TSUBOUCHI SHOYO AND KOIZUMI YAKUMO

Abstract

My object in writing this paper is to disclose the process of the literary intercourse between Shoyo and Yakumo chiefly by Shoyo's diary, the letters which had passed between Shoyo and Yakumo and some pieces of writing in the then Yomiuri newspaper and discuss what meaning their literary intercourse may have today in the era of the international cultural exchange.Yakumo was given the professorship in English literature at Tokyo Imperial University in September, 1896. He, however, was forced to resign his post against his will and left the university in the end of March, 1903, because of the new policy adopted by the university.In 1904 Yakumo accepted a call to the professorial chair of English literture at Waseda University. According to Shoyo's diary, Shoyo first met Yakumo on 9th of March, 1904. After that Shoyo and Yakumo cultivated a close acquaintance with each other rapidly. Shoyo earnestly wished Yakumo to translate some pieces of the Japan's Kabuki dramas into English and introduce them into the Western countries.When Yakumo sent his letter to Shoyo asking him what of the Japan's plays he should translate into English, Shoyo advised Yakumo to translate Chikamatsu's Shinju Ten no Amijima, or The Loue Suicide at Amijima into English by writing Yakumo a long letter in English and by visiting him with Prof. Shiozawa of Waseda University as interpreter for Shoyo in the early evening of July 6th besides. On the other hand, Shoyo learned Yakumo's own view of translating Shakespeare from someone who, I should say, was one of the students whom Yakumo taught at Tokyo Imperial University that the works of Shakespeare should be translated into ordinary speech of Japanese language. After Yakumo's death, Shoyo succeeded in translating Hamlet into colloquial style.Yakumo died feeling in his mind the problem of translating Shinju Ten no Arnijima into English on 26th of September, 1904. Shoyo and his wife are said to have been the first callers for condolences on the day of Yakumo's death. Shoyo deeply grieved over Yakumo's sudden and early death to know that his plan was left unfinished by his death. Probably Shoyo thought, it seems to me, that we, the Japanese, lost our best interpreter of the classical Kabuki dramas to the West in the death of Koizumi Yakumo.