Var är göken? Översättning av japansk haiku

Abstract

The topic of the present paper is to investigate and identify how two translators, Reginald Horace Blyth and David Landis Barnhill, differ in their translation of Japanese haikus by Matsuo Bashô to English. Three focal points of the study are; the translation of haiku rythm, the translation of kireji (a word for separating the haiku) and the translation of kigo (seasonal word). These three components are fundamental parts of Japanese haiku poetry and haiku experience, however there are no set rules on how to translate these haiku components to English.

This study contains a comparative detailed analysis of five of Bashô´s haikus, in translation by Blyth and Barnhill. Sample haikus were selected from Blyth´s books A History of Haiku Vol. 1 (1963) and A History of Haiku Vol. 2 (1964), and from Bashô´s Haiku - Selected Poems of Matsuo Bashô (2005) by Barnhill. In the analysis, focus was kept on the translation of rythm, kireji and kigo. Previous works in the field of translation of Japanese in general, and Japanese poetry in particular, was used as supporting data. Except the analysis, the paper also consists of an outline of the history of haiku, an explanation of the components of haiku and a chapter on the internationalisation of haiku.

The results show that although both the translators claim to have had literal translation as a goal, Barnhill was closer to the original poems in rythm and placement of kireji. This might be due to the fact that almost 50 years of globalisation separate the two translators´ work, and that the styles of haiku in English has changed during this time period.