispensable part of Japan’s cultural interactions with the world; first in Sino-Japanese and later in the Japanese-Western contexts. From a historical perspective, Japan’s exchanges with the West during the Meiji era is especially significant. Not only the dynamics at work during this transitory era are reflected in history, but at micro level, translations of literary works also echoes the complexities involved in these transnational interactions and negotiations. Natsume Sōseki, one of the prominent literary figures of modern Japan lived and worked during the Meiji era. His English translation of Hōjōki, a popular medieval classic is one such example that embodies the complex negotiations underneath such transcultural interactions. Sōseki translated Hōjōki at the request of J. M. Dixon (1856-1933), his English literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University. His endeavours freed the work from being a mere domestic canon and set it on a cross-national transmission journey hitherto unknown. But what makes this translation piece more interesting is the negotiations concealed beneath the textual narratives. With Sōseki’s translation as an illustration, I wish to show in this paper an instance of hybridity resulting out of transcultural exchanges, i.e. how Sōseki gave a new reading to Hōjōki hitherto unheard of. The power equations involved in the translation process, not only at the student and teacher level, but at a broader level of Japan enthusiastically embracing the West, was reason for this hybridity. His vulnerable position as a student, has pressed him to do justice to a classic of Hōjoki’s stature, simultaneously making the narrative plausible to a foreign audience. A close examination of the work, I hope will bring up new questions and stimulate discussions regarding such notions as negotiations, transformation in the context of transcultural exchanges between Asia and Europe.
This paper discusses about the unique way Natsume Soseki, a famous literary figure of Meiji Japan... more This paper discusses about the unique way Natsume Soseki, a famous literary figure of Meiji Japan, read and presented Hojoki and how the westerners of Meiji era attempted to understand Hojoki, through the Western cultural perspectives.
Written in the early Kamakura period, Hojoki (方丈記, 1212), a very short work, maintained its popul... more Written in the early Kamakura period, Hojoki (方丈記, 1212), a very short work, maintained its popularity throughout the history of Japanese literature. Over the last century, many scholars have proposed multitude of interpretations concerning the religious thoughts of its author, Kamo no Chōmei, without reaching a definitive conclusion. Notwithstanding its visible Buddhist rubrics, scholars have identified the work in different ways, from being as an autobiographical memoir to a Buddhist literary text and occasionally pointing out its Taoist elements. Likewise, Chōmei has been variously marked as a mere aesthete, a devoted Buddhist and at times a Taoist recluse. This paper is another attempt in same direction, but adopts a new approach to ascertain the nature of the religiosity of Chōmei. While keeping prior studies in mind, my attempt in this paper would be to explore the narratives portraying sensory experiences in Hojoki, in consideration to the socio-religious milieu of medieval Japan. References will also be made to some Buddhist texts of the period that deals with sensory experiences and their corresponding spiritual interpretations. Through close readings, I wish to prove that the depictions concerning bodily sensual experiences in this work is in line with the Buddhist conception of six internal sense bases that reflect the author’s spiritual volition as a devout Buddhist.
This paper discusses about the first translation of Hojoki (1212 AD) into English language. It pr... more This paper discusses about the first translation of Hojoki (1212 AD) into English language. It primarily focuses on the unique way Soseki read and translated this work under the influence of multitude of factors. The timing of his reading - transition period called Meiji, the request upon which the work was done are some of those factors that lead to the unique translation by Soseki.
This paper discusses about the unique way Hojoki, an early 13th century Japanese classic was rece... more This paper discusses about the unique way Hojoki, an early 13th century Japanese classic was received among the overseas readers during the late 19th century.
Conference Presentations by Gouranga Charan Pradhan
Abstract: Exactly after fifty years since Roland Barthes (1915-1980) offered his now famous “Deat... more Abstract: Exactly after fifty years since Roland Barthes (1915-1980) offered his now famous “Death of the Author,” today nobody will deny that a reader has the real authority to construe a piece of art. Barthes, demanded a critical standing for the reader, hitherto shadowed by the towering authorial authority, in producing the narrative of a work in the process of interpretation. Diverse readership experiences become possible due to the unique situation under which each reader negotiate meanings from a text. This paper takes up a medieval Japanese classic called “Hōjōki” as an illustration in order to substantiate Barthes’s claim. Kamo no Chōmei’s “Hōjōki” authored some eight hundred years ago, attracted Western attention amidst the age of Japonism, and the first translation of this work was produced by none other than the famous novelist Natsume Sōseki. Sōseki, under Western influence, presented Hōjōki as a work depicting ‘Nature,’ instead of the traditional interpretations of the work that portrays Buddhist notion of impermanence, disaster narratives and solitude. Few years later, Minakata Kumagusu, the maverick Japanese intellectual, due to his own unique circumstances likened Chōmei as a ‘worshipper of nature.’ While the representation of Hōjōki as a work of nature was undoubtedly produced under Western influences, on the other hand, the reception of this work in the West was shaped by the readings of these two individuals. British readers of Hōjōki like Basil Bunting (1900-1985) trailed the path previously set by Sōseki and Kumagusu, and with this a cycle of cultural circulation completes. This paper is an attempt to ponder over this intricate issue of East-West cultural interactions from the perspective of literary circulations that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Book Reviews by Gouranga Charan Pradhan
Journal of World Buddhist Cultures Vol. 7, 2024
The notion of impermanence (Pali: anicca, Sanskrit: anitya, Japanese: mujō) is a foundational pri... more The notion of impermanence (Pali: anicca, Sanskrit: anitya, Japanese: mujō) is a foundational principle in Buddhist discourse upon which complex metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology have developed over the last two millennia. Impermanence in Buddhism implies that all compounded phenomena are constantly in a state of flux and hence unreliable, unstable, and lacking substantiality. The English word "impermanence" may not sufficiently express the complete meaning with all its connotations, but it captures the notion's core: that constant change constitutes a fundamental reality. There has been a whole body of literature within Buddhist philosophic traditions exploring various aspects of the notion. Likewise, there has been an equally large body of works in the various Asian literary and aesthetic fields exploring the notion as it appears in forms of poetry, prose, paintings, and other artistic genres. In classical Japanese literature, there is an entire genre called mujō bungaku (無常 文学, literature of impermanence), and the notion is found prominently in classical Indian and Sinitic literature too. 1 These artistic works portray phenomenal ephemerality, issues of attachment and nonattachment, and how to reconcile with constant change. As somebody with a keen interest in this theme, the present reviewer found the volume under review highly intriguing. This interest is not so much due to a new addition to the existing body of works on the issue but precisely due to the volume's ambitious aim to complement the lack in the existing body of works. Edited by Haidy Geismar, Ton Otto, and Cameron David Warner Impermanence: Exploring continuous change across cultures carries the conceptual kernel from Buddhism but examines impermanence from fields as varied as anthropology, sociology, history, performing arts, museology, medical anthropology, digital humanities, poetry and so on which we usually don't associate with the notion of impermanence. The book's approach to the problem from a transdisciplinary schema makes this study unique. 1 The prewar Japan witnessed a sort of boom in both philosophical as well as literary debates concerning various aspects of mujō which continued well into the 1960s. Scholars from the Kyoto School (Kyōto-gakuha) like Nishida Kitarō, Kobayashi Hideo, Miki Kiyoshi, Karaki Junzō, and others took active interest in these debates.
Japan Review, Vol.34, 2019
Unbinding The Pillow Book : The Many Lives of a Japanese Classic By Gergana Ivanova
Although " translation " —in its multitude of meanings—always remains a defining aspect of Japan'... more Although " translation " —in its multitude of meanings—always remains a defining aspect of Japan's cultural history, the field of " translation studies " in Japan has yet to receive adequate attention. This is especially true for research covering the early modern era. There is undoubtedly a growing body of related works in the areas of the historiography of textual circulation, characteristics of readership, reception, and canon formation of specific texts in premodern Japan. However, until now we did not have a book-length study that could provide a comprehensive treatment of translation practices covering the whole Tokugawa era. It is in light of this that Rebekah Clements's A Cultural History of Translation in Early Modern Japan is a crucial piece of research that will go a long way to fill the void in this field. Clements's book starts with an introductory chapter in which she defines the term " translation " for the current study, before explaining her primary objectives: to inquire into what was translated (and what was not), what drove translation practices, and what translation strategies were adopted by Tokugawa translators. She rejects the monolithic Western definition of translation, and instead proposes a loose interpretation of the term in order to accommodate the numerous textual practices adopted by Tokugawa scholars, which involved some form of semantic transference. Japanese translation practice thus goes beyond the usual Western notion of faithful and accurate reproductions from a source to target language, and Clements's study covers various Japanese practices: translation from foreign languages such as Dutch and English, vernacular reproductions from classical Japanese texts, and Japanese renditions of Sinitic texts through the kundoku mechanism. The first chapter serves as a background from which the subsequent three chapters are developed. Here, she discusses the socioeconomic and technological transformations that unfolded during the early Tokugawa era, such as urbanization, the rising literacy level, and progress in the commercial print industry. All of these promoted multilingualism, and gave rise to cultural productions through translation. The following three chapters provide an exhaustive treatment of translation within three disparate linguistic traditions: classical Japanese, Sinitic, and Western works respectively. These form the main body of research in this book. The penultimate chapter sheds light on the phase of " crisis translation " experienced during the late Tokugawa period, triggered by the growing threat from Western powers.
Journal of Waseda International House of Literature, 2024
This essay analyzes British Modernist poet Basil Bunting's poetic adaptation of the Japanese clas... more This essay analyzes British Modernist poet Basil Bunting's poetic adaptation of the Japanese classic Hojoki(1212) and doing so, revisits the problems of untranslatability and ethical consideration towards the Other, as discussed by Gayatri Spivak, Emily Apter, and other theorists. I suggest that the existing frameworks of the postcolonial theory of untranslatability, which for valid reasons focuses on the ethical dimensions, may still be inadequate when (un)translatability has the potential to become a productive tool of world-making.
Religious Studies Review, 2021
アリーナ（ARENA）、vol.20, 中部大学 , 2020
This co-authored review article discusses cultural anthropologist Talal Asad’s latest volume Secu... more This co-authored review article discusses cultural anthropologist Talal Asad’s latest volume Secular Translations (2018) from a postcolonial perspective. After a brief description of Asad’s early scholarship on the theme of cultural translation and his critical perspectives as regards to approaching the Other, this article offers an overview of the main arguments as provided in his latest book, and concludes with a brief comparative analysis of Asad’s stance as regards to postcolonial understanding of the notion of translation with other scholars like Gayatri Spivak and Naoki Sakai.
荒木浩編『古典の未来学 Projecting Classicism』Publisher: 文学通信, 2020
After a brief discussion on the notion of “projection” as it was discussed in the early 20th cent... more After a brief discussion on the notion of “projection” as it was discussed in the early 20th century Western scholarship, this article adopts this theoretical framework in order to unravel how Japanese noted novelist Soseki Natsume’s translation of Hojoki (1891) produced during his under-graduation days shaped, at least to certain extent, one of his theoretical magnum opus “Bungakuron” (1907). It also discusses how contemporary European ideas shaped his own understanding of literature.
『越境する歴史学と世界文学』, 2020
本稿では、グローバル・ヒストリーと世界文学の関係性に触れながら、現在の世界文学論に内在するいくつか根本的な問題点を指摘し、最後に希望の「世界文学」についていささかながら考えてみた。
大阪府立大学人文学会 人文学論集, 2019
This paper discusses the circulation and consequent transformation of a 12th century Japanese cla... more This paper discusses the circulation and consequent transformation of a 12th century Japanese classical work Hojoki in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America and Britain. It also briefly discusses how Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki was involved in making this Japanese text as part of world literature.
This paper examines the English-language translation of Hōjōki by famed novelist Natsume Sōseki (... more 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.
Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki (1212) has a long history of readership. Throughout the history of Japane... more Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki (1212) has a long history of readership. Throughout the history of Japanese
literature, it continuously invited attention, not only from readers in Japan, but also from abroad. It is well
known that Natsume Sōseki translated Hōjōki into English while he was a student at the request of James
Main Dixon, his English literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University. Dixon, building upon Sōseki’s
translation, further authored an article comparing Kamo no Chōmei with English poet William Wordsworth,
and also produced his own English translation. It is owing to the endeavours of these two that Hōjōki became
available to readers in the West for the first time. Hence, in order to study the history of Hōjōki’s reception,
especially its circulation in the West, the insights offered by Sōseki and Dixon are particularly crucial. With
this in mind, the focus in this paper is to deepen our understanding of Hōjoki’s reception through a close
analysis of relevant English language resources that mention this work. We have found, from our study of late
nineteenth century resources, that Hōjōki had already appeared, albeit in fragments, in English-language
literature before Sōseki’s translation. Dixon was perhaps the first Westerner to show a keen interest in
Hōjōki, and his primary thematic interest was the issue of reclusion and solitude. Also, the contents of
Dixon’s talk on Chōmei show that the Western audience appreciated Hojoki and its author from the
perspectives of the Christian cultural ethos. This paper also discusses the intertextual affinity between
Sōseki’s essay and Dixon’s article. It demonstrates how the latter built his arguments based on the former’s
ideas.
日本における異文化交流は古代に遡るが、近世以前において、少数の例外を除けばそのほとんどが、大陸を中心に行われた。大陸との交流は、多くの場合一方向的なものであり、大陸から日本へと文化の諸様式が輸入... more 日本における異文化交流は古代に遡るが、近世以前において、少数の例外を除けばそのほとんどが、大陸を中心に行われた。大陸との交流は、多くの場合一方向的なものであり、大陸から日本へと文化の諸様式が輸入される形であったが、その主な原因の一つに日中間にあったヒエラルキー的な力関係が働いていたと思われる。そして、開国後も同じような力関係が、幕末から少なくても明治中期ごろにかけて、今度は日本と西洋列強の間で現れた。その状態は、このとき作成された文芸作品の中からも看取できる。その一つの事例として、本研究では、夏目漱石が帝国大学の学生時代に英訳した『方丈記』を取り上げることにする。
漱石は、１８９１年に帝國大学の英文学科の先生であったディクソンの依頼で『方丈記』を英訳した。これによって、この作品が国境を超えて世界文学の仲間入りすることになるが、この英訳の最も興味深いところは、その描写の中にみられる西洋の影響にある。この文化的なハイブリディティ（異種混淆性）は、漱石により西洋の文化を消化することで生じたと思われる。即ち、漱石は『方丈記』の従来の理解と全く異なる観点から、今まで存在しなかった「自然観」という新しいスタンスからこの作品の理解を求めたのである。その背景に、漱石が受けた西洋文学の教育の影響を見逃すことができない。しかし、この英訳を形作った最も主要な原因は、特定の勢力関係にあると思われる。つまり、西洋列強と日本の間にあったヒエラルキー的な地位、次に、日本の高等教育の近代化のために西洋から招かれたディクスン教授と生徒であった漱石の間の師弟関係や、『方丈記』という既にキャノン化された古典作品の権力などが、漱石の英訳に強い影響を与えたと思われる。
本研究では、明治中期という歴史的な時点において漱石により行われた『方丈記』の最初の外国語訳に現れる文化的なハイブリディティや勢力関係に関して考えてみたい。
Translation, from the very outset, forms an indispensable part of Japan’s cultural interactions w... more Translation, from the very outset, forms an indispensable part of Japan’s cultural interactions with the world; first in Sino-Japanese and later in the Japanese-Western contexts. From a historical perspective, Japan’s exchanges with the West during the Meiji era is especially significant. Not only the dynamics at work during this transitory era are reflected in history, but at micro level, translations of literary works also echoes the complexities involved in these transnational interactions and negotiations. Natsume Sōseki, one of the prominent literary figures of modern Japan lived and worked during the Meiji era. His English translation of Hōjōki, a popular medieval classic is one such example that embodies the complex negotiations underneath such transcultural interactions. Sōseki translated Hōjōki at the request of J. M. Dixon (1856-1933), his English literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University. His endeavours freed the work from being a mere domestic canon and set it on a cross-national transmission journey hitherto unknown. But what makes this translation piece more interesting is the negotiations concealed beneath the textual narratives. With Sōseki’s translation as an illustration, I wish to show in this paper an instance of hybridity resulting out of transcultural exchanges, i.e. how Sōseki gave a new reading to Hōjōki hitherto unheard of. The power equations involved in the translation process, not only at the student and teacher level, but at a broader level of Japan enthusiastically embracing the West, was reason for this hybridity. His vulnerable position as a student, has pressed him to do justice to a classic of Hōjoki’s stature, simultaneously making the narrative plausible to a foreign audience. A close examination of the work, I hope will bring up new questions and stimulate discussions regarding such notions as negotiations, transformation in the context of transcultural exchanges between Asia and Europe.
This paper discusses about the unique way Natsume Soseki, a famous literary figure of Meiji Japan... more This paper discusses about the unique way Natsume Soseki, a famous literary figure of Meiji Japan, read and presented Hojoki and how the westerners of Meiji era attempted to understand Hojoki, through the Western cultural perspectives.
Written in the early Kamakura period, Hojoki (方丈記, 1212), a very short work, maintained its popul... more Written in the early Kamakura period, Hojoki (方丈記, 1212), a very short work, maintained its popularity throughout the history of Japanese literature. Over the last century, many scholars have proposed multitude of interpretations concerning the religious thoughts of its author, Kamo no Chōmei, without reaching a definitive conclusion. Notwithstanding its visible Buddhist rubrics, scholars have identified the work in different ways, from being as an autobiographical memoir to a Buddhist literary text and occasionally pointing out its Taoist elements. Likewise, Chōmei has been variously marked as a mere aesthete, a devoted Buddhist and at times a Taoist recluse. This paper is another attempt in same direction, but adopts a new approach to ascertain the nature of the religiosity of Chōmei. While keeping prior studies in mind, my attempt in this paper would be to explore the narratives portraying sensory experiences in Hojoki, in consideration to the socio-religious milieu of medieval Japan. References will also be made to some Buddhist texts of the period that deals with sensory experiences and their corresponding spiritual interpretations. Through close readings, I wish to prove that the depictions concerning bodily sensual experiences in this work is in line with the Buddhist conception of six internal sense bases that reflect the author’s spiritual volition as a devout Buddhist.
This paper discusses about the first translation of Hojoki (1212 AD) into English language. It pr... more This paper discusses about the first translation of Hojoki (1212 AD) into English language. It primarily focuses on the unique way Soseki read and translated this work under the influence of multitude of factors. The timing of his reading - transition period called Meiji, the request upon which the work was done are some of those factors that lead to the unique translation by Soseki.
This paper discusses about the unique way Hojoki, an early 13th century Japanese classic was rece... more This paper discusses about the unique way Hojoki, an early 13th century Japanese classic was received among the overseas readers during the late 19th century.
Abstract: Exactly after fifty years since Roland Barthes (1915-1980) offered his now famous “Deat... more Abstract: Exactly after fifty years since Roland Barthes (1915-1980) offered his now famous “Death of the Author,” today nobody will deny that a reader has the real authority to construe a piece of art. Barthes, demanded a critical standing for the reader, hitherto shadowed by the towering authorial authority, in producing the narrative of a work in the process of interpretation. Diverse readership experiences become possible due to the unique situation under which each reader negotiate meanings from a text. This paper takes up a medieval Japanese classic called “Hōjōki” as an illustration in order to substantiate Barthes’s claim. Kamo no Chōmei’s “Hōjōki” authored some eight hundred years ago, attracted Western attention amidst the age of Japonism, and the first translation of this work was produced by none other than the famous novelist Natsume Sōseki. Sōseki, under Western influence, presented Hōjōki as a work depicting ‘Nature,’ instead of the traditional interpretations of the work that portrays Buddhist notion of impermanence, disaster narratives and solitude. Few years later, Minakata Kumagusu, the maverick Japanese intellectual, due to his own unique circumstances likened Chōmei as a ‘worshipper of nature.’ While the representation of Hōjōki as a work of nature was undoubtedly produced under Western influences, on the other hand, the reception of this work in the West was shaped by the readings of these two individuals. British readers of Hōjōki like Basil Bunting (1900-1985) trailed the path previously set by Sōseki and Kumagusu, and with this a cycle of cultural circulation completes. This paper is an attempt to ponder over this intricate issue of East-West cultural interactions from the perspective of literary circulations that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Journal of World Buddhist Cultures Vol. 7, 2024
The notion of impermanence (Pali: anicca, Sanskrit: anitya, Japanese: mujō) is a foundational pri... more The notion of impermanence (Pali: anicca, Sanskrit: anitya, Japanese: mujō) is a foundational principle in Buddhist discourse upon which complex metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology have developed over the last two millennia. Impermanence in Buddhism implies that all compounded phenomena are constantly in a state of flux and hence unreliable, unstable, and lacking substantiality. The English word "impermanence" may not sufficiently express the complete meaning with all its connotations, but it captures the notion's core: that constant change constitutes a fundamental reality. There has been a whole body of literature within Buddhist philosophic traditions exploring various aspects of the notion. Likewise, there has been an equally large body of works in the various Asian literary and aesthetic fields exploring the notion as it appears in forms of poetry, prose, paintings, and other artistic genres. In classical Japanese literature, there is an entire genre called mujō bungaku (無常 文学, literature of impermanence), and the notion is found prominently in classical Indian and Sinitic literature too. 1 These artistic works portray phenomenal ephemerality, issues of attachment and nonattachment, and how to reconcile with constant change. As somebody with a keen interest in this theme, the present reviewer found the volume under review highly intriguing. This interest is not so much due to a new addition to the existing body of works on the issue but precisely due to the volume's ambitious aim to complement the lack in the existing body of works. Edited by Haidy Geismar, Ton Otto, and Cameron David Warner Impermanence: Exploring continuous change across cultures carries the conceptual kernel from Buddhism but examines impermanence from fields as varied as anthropology, sociology, history, performing arts, museology, medical anthropology, digital humanities, poetry and so on which we usually don't associate with the notion of impermanence. The book's approach to the problem from a transdisciplinary schema makes this study unique. 1 The prewar Japan witnessed a sort of boom in both philosophical as well as literary debates concerning various aspects of mujō which continued well into the 1960s. Scholars from the Kyoto School (Kyōto-gakuha) like Nishida Kitarō, Kobayashi Hideo, Miki Kiyoshi, Karaki Junzō, and others took active interest in these debates.
Japan Review, Vol.34, 2019
Unbinding The Pillow Book : The Many Lives of a Japanese Classic By Gergana Ivanova
Although " translation " —in its multitude of meanings—always remains a defining aspect of Japan'... more Although " translation " —in its multitude of meanings—always remains a defining aspect of Japan's cultural history, the field of " translation studies " in Japan has yet to receive adequate attention. This is especially true for research covering the early modern era. There is undoubtedly a growing body of related works in the areas of the historiography of textual circulation, characteristics of readership, reception, and canon formation of specific texts in premodern Japan. However, until now we did not have a book-length study that could provide a comprehensive treatment of translation practices covering the whole Tokugawa era. It is in light of this that Rebekah Clements's A Cultural History of Translation in Early Modern Japan is a crucial piece of research that will go a long way to fill the void in this field. Clements's book starts with an introductory chapter in which she defines the term " translation " for the current study, before explaining her primary objectives: to inquire into what was translated (and what was not), what drove translation practices, and what translation strategies were adopted by Tokugawa translators. She rejects the monolithic Western definition of translation, and instead proposes a loose interpretation of the term in order to accommodate the numerous textual practices adopted by Tokugawa scholars, which involved some form of semantic transference. Japanese translation practice thus goes beyond the usual Western notion of faithful and accurate reproductions from a source to target language, and Clements's study covers various Japanese practices: translation from foreign languages such as Dutch and English, vernacular reproductions from classical Japanese texts, and Japanese renditions of Sinitic texts through the kundoku mechanism. The first chapter serves as a background from which the subsequent three chapters are developed. Here, she discusses the socioeconomic and technological transformations that unfolded during the early Tokugawa era, such as urbanization, the rising literacy level, and progress in the commercial print industry. All of these promoted multilingualism, and gave rise to cultural productions through translation. The following three chapters provide an exhaustive treatment of translation within three disparate linguistic traditions: classical Japanese, Sinitic, and Western works respectively. These form the main body of research in this book. The penultimate chapter sheds light on the phase of " crisis translation " experienced during the late Tokugawa period, triggered by the growing threat from Western powers.
〈翻訳不可能なものの翻訳〉をめぐる、ポストコロニアル研究を牽引してきた最前線の研究者たちによる一大総括にして、新たな出発点 2020年2月、ポストコロニアル研究の世界的思想家がニューヨークに集... more 〈翻訳不可能なものの翻訳〉をめぐる、ポストコロニアル研究を牽引してきた最前線の研究者たちによる一大総括にして、新たな出発点
2020年2月、ポストコロニアル研究の世界的思想家がニューヨークに集結。異文化の間、政治と文化の間、男女の間など、いたるところに翻訳不能なものはある。それを超えたところに翻訳は成り立つのか。人間関係の他性、理解不能性の根源を問う、日文研主催の国際会議の成果。
This monograph traces a part of the Western reception history of Hōjōki in late nineteenth and ea... more This monograph traces a part of the Western reception history of Hōjōki in late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and doing so tries to reposition this work, hitherto confined to the Japanese literary repertoire, as world literature. It employs translation theories, world literature theories and postcolonial conceptions to show how asymmetrical power relationship transforms textual narratives all the while resulting particular kinds of subjectivity in the subjects, such as Natsume Sōseki, Minakata Kumagusu, Takayanagi Tozo, F. V. Dickins, F. V. Hadland, and Basil Bunting in the context of this book, involved in various stages of textual circulation.