Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan

By Edward Lipsett on 2018.05.16 10:36 | Permalink

Vampiric:

Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan

Japan has always had its own vampire tradition, and has eagerly naturalized Western vampires and vampire literature to produce exotic new hybrids and species of horror, of terror, and of sensual, exquisite beauty. Here are a few of their masterpieces.

The Japanese word for vampire is kyūketsuki, which translates literally to "blood-sucking monster," but the literary tradition is far, far more complex.
The practice of Buddhism permeates Japan, and burials are almost always by cremation... leaving the Count and his relatives with no coffins to sleep in! But there is more than one way to sip a little blood, as these authors reveal. Thanks to Bram Stoker, Christopher Lee, and countless others who have popularized the Western vampire, modern Japanese authors have an extensive range of traditions and tales to weave into their own creations.

Contents:

Masaya SHIMOKUSU — "A Cultural Dynasty of Beautiful Vampires: Japan’s Acceptance, Modifications, and Adaptations of Vampires"
Reprinted from The Universal Vampire (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013)
INOUE Masahiko—"Blue Lady"
井上雅彦「ブルー・レディ」
translated by Neil WEBB
ASUKABE Katsunori — "Kingdom"
飛鳥部勝則「王国」
translated by Laura Woolley DOMINGUEZ
KIKUCHI Hideyuki — "The Stone Castle"
菊地秀行「石の城」
translated by Jonathan BUNT
OKAMOTO Kidō — "The One-Legged Woman"
岡本綺堂「一本足の女」
translated by Neil WEBB
HIKAGE Jōkichi — "Vampire"
日影丈吉「吸血鬼」
translated by Jo ASH
ASAMATSU Ken — "The Crimson Cloak"
朝松健「緋衣」
translated by Aragorn QUINN
SUNAGA Asahiko — "Vow"
須永朝彦「契」
translated by Irit WEINBERG
KAJIO Shinji — "The Husk Heir"
梶尾真治「干し若」
translated by Ben CAGAN
KAMON Nanami — "A Piece of Butterfly's Wing"
加門七海「蝶の断片」
translated by Angus TURVILL
This translation won the 2011 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.
OKUDA Tetsuya — "Unnatural"
奥田哲也「非業」
translated by Hayley SCANLON
IINO Fumihiko — "Paradise Missing"
飯野文彦「楽園回帰」
translated by Lucy GALBRAITH
FUKUZAWA Tetsuzō — "Dracula’s House"
福澤徹三「ドラキュラの家」
translated by Irit WEINBERG
KONAKA Chiaki — "Birth of a Vampire"
小中千昭「吸血魔の生誕」
translated by Lauren BARRETT
MIKAWA Yū — "Halvires"
三川祐「混血の夜の子供とその兄弟達」
translated by Jonathan BUNT
INOUE Masahiko — "Parasol"
井上雅彦「パラソル」
translated by YAN Yijun
This translation won the 2018 Kurodahan Press Translation Prize.

The majority of the stories in this book were translated through a translation program hosted by the School of Modern Languages at Cardiff University, which culminated in a translation workshop in April 2019. The program is designed to nurture the development of new translators by providing them with hands-on experience in the commercial literary translation process. Translators were paired with mentors experienced in translating fiction for publication and who assisted them in refining their translations.

Additional <information on the translation workshop is available here> as a downloadable PDF. If this all works out, we plan to do more similar workshops in the future.

In addition to the enormous support of Cardiff University for this project, we would also like to thank the following groups for the financial assistance they have provided: