David Jenkins (16) (1943–2000)

These are not translations so much as interpretations, many of them unfounded and frankly laughable. Take poem #482:

いかで　麿
播磨守の童して
飾磨に染むる搗の衣着む

Moriguchi and Jenkins render this (p. 125) as:

That man
that fine young man
who serves the Lord Harima
I want
I want to have
I want to have him
have him
give me
a dress
dyed deep blue,
the kind
the kind they make in Shikama.

(Unfortunately I'm unable to preserve the formatting here.)

Although several poems in Ryojin hisho do in fact display this kind of repetitive nesting of words, this one does not. Why create something that is not there, not even hinted at being there? I can understand the appeal of a free translation, but this is too far off the mark.

As a point of comparison, Gladys Nakahara (2003) translates this poem as:

Somehow, with the help of a child servant of the governor of Harima,
I'd like to wear a Shikama robe dyed in dark blue

Not nearly as fancy, but at least it doesn't try to be something it's not.

Unfortunately Moriguchi and Jenkins' volume is marred by countless similar problems. (Appeals to various buddhas are translated as "My Lord," and at one point "God" is used as a translation of "kami" -- whoops.) It's too bad because this is the most readily available "translation" of Ryojin hisho, a tremendously interesting work (and the only reason for giving this volume two stars).… (más)