#arthur waley

[moonshinemagpie]

idk I just think it's neat that Arthur Waley taught himself Classical Japanese and Classical Chinese out of books and realized that racism was stupid. In 1930s England.

[poemoftheday]

Poem of the Day 13 March 2025

LODGING WITH THE OLD MAN OF THE STREAM by BAI JUYI TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY

Men’s hearts love gold and jade;

Men’s mouths covet wine and flesh.

Not so the old man of the stream;

He drinks from his gourd and asks nothing more.

South of the stream he cuts firewood and grass;

North of the stream he has built wall and roof.

Yearly he sows a single acre of land;

In spring he drives two yellow calves.

In these things he finds great repose;

Beyond these he has no wish or care.

By chance I met him walking by the water-side;

He took me home and lodged me in his thatched hut.

When I parted from him, to seek market and Court,

This old man asked my rank and pay.

Doubting my tale, he laughed loud and long:

“Privy Councillors do not sleep in barns.”

[sparklemotioneer]

Turning from thought to emotion, the most conspicuous feature of European poetry is its pre-occupation with love. This is apparent not only in actual “love-poems,” but in all poetry where the personality of the writer is in any way obtruded. The poet tends to exhibit himself in a romantic light; in fact, to recommend himself as a lover.

The Chinese poet has a tendency different but analogous. He recommends himself not as a lover, but as a friend. He poses as a person of infinite leisure (which is what we should most like our friends to possess) and free from worldly ambitions (which constitute the greatest bars to friendship). He would have us think of him as a boon companion, a great drinker of wine, who will not disgrace a social gathering by quitting it sober.

To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions. These he reserves entirely for friendship.

Accordingly we find that while our poets tend to lay stress on physical courage and other qualities which normal women admire, Po Chü-i is not ashamed to write such a poem as “Alarm at entering the Gorges.” Our poets imagine themselves very much as Art has portrayed them—bare-headed and wild-eyed, with shirts unbuttoned at the neck as though they feared that a seizure of emotion might at any minute suffocate them. The Chinese poet introduces himself as a timid recluse, “Reading the Book of Changes at the Northern Window,” playing chess with a Taoist priest, or practising caligraphy with an occasional visitor. If “With a Portrait of the Author” had been the rule in the Chinese book-market, it is in such occupations as these that he would be shown; a neat and tranquil figure compared with our lurid frontispieces.

A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY CHINESE POEMS - TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY

[a-ramblinrose]

JOMP BPC || January 30 || Freebie:  The Book of Songs translated by Arthur Waley

[falseandrealultravival]

Lao Tzu's best translation annotated by Tamaki Ogawa (Essay)

I am not ashamed to claim that Lao Tzu is the best book in the universe. This is an essential book for the world of the future. Legend has it that Lao Tzu was Confucius' senior, but it is reasonable to think that he was written much later than Confucius, in the 200s B.C., around the time of Mencius, and was written after knowing various ideas of ancient China. I guess it was. It is the culmination of ancient Chinese thought.

In areas where Chinese characters are cultured, such as Japan, China, and Korea, there is the advantage of being able to read Lao Tzu in its original text. This is something that Westerners cannot do and is a privilege of East Asians. Among them, the translation and annotation of Lao Tzu by the Japanese Chinese scholar Tamaki Ogawa is unrivaled. By the way, Tamaki Ogawa is the younger brother of Hideki Yukawa, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, and Hideki Yukawa was also familiar with Lao Tzu.

Let me point out the excellent points of Tamaki Ogawa's translation and annotations.

1) Accurate and easy-to-understand translation notes.

2) He boldly incorporates the views of Arthur Waley, a British researcher on Lao Tzu that other Japanese translators and annotators ignore, and makes his annotations solid and valid.

3) The explanation about ``proper nouns'' in the notes made me realize the fact that ``Lao Tzu hardly ever uses proper nouns,'' and I learned about Lao Tzu's careful ability to construct sentences. This is a clear departure from the Bible, which overuses proper nouns and tends to cause unnecessary conflicts.

4) The writing gives a sense of Lao Tzu's passionate soul.

For now, I will mention these four points. Tamaki Ogawa is a top-level Lao Tzu commentator.

Rei Morishita

老子最良の訳注者：小川環樹（エッセイ）

私は、「老子」を宇宙最高の書と主張して恥じない者である。これからの世界に必須の書である。老子は、伝説では孔子の先輩にあたるが、実際には孔子よりずっと後の時代、紀元前２００年代、孟子の頃に書かれたと考えるのが妥当で、古代中国の諸思想を知ったうえで執筆されたのだろう。古代中国思想の集大成なのだ。

日本、中国、韓国などの漢字文化圏では、「老子」を原文で読めるというメリットがある。これは欧米人には中々出来ないことで、東アジア人の特権である。中でも日本の漢学者：小川環樹による「老子」訳注は、他の追随を許さないものがある。ちなみに小川環樹は、ノーベル物理学賞受賞者の湯川秀樹の実弟で、湯川秀樹も「老子」に詳しかった。

小川環樹の訳注の優れた点を挙げてみよう。

正確で解りやすい訳注。

日本の他の訳注者が無視しているイギリスの老子研究者：アーサー・ウェイリーの見解を大胆に取り入れ、その訳注を強固で妥当性のあるものにしている。

注にあった「固有名詞」についての解説で、「老子にはほとんど固有名詞が出て来ない」という事実を認識させられ、老子の周到な文章構成能力を知った。固有名詞を乱用し、要らぬ争いの元となりやすい聖書とは一線を画する。

老子の熱いソウルを感じさせる記述になっていること。

とりあえず、この４点を挙げておく。小川環樹は、最上級の「老子」解説者だ。

[maggiecheungs]

I am tired of clapping with only echoes to answer me.

The Tale of Genji, trans. Arther Waley

[luckystarinsky]

"Who says That it’s by my desire, This separation, this living so far from you? My dress still smells of the perfume that you wore; My hand still holds the letter that you sent."

Wu-Ti, People Hide Their Love. Translated by Arthur Waley

[batgovernor]

Odd poem: 'Changsha' by Mao Zedong

Odd poem: ‘Changsha’ by Mao Zedong

Alone I stand in the autumn cold On the tip of Orange Island, The Xiang flowing northward; I see a thousand hills crimsoned through By their serried woods deep-dyed, And a hundred barges vying Over crystal blue waters. Eagles cleave the air, Fish glide under the shallow water; Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom. Brooding over this immensity, I ask, on this bondless land…

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