Wakamatsu Shizuko

Wakamatsu Shizuko

Wakamatsu Shizuko ( jap. 若松賤子 * 6. March 1864 in Aizu - han as Matsukawa Kashi ( 松川甲子 ); † 10. February 1896 ) was a Japanese translator, teacher and writer, known for her translation of the novel Little Lord into Japanese.

Life

Wakamatsu Shizuko was born on March 6, 1864, the first daughter of a veteran of the Aizu - hans , but was adopted by a textile merchant from Yokohama , attended the Kidder School ( キ ダ ー 塾 , Kidā Juku , after the founder, the missionary Mary Eddy Kidder) and learned the English language. She later became a teacher at the same school, which had now adopted the name Ferris Girls School ( フ ェ リ ス 女 学校 , Ferisu Jogakkō ). (The current name of the school is: Ferris Jogakuin Daigaku .)

In 1886 she published the travelogue Furuki miyako no tsuto ( 旧 き 都 の つ と ) in the literary magazine Jogaku zasshi . In addition, she began to translate English poems and prose works into Japanese, including The Little Lord and "Enoch Arden" (see Alfred Tennyson ). In 1889 she married the head of the Jogaku zasshi, Iwamoto Yoshiharu . In 1896 she died while translating Sara, the little princess .

Names

As was common in Japan at the time, Iwamoto Kashi didn't have just one name in the course of her life. The name Wakamatsu Shizuko was actually a pseudonym. The real name was Iwamoto Kashi ( 巌 本 甲子 ). She later called herself Kashiko ( 嘉志子 ). The family name up to the marriage with Iwamoto Yoshiharu was Matsukawa ( 松川 ).

Works

The little Lord ( 小 公子 , Shōkōshi )

This is the work that made Wakamatsu Shizuko famous. From August 1890 to January 1892, the translation was published in the Jogaku zasshi , in the style of the Japanese colloquial language, as was common in the early Meiji period for youth literature. Other literary works have traditionally been written in Classical Japanese. A one-volume edition of “The Little Lord” was published in 1897 after the translator's death and contributed to the establishment of youth literature.

• 1890 Wasuregatami ( 忘 れ 形 見 , in: Jogaku zasshi ).
• 1890–92 Enoch Arden ( イ ノ ッ ク ・ ア ー デ ン 物語 , Inoch Āden Monogatari , in: Jogaku zasshi).
• 1896 Omohide ( お も ひ で , in: Shōnen sekai ).

Web links

• digitized works including personal details at Aozora Bunko (Japanese)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Wakamatsu is the family name, Shizuko the first name.