<I>The Merchant of Venice</I> and <I>Sakuradoki Zenino Yononaka</I>

Abstract

Shakespeare's name first appeared in Japanese in 1841 in Shibukawa Rokuzo's translation of the Dutch version of Lindley Murray's English Grammar.The first performance of Shakespeare on the Japanese stage was The Merchant of Venice, in 1885, in the Ebisu Theater, Osaka. It was the Kabuki version adapted under the title of Sakuradoki Zenino Yononaka. It has been said that this adaptation is based on Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and rendered by Bunkai Udagawa, but the author wishes to show in the present study that it is based on the original texts of Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice, however, was adapted and outlined from Lamb's version several times. Tsutomu Inoue, for instance, translated The Merchant of Venice in 1883, and titled it Jinniku Shichiire Saiban.The real introduction of Shakespeare began in the 1880s. Keizo Kawashima opened a new phase by publishing his translation of the original version of Julius Caesar in 1883. It was first serialized in Nihon Rikken Seito Shimbun and later compiled into a book titled 'Romanseisuikan' in collaboration with Tenko Komiyama.Thus we may come to the conclusion that Sakuradoki Zenino Yononaka was rendered by Keizo and Tenko.