Aspects of the Chinese-language translation of Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers): Profiling the translator of Haiwai Qitan (Tales of the Strange) and examining his translation style

摘要

There are two types of Chinese-language translations of the Japanese joruri (narrative drama) work "Kanadehon Chushingura" (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers: A Model for Emulation). "Chushingura Engi" (An Adaptation of The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is a work translated by Nagasaki To Tsuji (Japanese interpreters of Chinese located in Nagasaki), and "Haiwai Qitan" (Tales of the Strange, a colloquial Chinese-language translation of Chushingura) is a work completed by a Japanese intellectual. Both works were translated in the Edo Period."Haiwai Qitan" (Tales of the Strange) was long ignored as a Chinese language source, but comparing it with "Chushingura Engi" (An Adaptation of The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) revealed that it depicts the results of a Japanese intellectual learning a foreign language, i.e. Chinese.This paper begins by looking at the heterogeneity of vocabulary found in "Chushingura Engi" (An Adaptation of The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) and the diverse vocabulary found in "Haiwai Qitan" (Tales of the Strange). It then examines how "Chushingura Engi" (An Adaptation of The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is reworked in "Haiwai Qitan" (Tales of the Strange). Finally, the paper profiles the translator of "Haiwai Qitan" (Tales of the Strange) and discusses his translation style.