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Article published In: Target
Vol. 37:3 (2025) ► pp.360–383

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Canonizing Arthur Waley, rewriting Murasaki Shikibu

The Japanese back-translations of Waley’s The Tale of Genji

ORCiD logo with link | Guangxi University
ORCiD logo with link | RMIT University
Published online: 30 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.23158.cha
Abstract
This article examines the two Japanese back-translations of Arthur Waley’s English rendition (1925–1933) of Murasaki Shikibu’s 源氏物語 Genji monogatari ‘The tale of Genji’ to underscore the complexities of back-translation as process and product. The back-translations by Samata Hideki (2008–2009), and Mariya, Marie, and Moriyama Megumi, trans. 2017. 源氏物語：アーサー・ウェイリー [orig. The Tale of Genji]. Four1 volumes. Tōkyō: Sayūsha.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar are clearly attempts to reinvigorate the millennium-old Japanese tale and renew interest among the domestic readership, but they also serve to canonize Waley’s version. It is important that these two back-translations be read against a long history of successful translations of the novel — both intralingual and interlingual — to see the peculiarities of the new textual interventions. Unlike what usually happens with translations in general, the back-translators engage with two source texts (by Shikibu and by Waley) instead of one. Through close textual analysis, this study aims to demonstrate how back-translations can be an ideal site for exploring issues related to rewriting, canonization, retranslation, and textual authority in historical and cultural contexts.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Genji and the national canon
  • 3.Waley’s Genji as world literature
  • 4.Two approaches to translating in reverse
  • 5.Responses to Waley’s textual infidelities: “Yūgao”
  • 6.Translating against two originals: “Momoji no ga”
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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