The issue of 'First Person Singular' of Japanese literature

It is the title of a collection of short stories from Murakami Haruki, published last year (2020 and 2021 in English). He didn't say anything about its linguistics of 'First Person Singular' at all. He talked as Boku, one of the forms of 'I' in the Japanese language.' Boku' is mainly used by small boys, young men, and sometimes young girls who want to escape from the yoke of women. Or, some men, despite being old enough, use it pretending to be young. In the translation, 'Boku' is replaced with 'I', 'my' or 'me' without such nuances. This issue started in one of the most popular Japanese novels, 'I am a Cat' by Natsume Soukeki. Its original title is 'Wagahai ha Neko dearu' in Japanese. 'Wagahai' is 'I' with a nuance of arrogance. 'ha and dearu' is 'is' in an old literary style. 'Neko' is simply a cat. So the title 'I am a Cat' in English doesn't have any nuance of arrogance nor any literary style. As a leading character and a storyteller, a cat arrogantly declared, "I am a Cat," but in reality, getting depressed, it confessed, "I don't have a name yet," in the following sentence. Its gap catches readers' forelocks. Many of you familiar with the Japanese language may know that there are so many expressions of 'I' in Japanese. According to Wikipedia, there are about fifty expressions, including 'Boku' and 'Wagahai', depending on counting. The most basic one is 'Watashi', but there will be a difference in nuance by using Kanji or Hiragana even in this case. In the process of translation into English or other foreign languages, translators would support these nuances and authors' intentions with some suitable literary styles and expressions. Moreover, in the Japanese language, it is often for 'First Person Singular' as the subject word to be omitted, which is similar to Spanish like 'Tengo dolor de cabeza. (I have a headache.)' As an example, you might know, the first sentence of 'Grass Pillow', "Going up a mountain track, I fell to thinking." (THE THREE-CORNERED WORLD, written by Natsume Souseki translated by Alan Turney). In Japanese, "Sakamichi wo nobori-nagara, kou kangaeta." 'Sakamichi' is 'a mountain track'. 'nobori-nagara' is 'Going up'. 'kou kangaeta' is 'I fell to thinking.' For your information, 'kou' means 'in this way' but is omitted. In this sentence, there is no 'I', either. In this novel, the main character's name does not appear until the end. The protagonist calls himself 'Yo', which is one of the expressions of 'I'. In Edo period dramas, Shougun Yoshimune uses 'Yo' in place of 'I'.
Now let's get to the theme. There is a novel 'Sagano Meigesu ki' written by Tsuji Kunio, which unfortunately has not been translated into English or other languages. I have tried the translation of it as 'A Good Moon Rising in Sagano (tentative title)', but it is not authorized. Many of you don't know Tsuji Kunio, because only one of his major novels was translated into English and published. It is 'The Signore : Shogun of the Warring States'. It is good, but I am afraid it is not one of his best works. There are 'The Crowning of Spring (Haru no Taikan)', 'Julianus the Apostate (Haikyousha Yurianusu)', 'The flowery Epic of Saigyou (Saigyou Kaden)', and many others you have to read and enjoy. Why have those not been translated? I suppose the reason is that they are very long novels and difficult in content to be translated. Tsuji Kunio was a prominent scholar of French literature and gave lectures on Japanese literature in French at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle of Paris. I wish he had written or translated his novels in or into French or English by himself. In this 'A Good Moon Rising in Sagano', the voices of three men begin to mutter from within the darkness. In other words, the story consisted of three men's monologues in the 17 century. The First Voice is of Hon'ami Kouetsu. He was hailed as one of the three master calligraphers of the Kan'ei period [1624-44]. He speaks using 'Watakushi' as 'I'. The Second Voice is of Tawaraya Soutatsu. He is internationally famous for his painting, National Treasure 'Wind God and Thunder God Screens (Fujin Raijin Zu Byoubu)'. It is a pair of two-fold screens Ink and color on gold-foiled paper. He speaks using 'Ore' as 'I'. The third voice is of Suminokura Soan. He was a wealthy merchant and art connoisseur. He published Sagabon, luxurious books in collaboration with his friends, the painter and calligrapher Hon'ami Kouetsu, and the painter Tawaraya Soutatsu.　He speaks using 'Watashi' as 'I'. Hon'ami Kouetsu was near the samurai class. So he was rather serious and used 'Watakushi'. Tawaraya Soutatsu was an artist and so wild that he omitted 'I'. Suminokura Soan was a competent businessman and normal. Then he used 'Watashi' as 'I'.
For example;The First Voice;"Watashi ha mou sudeni jubun ikinagaraete kitayouni omou." "I think I've survived long enough already."The Second Voice;"Ore ha nanimo motteha oranu." "I don't have anything at all."The third voice;"Watashi ha chichini an'nan ikiwo soudansitakotoga atta." "I had talked to my father about going to An'nam."
Three men speak with 'I'. These plain English translations can not make the differences among these three types of 'I' evident. So, translators have to try to select sentence styles and proper words. Then I did an experimental method of translation. For the first voice, I put the sentences including 'I' into those without 'I' by using another subject or putting them into the passive. Then, "I think I've survived long enough already." became "My life is already long enough for me." For the second voice, I omitted 'I' forcefully from the sentences. "I don't have anything at all." became "Don't have anything at all." For the third voice, the translation concerning 'I' is usual. This method will be criticized severely. I should be resigned to any reproach. But I think it is the start of a new method against these problems.

Fujita Iori

Tokyo Japan

May 25th, 2021

PS: Vessel of Sorrow

wisteriafield.jp

A new interpretation is needed for the Bullet Cluster.

It will show the unnecessity of Dark Matter.

These two galaxy clusters A & B collided recently (150 million years ago). B is the Bullet Cluster. It is said that this Bullet Cluster provides the best current evidence for the nature of dark matter.

f:id:wisteriafield2019:20210411034650j:plain

One important fact is that almost all galaxies and stars keep staying inside of their own original galaxy-clusters. Only their gas lumps collided and heated up, and were emitting X-ray, but were stripped off between two galaxies.
Then, some questions arise.
Q1: Time has already passed 150 million years. How these two gas lumps can keep their shapes without the gravity of their original galaxy clusters?
Q2: Why didn't these two gas spread away because of their heated-up high pressure? Of course, these two gas lumps have their own masses. But they are not enough to keep them stay as they were.
Q3: The mass of gas is about one-sixth of its whole galaxy mass. One-sixth is still big. Even though, why are there no indications of masses of the gas through the investigation of the gravitational lensing?
Q4: Why is not the loss or gain kinetic energy or momentum of each gas lump equivalent? MBgas and 'db' are smaller than MAgas and 'da'. 'da' must be much smaller, or 'db' should be bigger.

wisteriafield2019’s blog

"Democracy" a Japanese textbook for students made just after the end of the world war 2.

The issue of 'First Person Singular' of Japanese literature

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A new interpretation is needed for the Bullet Cluster.

It will show the unnecessity of Dark Matter.

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Chabuca limeña( Manuel Alejandro)

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