[Special Feature: Yukichi Fukuzawa and Statistics] Ayatoshi Kure and Grimm's Fairy Tales: "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" as a Japanese Folktale / Tomonao Obuchi

2020/06/05

Image: Ayatoshi Kure (Collection of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies)

In 1812, the first edition of "Children's and Household Tales," the so-called Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, was published. Seventy-five years later, in 1887 (Meiji 20), Ayatoshi Kure, known as a statistician, published a small booklet titled "Yatsu-yagi" (Eight Goats) (Kobunsha). It is a beautiful and delightful piece, printed in color and featuring pop-up pages similar to modern pop-up books. Despite being the work of the statistician Kure, "Yatsu-yagi" is a translation of the Grimm fairy tale "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats," and it is one of the earliest Japanese translations of a Grimm fairy tale.

Unfortunately, no records remain explaining why Kure translated this fairy tale at a time when the Grimm Brothers' stories were not yet widely known in Japan. While the circumstances of his encounter with Grimm's fairy tales are unknown, Kure had strong ties to foreign languages from a young age.

Ayatoshi Kure was born in Edo in 1851 as the second son of Koseki Kure, a physician for the Asano clan of Geishu. His father was well-versed in both Chinese and Dutch medicine, and his reputation reportedly reached the ears of Yasuyoshi (Kaishu) Katsu. Influenced by his father, Kure began studying foreign languages at the age of 11 or 12. By the time of the Meiji Restoration, he was studying under Englishmen, and by around age 20, he had acquired enough English proficiency to drop out of Daigaku Nanko (one of the predecessors of the University of Tokyo) simply because the English classes were boring. Furthermore, in his mid-30s, between 1886 and 1887, he decided that English alone was insufficient to master statistics and devoted himself to learning German. He later recalled that although he was "no longer at the age of a student," he "studied German studies with total devotion."

During his educational journey, Kure also studied at Keio University twice. However, the first time, at age 13 or 14, he was frightened by the rowdiness of the Juku and ran away after a week. The second time, in his early 20s, he was ordered to leave the school by Fukuzawa for being too much of a dandy. Kure would later stand at the lectern as a teacher at Keio University, a position he reportedly sought partly to restore his honor from those earlier episodes (Details regarding Ayatoshi Kure's life are based on his own oral account in "For the Children" from "Ayatoshi Kure," published by Takahiro Harada, 1933).

Having acquired English and German in this manner, Kure released "Yatsu-yagi" in September 1887. While it is an unusual work for a statistician, Kure's writing was not limited to the world of statistics; for instance, he also produced an abridged translation of an English introductory astronomy book for children during the Meiji calendar reform.

Kure published "Yatsu-yagi" during the period when he was "studying German studies with total devotion." At the time, most Japanese translations of Grimm's fairy tales were indirect translations from English versions. However, considering this coincided with Kure's period of German study, it is possible that this work was translated directly from German. In fact, one month after the publication of "Yatsu-yagi," Kure published a translation of a specialized statistics book from German, showing that even while still a student of the language, he already possessed more than sufficient German proficiency.

Furthermore, there is another piece of evidence suggesting that "Yatsu-yagi" was a direct translation. Although not by Kure's hand, it is found in the illustrations of "Yatsu-yagi." Figure 1 shows the cover of "Yatsu-yagi" on the left half, and on the right half, an illustration from a collection of fairy tales published in Germany in 1884. Figure 2 shows the opening section of "Yatsu-yagi," and the similarity between the Japanese and German versions cannot be a mere coincidence. Kure likely performed his Japanese translation with this German fairy tale collection on his desk.

So, how did Kure, who had just mastered German, translate the Grimm Brothers' "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats"?

To begin with, the title "Yatsu-yagi" (Eight Goats) features a number of goats that does not match the Grimm tale. Kure's story begins, "Once upon a time, there was a mother goat who had eight children." The number of young goats has increased to eight. Despite his relatively short history with German, this is unlikely to be a mistranslation. There must be a reason for replacing seven with eight. Kure likely replaced the Western number "7" with the more Japanese number "8" to make the story feel more familiar to readers. Additionally, using eight (yatsu) creates an alliteration with goat (yagi), improving the rhythmic flow in Japanese. "Yatsu-yagi" is not a literal translation of the Grimm tale; it was cleverly "Japanized" by Kure in this way.

For the readership of "Yatsu-yagi" at the time, German culture was essentially an unknown culture. To make a distant culture easier to accept, translators of this era employed various creative measures. In Mannen Ueda's "The Wolf," published two years after "Yatsu-yagi," the wolf and goats are depicted in illustrations wearing kimonos. During this period, the reception of Western culture required various forms of Japanization.

Kure's ingenuity was not limited to manipulating the number of young goats. In the story of "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats," the wolf repeatedly devises evil schemes to impersonate the mother goat and attack the young goats. In these scenes as well, Kure applies Japanization for the reader's understanding.

In the Grimm tale, the wolf threatens a baker and a miller to use dough and flour to turn his black paws white so he can resemble the mother goat. However, considering the Japanese readers of the time who were not yet familiar with bread culture, Kure simply has the wolf go to a paint shop to have his paws painted white.

Another memorable scheme involves the wolf eating chalk to make his voice resemble the mother goat's. The act of eating chalk to improve one's voice is not common even in German-speaking cultures, but it would have been a point of clear dissonance for Japanese readers. Kure translated this as "The wolf went to a pharmacy and took medicine to improve his voice," changing it so that anyone could understand it without confusion. While "medicine to improve his voice" is a very rational choice of words, the influence of Japanization can be glimpsed behind it. In the Meiji period, gypsum chalk was common. In the world of Chinese medicine (Kampo), gypsum is used as a crude drug to suppress throat inflammation. It is possible that Kure, whose father was a physician well-versed in Kampo, replaced the German word "chalk"—which the wolf consumes to make his gruff voice supple—with the context of Japanese culture, recalling gypsum as a Chinese medicine and choosing the translation "medicine to improve his voice."

Furthermore, the part where Kure's Japanization is most successful is the mother goat's actions at the very end. In the Grimm tale, the mother goat, whose children except for one have been devoured by the wolf, evokes pity: "After she had cried her fill, the mother goat went outside in her grief." (Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, Vol. 1, translated by Gen Nomura, Chikuma Bunko, 2005). However, the mother goat in "Yatsu-yagi" is different. Upon hearing the details from the surviving kid, she is rather heroic: "Then I shall strike down this enemy of my children; he cannot have gone far yet. Clutching her sewing box, the mother and child together hurried after the wolf's tracks." To avenge her children's "enemy," the mother goat pursues the wolf with her sewing box as a weapon. Furthermore, Kure not only introduced the Japanese element of "revenge" (kataki-uchi) into the Grimm tale but also wrote the text in a rhythmic 7-5 syllable meter reminiscent of Kodan storytelling. This can be seen as a part where Kure's Japanization is extremely prominent.

In this way, despite his relatively short experience with German, Kure employed various techniques to make the story more acceptable to Japanese readers. As a result, it is no exaggeration to say that while the illustrations of "Yatsu-yagi" are Western in style, its content was reborn as a Japanese folktale through Kure's efforts.

Wenceslau de Moraes, who was stationed in Japan at the time and continued to share Japanese culture with his home country of Portugal—and who is sometimes described as a second Lafcadio Hearn—introduced a Japanese folktale titled "The Goat and Her Kids" in Lisbon in 1904. This Japanese folktale, featuring eight young goats, is undoubtedly a Portuguese translation of "Yatsu-yagi." Thus, "Yatsu-yagi" actually became a "Japanese folktale" in Portugal.

A fairy tale published in Germany in 1812 was introduced in the distant land of Japan in 1887, traveled back to Europe, and was introduced as a Japanese folktale in Portugal in 1904. In less than 100 years, a German fairy tale transformed into a Japanese folktale and was re-imported to Europe. At the center of this fascinating cultural phenomenon stands the statistician Ayatoshi Kure, who was in the midst of his German language studies.