著者

陳 華栄

出版者

人間文化研究機構 国文学研究資料館

雑誌

第42回 国際日本文学研究集会会議録 = PROCEEDINGS OF THE 42nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JAPANESE LITERATURE (ISSN:03877280)

巻号頁・発行日

no.42, pp.1-14, 2019-03-28

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"Kajin no Kigu", a famous political novel in the Meiji era of Japan, was translated into Chinese by Liang Qichao in 1898 and had a great influence on China - which had no genre called political novel until then. Hankei, a nobleminded patriot of the "rebelling Qing dynasty and rebuilding Ming dynasty," is an important character in the novel, along with Tokai Sanshi, Youran, and Coren. Tokai Sanshi, the original author and a politician, propagated his political thought through the novel's characters, especially through Hankei. Correspondingly, when politician Liang Qichao translated "Kajin no Kigu," he adapted many parts according to his own political standpoint, and then included many speeches made by Hankei.For instance, in Volume 2 of the original, there is a scene where Hankei and Tokai Sanshi deliberate about "revitalizing Asia strategy". Hankei approves the idea of Tokai Sanshi by stating, "This is a secret plan in my heart, which is exactly the same as what you said." The "revitalize Asia strategy" that Hankei is agreeing to implies a "shift the Qing Dynasty to the East, division of China into three, raising the spirit of competition and prohibiting the poisonous opium, inspiring the vigour of the people of the Qing Dynasty and exhausting the financial resources of English people to rely on military authority to suppressing India – which would begin Asia's revitalization definitely." This is also the idea of Tokai Sanshi. Liang Qichao translated this as "Between Heaven and Earth, China has jurisdiction over more than four hundred continents - it's certainly a great country in the Universe. Just because politics and diplomacy are not well governed, it leads to periodic setbacks, insults, and failure in revitalizing ourselves. If we can ban the poisonous opium, and inspire the national spirit, it would definitely be the fundamental strategy to revitalize Asia."The common point of the "Kajin no Kigu" research is that it was accompanied by a series of consecutive warfare in Japan during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. The theme and political position of the novel was also changed from Volume 10. However, as shown in the above example, it is also important to consider the socio-political context of Hankei, the speeches made by him, and the fact that Liang Qichao, like Sanshi, exploited Hankei's political thought - through his translation – to further his own beliefs. That being said, I believe that is it imperative to research it. In this research, I would use the speeches made by Hankei and Qichao's translation of those speeches to analyse the deliberate creation of Hankei's character(to further the writer's philosophy), and the way that Qichao then similarly draws upon Hankei's political theory in his translation.