Do Japão a Portugal, por via de Espanha? Os Primeiros Romances Japoneses no Mercado Português

Abstract

ABSTRACT The first Portuguese translations of Japanese novels date from 1906 and 1909, respectively: Nami-ko (Hototogisu) by Tokutomi Kenjirō (1868–1927) and Os 47 Capitães (Iroha Bunko) by Tamenaga Shunsui (1790–1843). These novels, which mark modern Portugal–Japan literary relations, were published without any identification of their source language. Both translations appeared, however, one year after their Spanish counterparts, which in turn are based on English direct translations from Japanese (Nami-ko, 1904; The Loyal Ronins, 1880). The proximity of publication dates of the Portuguese and Spanish translations, the working languages of the Portuguese translators, and the juxtaposition of peritextual elements between the Portuguese and Spanish translations suggest that the latter may have served as the basis for importing Japanese novels into Portuguese. Framed within the external history of translation and based on a paratextual approach, this case study interrogates the pattern of double indirectness underlying the introduction of the Japanese novel in Portugal. By questioning to what extent neighbouring Spain, as a mediation system, helped shape the openness of the Portuguese literary system to Japanese literature, it will clarify the early twentieth-century relations between the Portuguese and Spanish publishing markets in terms of the influence of the latter on the former.