Reinhard Kammer - Zen and Confucius in the Art of Swordsmanship

Volume 8

ZEN AND CONFUCIUS IN THE ART OF SWORDSMANSHIP

The Tengu-geijutsu-ron of Chozan Shissai

Edited and annoted by
REINHARD KAMMER

Translated into English by
BETTY J. FITZGERALD

First published in German in 1969 by Otto-Wilhelm-Barth Verlag under the title Die Kunst der Bergdmonen
This translation first published in Great Britain in 1978 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

This edition first published in 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

1969 Otto-Wilhelm-Barth Verlag
1978 English translation Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-18505-0 (set)
ISBN: 978-1-315-61954-5 (set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-65810-3 (Volume 8) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-61971-2 (Volume 8) (ebk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace

REINHARD KAMMER

Edited and unnoted by
Reinhard Kammer

Translated into English by
Betty J. Fitzgerald

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL
London and Henley

Beginning of the Tengu-geijutsu-ron
Woodcut from the year 1729 (NTSZ)

Samurai training with spears
From an earlier edition of the Tengu-geijutsu-ron (NTSZ)

Fencing positions
From an historical manuscript of the Shint-ry (NBZ)

Reinhard Rammers Die Kunst der Bergdmonen1 presents a unique challenge to the translator. Kammer has translated into German an original Japanese work entitled Tengu-geijutsu-ron by Chozan Shissai, first printed in the year 1729. The translation comprises the second section of his book. The first section, approximately one-third of the entire book, consists of Rammers historical and philosophical background material to the Tengu-geijutsu-ron, together with his own critique and interpretation of the work. The two sections are tightly interwoven and neither is meant to be dealt with in isolation. At the same time, however, each of the two sections is stylistically and contextually distinct from the other.

From the translators viewpoint, the most important aspect of Rammers book is that it contains a translation of a Japanese work which thus requires re-translation into English. It is my belief that re-translations are generally undesirable if the preservation of the style and feeling of the original text is the primary concern of the translator. It is impossible for a translator to maintain that his translation of an original work is a faithful rendition of that original if it is based on another translation. The first translation will unavoidably bear to some degree the mark of the first translator and his emotional, intellectual and cultural environment on the one hand, and the characteristics of the first target language and its ability or inability to render the original work on the other. In terms of the latter point, it is well known that languages have their own unique characteristics and lend themselves more easily to some particular styles and terminologies than to others. This might even serve as the basis for an argument in favour of re-transla-tions, since it may be that an authors style, cumbersome in his native language, might be rendered much more naturally in another language. The same might apply to terminology, as well, where the vocabulary of a second language proves more expressive of the subject area than the texts original language.

The potentials here are particularly intriguing for lyrical and philosophical texts, the former because of certain expressive characteristics such as onomatopoeia or rhythm and the latter for conceptual clarity. Artistic expression, therefore, may be well served by the use of a second language. For scholarly accuracy, however, there seems to be little justification for re-translations unless the original work has been destroyed and can be perpetuated only from existing translations.

In Kammers work the problem presents itself somewhat differently, however. In the first place, Kammers work must be considered and therefore translated as an entity. It would be wrong to extract his translation of the Tengu-geijutsu-ron and substitute for it another translation from the original Japanese. Such an action would challenge Kammers endeavours as an author and a translator and disturb the integrity and continuity of his book. Second, I do not know the Japanese language. Were I then to include an original translation of Shissais treatise into English, it would of necessity be the work of yet another translator for whose accuracy I could not assume full responsibility. As Kammers translator, this would present me with an untenable situation. Thus, I have proceeded with the re-translation of the German into English relying heavily on Kammers interpretation and rendering of the