Translating performance: reconsidering the dichotomy between hon’an and hon’yaku in Tsubouchi Shōyō’s Shakespeare theatre translation

Adaptation (hon’an) and translation (hon’yaku) of Shakespeare’s plays are the key strategies that the Meiji literati endorsed to appropriate Shakespeare’s cultural heritage. In the works of Shakespeare’s first Japanese translator and critic, Tsubouchi Shōyō, there is a shift from “loose adaptation” of Western dramas (including Shakespeare), which was the most popular mode of staging Shakespeare’s works from the 1880s, to quasi-verbatim translation of his plays, which, in Shōyō’s outlook, had virtually substituted any other means of adaptation by the first two decades of the twentieth century. This shift clearly reflects the increasing awareness of Japanese intellectuals of the need to acknowledge the greatness of Shakespeare as a playwright as well as the importance of creating a new concept of modern Japanese drama upon the premise of giving relevance to the text and the author. It also fosters Shōyō’s view of theatre translation technology as a means to guide readers to an understanding and appreciation of actual dramatic performance. Adapting Shakespeare’s plays in Japanese was an occasion for Shōyō to foster in his contemporaries a rethinking of the theatrical genre, redefining its borders and the overall value. His critical essays, particularly during the latter stage, reveal Shakespeare’s pivotal role in the development of Japanese drama. We shall present, therefore, excerpts from diverse essays by Shōyō in order to tackle the fundamental question of the overall significance of Shakespeare’s reception in the cultural context of Modern Japan.