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Feb 15, 2021 (posted viaProZ.com): Just finished a research project statement letter, Japanese to English, 7242 words, for the Art History Department at Essex University....more, + 2 other entries »
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Japanese to English: 'British Tattoo Art Revealed'が与えた2019年「沖縄のハジチ、台湾原住民族のタトゥー 歴史と今」展への影響 General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Source text - Japanese まず、簡単に自己紹介をしたい。私の専門は文化人類学であり、1992年から95年まで、日本の南の海域にある奄美大島と沖縄の各島においてハジチと呼ばれる女性のイレズミについて調査した経験がある。この成果は修士論文と3本の論文としてまとめ、のちに一部を博士論文にも組み込んだ。2000年の博士論文では、19世紀以降の日本と沖縄、アイヌ、植民地であった台湾の人々のイレズミと法的規制の影響について論じた。つまり、筆者の修士論文と博士論文は、これらの地域での彫師とイレズミのある人々の歴史的経験を描き出すものであった。提出後も日本と沖縄、台湾を行き来する形で研究を続けている。
Translation - English First of all, I would like to introduce myself. I specialize in cultural anthropology. From 1992 to 1995 I researched the irezumi tattoos of the hajichi women of Amami-Ooshima and certain islands of Okinawa in the southern coast of Japan. This research is summarised in my Master’s dissertation and three published treatises, and was later incorporated into my doctoral thesis.
My doctoral theses, finalised in the year 2000, focuses on the effect of the law on the culture of tattooing in Japan, Okinawa, the Ainu, and colonial Taiwan from the 19th Century onwards. In other words, in my master’s and doctoral dissertations I have looked to write down the past experiences of the tattoo artists and tattooed people of these regions. To this day I continue my research, travelling between Japan, Okinawa, and Taiwan.
Regarding Okinawans of the south of Japan and the Ainu of the north, there are some who subscribe to the theory of a unified people, who occupied the islands of Japan until the arrival of a group of overseas people who took power over the central region, dividing the original tribe into north and south. We can see a certain cultural commonality in the tattoos of these two people, which to some gives further credence to this theory.
However, even if we generalize and call all Japanese tattoo irezumi, it is an unavoidable truth that there are marked differences between the historical backgrounds and the cultural ideas of each region. Amami and Okinawa, known as the Nansei Islands, were originally within the same cultural area. The Ainu, too, built their own isolated culture. Both were politically incorporated into Japan “proper” from 1870. In this same year, the mainland passed a policy to regulate irezumi. This policy held that irezumi was a barbaric practice, and indeed the very next year, 1871, the tradition held by the northern Ainu people of tattooing around the mouths and hands of young women was summarily banned. In 1899, when the Ryukyu Kingdom formally became Okinawa Prefecture, the hajichi was banned by law. Even in Taiwan, at the time under colonial rule, Japan interfered with the irezumi traditions of the Atayal, the Saisiyat, Paiwan, and Rukai people, causing these traditions to disappear.
Written in Japanese characters, the word hajichi would be written and read as “針で突く” or “to pierce through with needles”. Its method consisted, indeed, of piercing the skin using bundled needles and a mixture of ink imported from China mixed with millet brandy (awamori). In the adjacent Taiwan, they used a technique involving needles inserted into a handle or shaft which would be hit lightly using a hammer to effectively introduce the ink into the skin.
Belonging to the family of Austronesian languages, not only is the technique of the indigenous people of Taiwan different, their cultural meaning also differs. While they coincide in some aspects (for instance, the Atayal people and some Okinawans share the belief that the irezumi become a “passport” to meeting one’s ancestors) the differences stand out more the more one looks at the finer details.
Among the Ainu people, meanwhile, irezumi is carried out by making delicate cuts with a knife and then infusing these cuts with the soot obtained from the bark of the white birch tree. Additionally, there are vestiges that tell of irezumi being used all across Japan up to at least the 7th Century.
Once disrupted, irezumi carved its way into the culture once again. It started to incorporate Ukiyo-e motifs that were considered fashionable. In the Japanese mainland it was practised through several thin needles held in a bundle and tied to a handle, and the word “彫る”, to carve or to engrave, was used to describe the process.
The hajichi itself continued for a while even after being banned, but by the time of investigation the tradition had come to a stop for at least eighty years. The informants interviewed for this research were not the hajichi themselves, but their daughters and granddaughters. What is recorded in the study is not the experience of the subjects, but tradition as it was heard “from mum”, or “from my gran”, or “from the people around at the time.” Though this often made the information in my field notes fragmented, I decided to dedicate my heart to them nevertheless, as “the last investigator” of this topic.
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Years of experience: 10. Registered at ProZ.com: Nov 2020.
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Born in Mexico City, I learned English from a very young age. After living in England and earning both a Master's Degree and PhD in Creative Writing & Literature from the University of Essex, I can safely say my English proficiency is level with that of my native language.
I have been studying Japanese for a long time, and translating professionally for over six years. I have mostly concentrated on translating manga and light novels: pop culture, with all the difficulties that it brings. Japanese pop culture is a shifting and changing background, and a challenge to translate and localise, but it is also the reason I enjoy it so much.
Besides Japanese, I have translated and proofread a number of English documents into Spanish, from Philosophy to engineering. I consider myself a flexible, adaptable worker, up to any challenge the profession might throw at me!
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