Since ancient times, China and Japan have influenced and promoted each other linguistically, as has the translation of the Communist Manifesto. Studying the links between the translations of the Communist Manifesto from Japan helps to deepen our understanding of the early spread of Marxism in East Asia.
Overview of the Japanese translation of the Communist Manifesto
In Japan, the introduction and translation of Marx's writings began in the 1890s. His early works include Hidego Fukai's Socialism in The Present (1893), Hisanzo Fukui's Socialism in the Modern Era (1899), and Akimizu Yukitoku's The Essence of Socialism (1903). These works outline the main elements of the Communist Manifesto, which also includes translations of some fragments.
In November 1904, the first Japanese translation of the Communist Manifesto was serialized in the Civilian Press. The translation was translated by Akimizu Yukitoku and Toshihiko Sakai. Since they did not know German, the translation was based on the English translation translated by Samuel Moore and edited by Engels, in a half-text, half-white style. The third chapter, which introduces the doctrines of socialism and communism, omits the third chapter, and is therefore not strictly speaking, the full translation.
In March 1906, Socialist Studies was founded. The first issue published the full text of the Communist Manifesto translated by Akimizu Yukitoku and Sakai Toshihiko. The translation completes the missing chapter III of the 1904 translation and makes a number of changes to the content of other chapters, but is roughly the same as the 1904 version. This is the first full translation in Japanese history and the only legally published full translation in Japan before World War II.
In 1908, the "Red Flag Incident" of the government suppressing socialists occurred in Japan, and Sakai was arrested and imprisoned. Two years later, the "Great Reverse Incident" broke out. At that time, the plan of four socialists to assassinate Emperor Meiji was revealed. The Japanese government prosecuted 26 socialists and anarchists on charges of "endangering or attempting to endanger the Emperor, Empress, and Crown Prince" in the old criminal law. 12 people, including Yukitoku Akimizu, were sentenced to death, and Sakai survived in prison. Since then, the pressure on so-called "dangerous ideas" has increased day by day. Nevertheless, under the influence of the October Revolution and the Taisho Democracy Movement, there was a brief upsurge of socialist movements in Japan around 1920. Kushida Minzo published a translation of chapter 3 of the Communist Manifesto in the magazine Reform in October 1919. The translation is based on the 1906 translations of Akimizu Kotoku and Toshihiko Sakai, with some colloquial rewrites and changes to some proper nouns.
From 1919 to 1922, Kawakami published a number of papers on the materialist view of history in the journal "Social Problems Research", which he founded. These papers have translated, by citation, fragments of the Communist Manifesto. These fragments are translated from the original German language in spoken language. In an environment where it was no longer possible to publish the full translation publicly, and even some translations could be burned, the author had to adopt this form.
Fifteen years later, Sakai retranslated the full text of the Communist Manifesto in 1921. The new translation uses the spoken Japanese language and references the original German language. Under the circumstances at that time, this translation could not be published publicly, but could only be disseminated underground, and was officially published by Zhangkao Academy in 1946. Although the cover is still written on the cover by Yukitoku Akimizu and Sakai Toshihiko, because Yukitoku Akimizu has been killed, the actual translator is only Sakai Toshihiko.
In addition to the translations of socialists and researchers, the Japanese government and state organs also translated the Communist Manifesto for the purpose of repression. In 1919, the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior translated the entire text based on the English translation. In 1925, the department again translated the entire text with reference to the German and English translations. Both translations are in spoken language and do not indicate the translator. Since then, the Ideological Bureau of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sports, Science and Technology has also revised the new translation based on these two translations. It can be seen that although the purpose was different, the Communist Manifesto was also studied in depth within the Japanese government at that time.
Full translation of Akimizu Kotoku and Toshihiko Sakai
As mentioned above, there are three versions of the Japanese translation of the Communist Manifesto, namely the 1904 translation without the third chapter, the full translation of the third chapter published in 1906 and completed, and the full translation of Sakai's retranslation in 1921. We focus primarily on the 1906 full and 1921 reprints, discussing their similarities and differences and their historical significance.
Of the two translations, the translation of the words "bourgeoisie" and "proletariat" is particularly striking. The 1906 translation used the Chinese words "gentleman" and "commoner", while the 1921 translation directly used the transliterated "bourgeois" and "Prolletalya" because the translator believed that "gentleman" and "commoner" could not accurately express the meaning of bourgeoisie and proletariat. As for the other terms, the two translations also reflect the differences. For example, in the translation of the word "exploitation", the 1906 translation used the word plunder, while the 1921 translation used the word extract. In addition, the same translations exist, such as the term "class struggle". Overall, the 1906 translation was more paraphrased and written in a more dignified and elegant manner, while the 1921 translation was mostly literal and more concise and understandable.
These two translations, as examples of the elegant style and the colloquial style, respectively, have had a greater or lesser impact on many subsequent translations. The 1925 translation of the Police Department is almost identical to the translation of the terms by Toshihiko Sakai in 1921, and can be considered to be a reference to Toshihiko Sakai's translation. At the same time, the same mistranslation of the 1906 translation appeared in the Police Department translation, translating "Denmark" as "Netherlands". We speculate that the Police Department translation references both translations.
After the end of World War II, restrictions on the publication of socialist literature were lifted. As of 1963, 12 editions of Yukitoku Akimizu and Sakai's translations were reprinted, revised, and revised. The full translations of Yukitoku Akimizu and Sakai Toshihiko became the source and basis for the subsequent Japanese translation of the Communist Manifesto, and their status was unshakable.
The influence of the Japanese full translation on the Chinese translation
The Introduction of Marxism in China also occurred in the 1890s, and the translation of the Communist Manifesto also went through the process of translating from partial to overall translation. Ma Junwu, Zhao Bizhen, Zhu Zhixin, Song Jiaoren and others have all made introductions and partial translations. From January to March 1908, Tianyi, a newspaper founded by Liu Shipei and He Zhen in Japan, successively published the Preface to the English Translation of the Declaration translated by Minming and the first chapter of the Declaration. It is clearly stated in the translation that it is translated from the Japanese translations of Akimizu Kotoku and Toshihiko Sakai. Unfortunately, Tianyi ceased publication in March 1908, and Heng Pao, which was founded later, failed to publish the remaining translations. The first full translation of the Communist Manifesto, Chinese, was not translated by Chen Wangdao until August 1920. We selected these two Chinese translations and explored their influence on the 1906 Japanese translation through text analysis.
"Therefore today the whole of society is increasingly separated, and from the form of confrontation between the two sides, it is a huge two-class. What is this class? A gentleman, a commoner.". (Minming, 1908)
"The whole of society has now gradually split into two opposing camps, two classes hostile to each other: this is the propertied and the proletarian." (Chen Wangdao, 1920)
Comparing the 1906 Japanese translation, we can find that the Minming translation is highly similar to its style, while Chen Wangdao's translation is not. For the translation of the terms "bourgeoisie" and "proletariat", the Minming translation follows the Japanese translation, using the words "gentleman" and "commoner", while Chen Wangdao's translation is adjusted according to the Chinese, translating as "property owners" and "proletarians". Yukitoku Akimizu and Sakai Toshihiko gave the Chinese words "gentleman" and "commoner" the meaning of "bourgeoisie" and "proletariat". Minming chose to follow the Japanese translation and annotate it, expanding the meaning of these two words in the Chinese and reflecting the communication and influence of the Chinese and Japanese Chinese. At the same time, the Minming translation, like the 1906 Japanese translation, appears with the word "why" (the Japanese translation is "Ran り") that is not found in the Original German and English translations. In addition, the Minming translation also mistranslated "Denmark" to "Netherlands", which shows the deep influence of the 1906 Japanese translation, while Chen Wangdao's translation did not have such an error. In addition, the beginning of the two translations is as follows: "The countries of Europe have different flows in the world, that is, communism is also." (Minming, 1908) "There is a monster that wanders around Europe, and this monster is communism." (Chen Wangdao, 1920)
Apparently, the Minming translation uses the Vernacular form, while the Chen Wangdao translation uses the vernacular language. This may have been influenced by the vernacular movement around May Fourth, because Chen Wangdao himself was one of the forerunners of the vernacular movement. Chen Wangdao's translation was not separated from the influence of the 1906 Japanese translation. From the translation of some words, such as "monster", we can still see that the translation is based on the 1906 Japanese translation. However, Chen Wangdao did not stick to the Japanese translation, but also referred to the English translation, and corrected the errors and inadequacies of the Japanese translation according to the English translation.
Japanese translations of the Communist Manifesto began almost at the same time as China, but the full translation predates China. The 1906 translation of Yukitoku Akimizu and Sakai Laid a good foundation for the Chinese pioneers to translate the Communist Manifesto, but due to the number of translations and other reasons, it also had a bad impact on the Chinese translation. In short, the Japanese translation of the Communist Manifesto has played an irreplaceable role in China's translation and dissemination of the Manifesto and Marxism, and even the founding of the Communist Party of China, providing us with a new perspective for studying the acceptance and spread of Marxism in East Asia.
(Author Affilications:College of Foreign Chinese, Hangzhou Normal University)
Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily Author: Tian Kaihang Sun Lichun