The Life and Translation of a Bilingual Meiji Man: My Great Grandfather Paul M. Kanamori (1857-1945)

Born in Kumamoto in Kyushu in the late Edo Period, Paul Kanamori was one of the first Japanese to receive a liberal arts education in English. Educated at Kumamoto Yogakko (the Kumamoto Western School), he converted to Christianity. Expelled from Kumamoto, he, with other Yogakko students, went to Kyoto in 1876, to become a student at Doshisha English School (now Doshisha University). His life there and his relationship with the founder of the school Joseph Neeshima and Neeshima’s wife Yae, was the subject of last year's NHK Sunday drama series “Yae no Sakura (Yae’s Cherry Blossoms)."

Paul Kanamori was the speaker's mother's mother's father. In this talk, the speaker will first discuss his autobiography. She will then go on to examine his translation, both in the context of the Meiji Era and from the perspective of a professional translator working now, a century later, with focus on the dramatic changes in language and writing style between these two periods.

対象者:一般、歴史・翻訳史に興味のある人

昨年のNHK大河ドラマ「八重の桜」に熊本バンドの一員として登場した曽祖父金森通倫の生涯と翻訳についてお話しします(講演は英語です)。