Washed by the waves of Waka Bay: Translating the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds

by Dr. Thomas E. McAuley

Lecturer in Japanese Studies, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, UK

Time: Jan. 29 (Wed), 2020; 12:00-1:00 pm

Location: Asian Centre Room 604

 

The monumental ‘Poetry Competition in Six Hundred Rounds’ (Roppyakuban uta’awase; 1192-93) is the largest extant mediaeval Japanese poetry competition judged by a single individual, Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114-1204), the premiere poet of his age. Its 1200 waka poems, critical comments by the participants, Shunzei’s judgements, and an ‘Appeal’ (Chinjō) against them by the monk Kenshō (1130?-1209?), who strongly disagreed with Shunzei’s assessment of his work, provide an invaluable resource for learning about issues such as: contemporary attitudes to novel and conservative poetic competition; competing views on poetics; the nature of criticism; and the use of diction in the topic-based poetic composition of the time.

Following the recent publication of the first complete English translation and commentary of the work (2020; Brill), this presentation will discuss the constraints and decisions which shaped the production of the final version of the text. It will address the challenges of rendering the text into English while retaining the character and tone of the original, meeting the requirements of the translation to provide both enjoyment and education, and also the expectations of the target readership of a volume of Japanese waka poetry.