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Creative Translations of Aynu Chanted-Myths by Mashiho Chiri
SATO-ROSSBERG Nana, March 11, 2011, Sapporodo, 292p.
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last update:20110614
■SATO-ROSSBERG Nana March 11, 2011 Translating Culture: Creative Translations of Aynu Chanted-Myths by Mashiho Chiri, Sapporodo, 292p.■Contents
Endorser by FUJII Sadakazu (Poet, Textual Analysis)I would characterize this book as focusing on 1) Mashiho Chiri and his study on Ainu chanted-myths, 2) his intellectual exchange with poets in Sapporo and the connection to modern Japanese poems, 3) the "original works" of chanted-myths and their origins, 4) "thick translation", and 5) Mashiho Chiri ‘s intellectual exchanges with Kindaichi, Orikuchi, etc. This book shows what Mashiho was excited about, what he struggled with, how he tried to surpass it, and how he fought for it. There have been biographies of Mashiho before, but this book now opens the way for a real evaluation of Mashiho as an academic researcher.
Today's globalized world has awaited for the emergence of a world-leading study of Ainu culture and literature. Mashiho communicated with Japanese poets, and his first "translation" of Ainu chanted-myth was published in a poetry magazine. He also co-authored The Appreciation of Ainu Yukar with Kunio Oda, who is a poet.
What was Mashiho's purpose? What are the "original works"? Even when we study the book of his sister Yukie, The Collection of Ainu Chanted-Myths, we urgently need to ask what the "original works" are. Untranslatability? The struggles of study that troubled Mashiho lead us to a breakthrough of research, which hits the bottom of modernization, through conflict with his mentor, Kindaichi?as if it were performance in translation.
At this moment, the author invokes the concept of "thick translation". I see that this book as a pursuit of the study of Mashiho that becomes thicker and thicker on its own as it engages with academic subtleties.
■Author's Profile
◆SATO-ROSSBERG Nana (University of East Anglia)Obtained her PhD from Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences at Ritsumeikan University in March 2007. Taught Japanese Studies at the Department of Foreign Languages in Tsinghua University in 2007-2008, Beijing, and became Postdoctoral Fellow at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. Currently Postdoctoral Fellow at University of East Anglia (UK). University College London, Centre for Intercultural Studies, Affiliate Academic (2008, 2009, 2010). Teaching at Translation Research Summer School in 2010. Research interest include intergeneric translation (manga - film) non-mother tongue writing; translating oral narratives; cultural translation; and the relationship between translation and power.
◆Major Academic Achievements
She is an editor of Translation Studies (Misuzu, to be published in Autumn 2011); co-editor with WAKABAYASHI Judy Translation and Translation Studies in the Japanese Context (The Continuum International Publishing, forthcoming); co-editor with WATANABE Kozo Translation Studies in the Japanese Context (Report Issued by the Research Center for Ars Vivendi of Ritsumeikan University, Vol.15, December 20, 2010). Her major academic papers include: "La Loi sur la promotion de la culture des Ainous, sur la diffusion et la mise en valeur des connaissances relatives a leurs traditions releve-t-elle d'une politique multiculturelle?'', in DUMOUCHEL Paul (ed.), Multiculturalisme et Nationalisme en Asie (translated by CHICHE Yukiko), Paris: L'Harmattan [in French] (February 2010); "CHIRI Mashiho's Performative Translations of Ainu Oral Narratives", Japanese Studies, Journal of the Japanese Association of Australia: Routledge [in English] (September 2008), and many others.
■Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Mashiho ChiriSection 1: Mashiho Chiri
Section 2: Ainu Place Names and Spaces
Chapter 2: Dialogue with Poets
Section 1: The Background of the Era
Section 2: Genzo Sarashina
Section 3: Torao Kareki
Section 4: Kunio Oda
Chapter 3: The Origin of Ainu Chanted-Myths as the "Original Works"
Section 1: What are Ainu Chanted-Myths?
Section 2: The Original Works of Ainu Chanted-Myths
Section 3: Ainu Shamanism
Section 4: Trace Back the Origin: Shinobu Orikuchi "The Birth of Japanese Literature"
Section 5: Ainu Chanted-Myths and their History
Chapter 4: Dialogue between Mashiho Chiri and Translators
Section 1: What is "Thick Translation"?
Section 2: Kyosuke Kindaichi
Section 3: Comparison with Translation by Bronis?aw Pi?sudski
Section 4: Comparison with Translation by Yukie Chiri
Chapter 5: Mashiho Chiri as a Translator: Conveying to the Future
◆Enquires on the Book: Sapporodo sapporodo[at]jeans.ocn.ne.jp (please change [at] to @)
UP:May 24, 2011 REV:June 13, 2011/June 14, 2011
Translation by HIRAGA Midori
Proofread by KATAOKA Minoru
Translation by HIRAGA Midori
Proofread by KATAOKA Minoru