Ulysses [in Japanese: "Yurishīzu," translated by Sei Itō et al., published 1931-1934]. TOGETHER WITH: Doi Kōchi, "Joyce's Ulysses" [in Japanese: "Joisu no Yurishīzu" published 1929 in the academic journal Kaizō]

Tokyo: Daiichi Shobō, 1934. First Edition in Japanese. Very good. Two vols., 8vo (205 x 155 mm). 654; 603 pp., COMPLETE. Original western bindings of flexible blue cloth, original dust jackets (chipped and somewhat soiled, jacket of v.1. with minor mending), later glassine jackets. Text with some foxing, light dampstaining to leaf extremities. Faint pen mark to fore-edge of vol. 2. With the keninshi (検印紙) stamps of authenticity affixed above the colophons of both volumes as a countermeasure against conterfeits. On both of the stamps there is the seal (in red) of the family name (Itō) of the main translator Itō Sei. Overall in very good condition, suitable for exhibition and study. Protective light-blue cloth case. First printing of the first complete edition of Joyce's Ulysses in Japanese, which is at the same time the first complete non-European translation of the work. It also predates the publication of Ulysses in the United States (Random House, 1934) and England (John Lane, 1936).

Partial translations of Ulysses had been published in Japanese literary magazines in the years leading up to Itō's translation. Doi Kōchi (1886-1979) translated and published part of Episode 18 as part of his article "Joisu no Yurishīzu" in Kaizō magazine (Issue 11 Number 2, Feb. 1929) -- of which a copy is INCLUDED IN THE PRESENT OFFERING; this article is widely considered the first (partial) Japanese translation of Ulysses, and the first influential academic introduction of the work to the Japanese.

Volume two contains p. 516-597 which in subsequent printings were usually excised or not printed at all due to censorship; this is, of course, the Molly Bloom soliloquy. In this first printing, "truly offensive" words and some passages were intentionally left blank, but the majority of the text is indeed present. We have learned from Rose Counsell that "The second part of Ulysses, translated by Sei Ito, Sadamu Nagamatsu, and Hisanori Tsujino, was banned on May 30 [Showa 9] 1934 after it was delivered to the Ministry of the Interior because the entire monologue by Mrs. Bloom at the end of the book was 'a depiction of a middle-aged woman's lustful imagination,' which meant that the book was 'banned' for publication for fear of causing 'public disorder.'" (Sone 2002, p. 131).

Both volumes in our set belong to the first printing of the first edition, of which 2,000 copies of vol. 1 were printed, and 1,500 of vol. 2. This Japanese edition was preceded by the plodding translations into German (1927) and French (1929).

This first complete Japanese translation was undertaken by the novelist Itō Sei (1905-1969) with the assistance of Sadamu Nagamatsu and Hisanori Tsujino. Itō is the first truly great Japanese Joycean. He also translated "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in both an expurgated edition (1935) and an unexpurgated edition (1950) for which he and his publishers were tried and convicted for disseminating "pornography." In 1958 Itō produced "Saiban," a novel based on the resulting Chatterley Trials against himself and his publisher. In addition to introducing Western literature to a Japanese readership through his translations, Itō developed the Shin Shinri-shugi ("School of New Psychology") style, which was greatly influenced by Joyce's stream-of-consciousness technique.

REFERENCE: Slocum and Cahoon D91 (not to be confused with D93 ["Not a complete translation"], namely the 209-page volume issued by the same publisher in 1931.

Rarity on the market: currently Messrs. Peter Harrington are offering a copy with a presentation signature from the translator for $16,169. Condition: binding on vol. 2 warped and bowed, both volumes lacking dust-jackets.

Rarity at auction: Rare Book Hub, which currently lists more than 13,570,000 records in the Rare Book Transaction database, locates only ONE copy that has ever appeared at auction, namely the Peter Howard / Serendipity copy: *third* printing of vol. 1, textblock detached from vol. 1, lacking dust-jackets of both volumes, offered at Bonhams (twice) in 2012.

SELECTED LITERATURE:

❧ Ainge, Michael W. "An Examination of Joycean Influences on Itoh Sei." Comparative Literature Studies 30, no. 4 (1993): 325-50.

❧ "About James Joyce's method - 2 - Changes in Joyce's evaluation in Japan," Studies in the Humanities / Josai University Economics Society, Humanities Research Editorial Committee 1980.01, pp. 83-97 (in Japanese:「ジェイムズ・ジョイスの手法について-2-我国におけるジョイス評価の推移」, 城西人文研究 / 城西大学経済学会人文研究編集委 員会 編)

❧ Keiko Wada, "James Joyce and Kobayashi Hideo," Wada, Keiko. "James Joyce and Kobayashi Hideo." Hikaku Bungaku, 31 (1988), iii-xviii.

❧ Hirohoshi Sone, "'Chatarei Fujin no Koibito' to 'Akutoku no Sakae' - Sengo no Honyaku Shōsetsu ("'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and 'Juliette' - Translated Novels of the Post-War Period"), in: Kokubungaku: Kaishaku to Kyozai no Kenkyū ("Japanese Literature: Research on Interpretation and Teaching Materials") 47:9 (July 2002) pp. 131-135.
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OFFERED WITH:

Kōchi Doi, "Joisu no yurishīzu" (Joyce's Ulysses) in a complete issue of Kaizō (Tōkyō: Kaizōsha, Shōwa 4 [February 1929]), vol. 11 no. 2, pp. 24-47 in the first pagination sequence.

This volume of the academic journal Kaizō contains the very important article "Joisu no Yurishīzu" (Joyce's Ulysses) by Doi Kōchi (1886-1979), noted scholar of English literature. It is considered "the first influential academic introduction" of Ulysses to Japan (Ito 2017). In his article Doi also offers selected translations of Ulysses (including a portion of the infamous Molly Bloom soliloquy) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Concerning Ulysses, Kōchi praises Joyce's new writing style and his meticulous planning. This article is ostensibly the first academic consideration of Joyce printed in Japanese, and served as a major influence in the development of discourse on Joyce in Japan.

"Joyce had been already partially introduced to Japan in 1918 by Noguchi Yonejirō, a poet known for his collections of poetry and art criticism published in English. [Joyce] was also mentioned by the author Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, who produced ostensibly the first translation of Joyce into Japanese when he translated a short selection from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1922. Furthermore, in 1925, the poet Horiguchi Daigaku wrote an article for the journal Shinchō discussing Joyce and his use of the 'interior monologue,' explicating its influence on writers in America and England.

"Compared to these earlier explorations of Joyce, Doi's article was the first major scholarly and literary exploration of Joyce that presented the work to Japanese audiences. Doi, who was also known for introducing T.S. Eliot to Japanese audiences, already had a solid scholarly background from which to discuss Joyce. His article was published in Kaizō, one of the major journals of the time. At the time, it was the most extensive translation of Joyce available in Japanese, as it contained lengthy translations from both A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. [...] Furthermore, it also introduced the literary background surrounding Joyce and both A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, as well as the reception given to those works by discussing excerpts from reviews by British newspapers and other modernists, such as Ezra Pound." (Chan, Joyce's Ulysses).

The present article by Doi Kōchi's inspired Itō Sei to turn to Joyce, and his first impressions were published in the 1930 Shi Genjitsu journal. Itō's article was entitled "Jeimuzu Joisu no metōdo 'ishiki no nagare' ni tsuite" (James Joyce's Method: Regarding the 'Stream of Consciousness') and it caught the attention of JOYCE HIMSELF. In 1931, Joyce wrote to Sylvia Beach, expressing his interest in having Itō's article translated into English. "Although this endeavor did not come to fruition, the fact that Joyce himself had paid attention to Itō's article makes clear the importance of Itō's work not only regarding Ulysses, but also regarding the state of Joyce reception in Japan during the 1930s." (Chan, James Joyce's Method).

8vo (217 x 148 mm). Staple-bound as issued. Complete but VERY WORN: stains, chipping to original wrappers and portions of the final text pages with loss, paper stock browning. Pagination: [4], 90, [6], 175, [1], 65, [15] pp.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

❧ Michael Chan, "Joyce's Ulysses (ヂョイスのユリシイズ, Joisu no yurishīzu)" in: Yale Modernism Lab, online.

❧ Ibid., "James Joyce's Method-Regarding the 'Stream of Consciousness'" in: Editing Modernism in Canada, online.

❧ Ito, E. (2017). "United States of Asia": James Joyce and Japan. In A Companion to James Joyce, R. Brown (Ed.), p. 197.