著者

高梨 健吉

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

現代英米研究 (ISSN:24330736)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.8, pp.1-2, 1973-06-24 (Released:2017-09-07)

著者

高梨 健吉

出版者

日本英学史学会

雑誌

英学史研究 (ISSN:03869490)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1989, no.21, pp.113-127, 1988

---

The legend of Urashima is told in English by several writers. The legend itself has been handed down in several versions. The earliest attempt at introducing this Japanese folk tale to English readers was made by B. H. Chamberlain, when he translated a poem on Urashima from the <i>Manyoshu</i>, the earliest Japanese anthology.<br>His translation was not a prose, but a poem after the manner of an English ballad, which is a favorite style with the English people in reciting the medieval legends. English and Japanese are quite different languages with almost antipodal characters. He believed that the Japanese poetry could be better understood by English readers when rendered in English poetic style. His early translations, including &ldquo;Urashima&rdquo;, was literary, but later his taste changed. He was no longer satisfied with the liberal translation. He wanted to be strictly faithful to the original text.<br>He wrote for English boys and girls four Japanese fairy tales, one of which is &ldquo;Urashima.&rdquo; It is adapted from a popular version of the fisher boy Urashima.