Translation Policies, Material Book Culture and the Contempt for the World in the Early Jesuit Mission in Japan

Abstract

Japanese Jesuit prints of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries bear witness to early attempts to translate both well-known and newly composed texts for the Catholic mission in Japan. The Jesuits followed various translation policies for their missionary project during the “Christian century” in Japan. After 1590, recognizing the importance of the book medium in Japan, they relied on the distribution of their texts mainly in the form of printed books and experimented with the printing of various scripts to represent the Japanese language. This article examines the cultural filters that controlled the selection of the texts to be translated and the manner in which core Catholic teachings were presented. It analyzes missionary letters and reports about translation policies and cultural accommodation as well as selected editions of the Japanese translation of the Contemptus mundi (1596, 1610), a popular devotional book. The analysis shows that the translation policies of the early Jesuit missions in Japan were highly experimental and dynamic.