Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IMPACTRANS (The Impact of Translator Prominence: Celebrity Translators and their Indirect Translations in Meiji Japan)
Reporting period: 2025-02-01 to 2026-01-31
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
The Meiji period is a historically important period in Japanese literary studies and translation studies, as this was when translation played a significant part in the development of modern Japanese literature, and when women translators first began gaining recognition. Moreover, this period was crucial to the establishment of the distinctively Japanese, celebrity translator phenomenon. The Impact of Translator Prominence: Celebrity Translators and their Indirect Translations in Meiji Japan (IMPACTRANS) investigates the relationship between translators’ prominence and the translations they produced, by considering three distinct features in the development of Japanese literary culture during this period: indirect translations (i.e. translations produced by relays of translators); celebrity translators who first emerged during this period, and whose fame had a material impact on their translation choices; the Japanese literary establishment which was formed during this period and was male-dominated. Many of the indirect translations in this period were adaptations and were produced by celebrity translators. Literary critics considered these works in terms of quality, and they were more commercially popular than direct translations produced by non-celebrity translators, who focused on preserving the foreign features of the source texts. Thus, indirect translation is historically important for the development of Meiji literary culture. This project considers this phenomenon, and experiments with James Hadley’s ‘concatenation effect hypothesis’ (2017) which posits that indirect translations in general tend away from including source culture-specific elements and away from acknowledging their own nature as translations. Digital Humanities methodologies play a central role in this experiment. The key research questions are “do translators’ social statuses relate to their indirect translation approaches?”; and “how do translation approaches differ between celebrity and non-celebrity translators”.
The overall aim of IMPACTRANS is to produce solid historical evidence of the relationship between indirect translations and the translators who produced them, in order to discover 1) whether translator prominence had any part in defining the translators’ actions (e.g. freedom in the choices of translation strategies); 2) whether it had any impact on how indirect translations were produced; and 3) whether the translators’ gender had any impact on the above processes.
Research Objectives (ROs): The following objectives are designed to address the overarching research objectives of testing the ‘concatenation effect hypothesis’ on indirect translations produced by celebrity translators in Meiji Japan:
RO 1: To determine whether translator prominence had any part in defining the translators’ actions in 3 steps by: 1) defining the notions of translator celebrity phenomenon; and the concatenation effect hypothesis (WP1, TCD); 2) creating a database of translators (names, genders, the source and mediating languages involved) who produced indirect translations in Meiji Japan (WP1, WUT); 3) identifying and investigating the celebrity translators who translated indirectly during this period (WP1, WUT). RO 2: To determine if translator prominence had any impact on how indirect translations were produced in 3 steps by: 1) identifying the features of the concatenation effect in the celebrity translators’ indirect translations (WP2, WUT); 2) establishing the relationship between the translators’ prominence and their approaches to indirect translation (WP3, TCD); 3) amassing evidence indicating whether the interaction between translators’ celebrity status, gender and indirect translation implies that translator status in general is a pertinent factor that must be considered in studies of the concatenation effect hypothesis (WP3, TCD).
RO 3: Discover whether the translators’ gender had any impact on the above processes in 2 steps by: 1) comparing the results of RO 1 (Step 3) between male and female translators (WP1, WUT); 2) comparing the results of RO 2 (Step 1) between male and female translators (WP2, WUT). No research to date has experimented with the methodology used in this project. I have developed new skills required for carrying out the project through training (e.g. using OCR software). The methodology used for each research Work Package (WP) is aligned to the ROs (see above) in order to make them measurable and verifiable. Sourcing the data on all 503 translators who were active at some point during this period (Hadley 2017, 562) is beyond the scope of this project. I am working on producing a database of around eighteen prominent translators who produced substantial work which are included in The Complete Works of Meiji Period Translated Literature: Translator Edition.
This project is designed to help me pursue my academic career goal, which is to become a professor within Europe with expertise in Digital Humanity (DH) in the area of translation studies in Japanese contexts. In general, East Asian contexts are under-represented in the discipline of translation studies. Thus, the knowledge and skills I have developed through this project allow me to contribute to the advancement of translation studies as a whole, especially as its focus on DH has been growing in recent years (Wakabayashi 2019). Furthermore, the results of this project improve my employability, including teaching Japanese subjects, translation studies and East Asian studies beyond Europe, including Japan where translation studies courses heavily centre on practical translation and have very little focus on translation theory and literary translation. In addition, the interdisciplinary nature of this project, the use of DH which produces a freely shareable large dataset, and the research network I have developed creates collaborative opportunities with experts beyond translation studies or academia. Furthermore, the transferrable skills I have developed also widen my career options beyond academia, in activities such as data management roles in archival department at libraries, marketing roles in publishing businesses, posts in event organising teams or research services in academic institutions.
The project pathway to impact is made through dissemination, exploitation and communication activities. My project has so far contributed to the advancement of Literary Translation Studies and Japanese Translation Studies by emphasising the importance of considering the human aspects of literary translation, such as the roles of translators beyond the act of translation, which traditionally dominates research in this field. Examples include, presenting a paper entitled "Prominent Translators of the Meiji Period: Exploring the Commercial Impact of Their Fame on the Reception of Foreign Literature" at the 17th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS), which demonstrated the significance of examining translator status in the historical study of literary translation. Similarly, the conference "What We Talk About When We Talk About Haruki Murakami’s Translators: Their Roles and Significance," which I organised in collaboration with The Haruki Murakami Library, the School of International Liberal Studies (WUT), and Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation (TCD), promoted the field of literary translator studies. The event also fostered dialogue between scholars and practicing translators. Additionally, the event, attended by 284 participants, emphasised the importance of examining how translators’ gender may influence their professional practice and how power dynamics between major and minor languages affect the production and circulation of translated literature.
The impact of all Dissemination/Communication events have been monitored using impact metrics including but not limited to the number of attendees, citations, views of an article, likes/follows/retweets, website hits and the plan has been adjusted accordingly. Exploitation: In the final process of producing this research, I will refine and develop the existing analytical model for use in the Japanese contexts. The new version of the model I produce, which may be applied to wider linguistic contexts, will be made available to other researchers with a creative commons license that will require acknowledgement be given. I will survey the current research in translation studies which could make a use of this analytical model and identify the potentials for its commercialisation. Support for the above will be given by the TCD Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and the ADAPT commercialisation team, including the IP Manager, who will review the project for IP once the final results are produced. An exploitation plan will be created by month 30, and will contain the defined strategy for exploitation of results originated by this research. I will also take part in the ADAPT Industry Showcase which brings together industry partners (e.g. Microsoft, IBM). Additionally, given that there is a growing interest among publishers in expanding their market globally (e.g. the Frankfurt Book Fair hosted 7,450 exhibitors, 302,267 visitors in 2019 (Driscoll & Squires 2020, 5)), commercialisation of literature will attract stakeholders. Dissemination activities are directed to the research community in translation studies, literary studies, Japanese studies, East Asian studies, DH, practicing translators and industry. I aim to make results available to the research community and contribute to increasing my research as a leading female researcher in line with my training plan. The results of WP1 have so far been disseminated through the social media accounts (e.g. X, LinkedIn), large conferences (e.g. the 17th EAJS International Conference), seminar presentations (e.g. Nihon University). In addition, a journal article, which has been drafted, will be submitted to the most relevant academic journal in my area (i.e. Japan Forum).
The overall aim of IMPACTRANS is to produce solid historical evidence of the relationship between indirect translations and the translators who produced them, in order to discover 1) whether translator prominence had any part in defining the translators’ actions (e.g. freedom in the choices of translation strategies); 2) whether it had any impact on how indirect translations were produced; and 3) whether the translators’ gender had any impact on the above processes.
Research Objectives (ROs): The following objectives are designed to address the overarching research objectives of testing the ‘concatenation effect hypothesis’ on indirect translations produced by celebrity translators in Meiji Japan:
RO 1: To determine whether translator prominence had any part in defining the translators’ actions in 3 steps by: 1) defining the notions of translator celebrity phenomenon; and the concatenation effect hypothesis (WP1, TCD); 2) creating a database of translators (names, genders, the source and mediating languages involved) who produced indirect translations in Meiji Japan (WP1, WUT); 3) identifying and investigating the celebrity translators who translated indirectly during this period (WP1, WUT). RO 2: To determine if translator prominence had any impact on how indirect translations were produced in 3 steps by: 1) identifying the features of the concatenation effect in the celebrity translators’ indirect translations (WP2, WUT); 2) establishing the relationship between the translators’ prominence and their approaches to indirect translation (WP3, TCD); 3) amassing evidence indicating whether the interaction between translators’ celebrity status, gender and indirect translation implies that translator status in general is a pertinent factor that must be considered in studies of the concatenation effect hypothesis (WP3, TCD).
RO 3: Discover whether the translators’ gender had any impact on the above processes in 2 steps by: 1) comparing the results of RO 1 (Step 3) between male and female translators (WP1, WUT); 2) comparing the results of RO 2 (Step 1) between male and female translators (WP2, WUT). No research to date has experimented with the methodology used in this project. I have developed new skills required for carrying out the project through training (e.g. using OCR software). The methodology used for each research Work Package (WP) is aligned to the ROs (see above) in order to make them measurable and verifiable. Sourcing the data on all 503 translators who were active at some point during this period (Hadley 2017, 562) is beyond the scope of this project. I am working on producing a database of around eighteen prominent translators who produced substantial work which are included in The Complete Works of Meiji Period Translated Literature: Translator Edition.
This project is designed to help me pursue my academic career goal, which is to become a professor within Europe with expertise in Digital Humanity (DH) in the area of translation studies in Japanese contexts. In general, East Asian contexts are under-represented in the discipline of translation studies. Thus, the knowledge and skills I have developed through this project allow me to contribute to the advancement of translation studies as a whole, especially as its focus on DH has been growing in recent years (Wakabayashi 2019). Furthermore, the results of this project improve my employability, including teaching Japanese subjects, translation studies and East Asian studies beyond Europe, including Japan where translation studies courses heavily centre on practical translation and have very little focus on translation theory and literary translation. In addition, the interdisciplinary nature of this project, the use of DH which produces a freely shareable large dataset, and the research network I have developed creates collaborative opportunities with experts beyond translation studies or academia. Furthermore, the transferrable skills I have developed also widen my career options beyond academia, in activities such as data management roles in archival department at libraries, marketing roles in publishing businesses, posts in event organising teams or research services in academic institutions.
The project pathway to impact is made through dissemination, exploitation and communication activities. My project has so far contributed to the advancement of Literary Translation Studies and Japanese Translation Studies by emphasising the importance of considering the human aspects of literary translation, such as the roles of translators beyond the act of translation, which traditionally dominates research in this field. Examples include, presenting a paper entitled "Prominent Translators of the Meiji Period: Exploring the Commercial Impact of Their Fame on the Reception of Foreign Literature" at the 17th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS), which demonstrated the significance of examining translator status in the historical study of literary translation. Similarly, the conference "What We Talk About When We Talk About Haruki Murakami’s Translators: Their Roles and Significance," which I organised in collaboration with The Haruki Murakami Library, the School of International Liberal Studies (WUT), and Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation (TCD), promoted the field of literary translator studies. The event also fostered dialogue between scholars and practicing translators. Additionally, the event, attended by 284 participants, emphasised the importance of examining how translators’ gender may influence their professional practice and how power dynamics between major and minor languages affect the production and circulation of translated literature.
The impact of all Dissemination/Communication events have been monitored using impact metrics including but not limited to the number of attendees, citations, views of an article, likes/follows/retweets, website hits and the plan has been adjusted accordingly. Exploitation: In the final process of producing this research, I will refine and develop the existing analytical model for use in the Japanese contexts. The new version of the model I produce, which may be applied to wider linguistic contexts, will be made available to other researchers with a creative commons license that will require acknowledgement be given. I will survey the current research in translation studies which could make a use of this analytical model and identify the potentials for its commercialisation. Support for the above will be given by the TCD Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and the ADAPT commercialisation team, including the IP Manager, who will review the project for IP once the final results are produced. An exploitation plan will be created by month 30, and will contain the defined strategy for exploitation of results originated by this research. I will also take part in the ADAPT Industry Showcase which brings together industry partners (e.g. Microsoft, IBM). Additionally, given that there is a growing interest among publishers in expanding their market globally (e.g. the Frankfurt Book Fair hosted 7,450 exhibitors, 302,267 visitors in 2019 (Driscoll & Squires 2020, 5)), commercialisation of literature will attract stakeholders. Dissemination activities are directed to the research community in translation studies, literary studies, Japanese studies, East Asian studies, DH, practicing translators and industry. I aim to make results available to the research community and contribute to increasing my research as a leading female researcher in line with my training plan. The results of WP1 have so far been disseminated through the social media accounts (e.g. X, LinkedIn), large conferences (e.g. the 17th EAJS International Conference), seminar presentations (e.g. Nihon University). In addition, a journal article, which has been drafted, will be submitted to the most relevant academic journal in my area (i.e. Japan Forum).
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
The work performed and main achievements made during the outgoing phase centres on archival research which is set in three stages: 1) collecting data on the translators; 2) collecting their works, including translations and non-translations; 3) digitising the collected texts for corpus study.
1) Updated the methodological approach for defining celebrity translators by grouping them according to the degree of media coverage related to their professions.
2) Completed the data collection on translators and gathered their work for analysis using various online databases (e.g. Aozorabunko, the Waseda Library, and the National Diet Library in Tokyo). The collected data has been stored securely in TCD’s cloud storage as well as on my college computer’s hardware to be made publicly accessible.
3) Digitised the catalogue of Meiji translators, which was previously only available in image format. The data requires cleaning before it can be shared publicly.
4) Identified prominent translators who produced indirect translations by analysing the source and mediating languages, as well as the translators’ language pairs listed in The Complete Works of Meiji Translated Literature. Instead of measuring their fame, I grouped these translators by their professions.
Brief summary of the work performed, outcome and results
The work carried out during the reintegration phase centres on a corpus-based study conducted in three stages.
1) Digitised texts were grouped into direct translations, indirect translations, and non-translations, and an index was created for each translator. This index also records source languages and the translators’ prominence (e.g. well-known or non-celebrity).
2) Each translator’s direct translations, indirect translations, and non-translations were processed using corpus-analysis software.
3) Patterns in each translator’s work were identified through analysis at the lexical and semantic levels within each category. The results were visualised using pie charts and graphs to facilitate comparison across translators.
TASK 3.1: This task was only partially achieved due to the limited availability of suitable texts. A total of 258 texts produced by 35 translators during the Meiji period were digitised and included in the corpus. Of these, 17 texts are indirect translations and 33 are direct translations, while 208 are non-translations. In addition, 70% of all translated texts (35 in total) were produced by a single translator, Mori Ōgai. This uneven distribution of translated texts limited the scope for comparative analysis of indirect translation features across multiple translators.
TASK 3.2: As reported under RO3 (Section 1.1) only one female translator (Wakamatsu Shizuko) is represented among the 35 indexed translators. Only three of her texts could be collected in digitised form, all of which are non-translations. This reflects the gender imbalance characteristic of Meiji literary culture. Furthermore, only 10% of the indexed translators with relevant texts are non-celebrities. This suggests that existing digitisation efforts for Meiji texts—already limited in scale—have prioritised works by well-known translators and writers.
Overall, the outcomes of this work indicate that the availability of digitised Meiji-period texts is constrained by both technical challenges in archival digitisation (as described in the previous report; see Section 1.2.2 WP2) and structural factors related to historical literary production. While these limitations affected the achievement of the original objectives, they also highlighted the methodological complexity of conducting corpus-based research on historical texts, particularly in languages using non-Roman writing systems. As a result, these challenges have directly contributed to a co-authored book chapter with Dr Hadley on methodological and archival issues in historical translation research, scheduled for publication in autumn 2027. This output constitutes an additional contribution to the project, supporting future research that relies on the digitisation and analysis of historical texts in non-European linguistic contexts.
1) Updated the methodological approach for defining celebrity translators by grouping them according to the degree of media coverage related to their professions.
2) Completed the data collection on translators and gathered their work for analysis using various online databases (e.g. Aozorabunko, the Waseda Library, and the National Diet Library in Tokyo). The collected data has been stored securely in TCD’s cloud storage as well as on my college computer’s hardware to be made publicly accessible.
3) Digitised the catalogue of Meiji translators, which was previously only available in image format. The data requires cleaning before it can be shared publicly.
4) Identified prominent translators who produced indirect translations by analysing the source and mediating languages, as well as the translators’ language pairs listed in The Complete Works of Meiji Translated Literature. Instead of measuring their fame, I grouped these translators by their professions.
Brief summary of the work performed, outcome and results
The work carried out during the reintegration phase centres on a corpus-based study conducted in three stages.
1) Digitised texts were grouped into direct translations, indirect translations, and non-translations, and an index was created for each translator. This index also records source languages and the translators’ prominence (e.g. well-known or non-celebrity).
2) Each translator’s direct translations, indirect translations, and non-translations were processed using corpus-analysis software.
3) Patterns in each translator’s work were identified through analysis at the lexical and semantic levels within each category. The results were visualised using pie charts and graphs to facilitate comparison across translators.
TASK 3.1: This task was only partially achieved due to the limited availability of suitable texts. A total of 258 texts produced by 35 translators during the Meiji period were digitised and included in the corpus. Of these, 17 texts are indirect translations and 33 are direct translations, while 208 are non-translations. In addition, 70% of all translated texts (35 in total) were produced by a single translator, Mori Ōgai. This uneven distribution of translated texts limited the scope for comparative analysis of indirect translation features across multiple translators.
TASK 3.2: As reported under RO3 (Section 1.1) only one female translator (Wakamatsu Shizuko) is represented among the 35 indexed translators. Only three of her texts could be collected in digitised form, all of which are non-translations. This reflects the gender imbalance characteristic of Meiji literary culture. Furthermore, only 10% of the indexed translators with relevant texts are non-celebrities. This suggests that existing digitisation efforts for Meiji texts—already limited in scale—have prioritised works by well-known translators and writers.
Overall, the outcomes of this work indicate that the availability of digitised Meiji-period texts is constrained by both technical challenges in archival digitisation (as described in the previous report; see Section 1.2.2 WP2) and structural factors related to historical literary production. While these limitations affected the achievement of the original objectives, they also highlighted the methodological complexity of conducting corpus-based research on historical texts, particularly in languages using non-Roman writing systems. As a result, these challenges have directly contributed to a co-authored book chapter with Dr Hadley on methodological and archival issues in historical translation research, scheduled for publication in autumn 2027. This output constitutes an additional contribution to the project, supporting future research that relies on the digitisation and analysis of historical texts in non-European linguistic contexts.
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
The results of the project so far have revealed a significant gender discrepancy among translators of the period, as all the translators listed in The Complete Works of Meiji Translated Literature: Translators Edition are male. I will investigate this phenomenon further, as the male dominance of Meiji literary culture—particularly in the context of literary translation—remains underexplored. This will be addressed in my report on Meiji translators, based on the data I have collected.
Additionally, my experience with archival research has highlighted numerous challenges in preparing classical Japanese texts for corpus studies. I have drafted a report on these findings, titled “Digitising Meiji-Era Japanese Literary Texts: Challenges in Corpus Preparation,” which I intend to submit as a journal article. This study will make a significant contribution to historical linguistic research in the Japanese context, as the challenges of preparing classical Japanese texts for corpus studies remain largely underexplored, particularly in English-language scholarship.
Overview of the results
The initial plan to identify features of the concatenation effect in indirect translations produced by Meiji-period translators, and to compare the results across individual translators, proved not to be feasible. Instead, I agreed with Dr Hadley to focus on the work of Mori Ōgai, who has the largest number of digitised texts available for analysis across translated and non-translated categories, and was one of the most prominent translators of the period (Akashi 2018). The results obtained from Ōgai’s works were then compared with those of other well-known translators, such as Shimamura Hōgetsu, Kuroiwa Ruikō, Futabatei Shimei, and Uchida Roan, using the limited digitised material currently available, in order to explore potential patterns across translators.
However, the comparative analysis indicated that producing meaningful results would require a substantially larger corpus than is currently available. The differences in patterns that were identified between direct and indirect translations and non-translations produced by Ōgai, and between his works and those of other translators, whether prominent or less well known, were of very limited scale, and implied that further variables would need to be added to the analysis to make it fully meaningful. These findings suggest that a larger dataset is necessary to draw statistically meaningful conclusions regarding the concatenation effect in Meiji-period translations, thereby motivating a new research project that addresses this methodological limitation.
Additionally, my experience with archival research has highlighted numerous challenges in preparing classical Japanese texts for corpus studies. I have drafted a report on these findings, titled “Digitising Meiji-Era Japanese Literary Texts: Challenges in Corpus Preparation,” which I intend to submit as a journal article. This study will make a significant contribution to historical linguistic research in the Japanese context, as the challenges of preparing classical Japanese texts for corpus studies remain largely underexplored, particularly in English-language scholarship.
Overview of the results
The initial plan to identify features of the concatenation effect in indirect translations produced by Meiji-period translators, and to compare the results across individual translators, proved not to be feasible. Instead, I agreed with Dr Hadley to focus on the work of Mori Ōgai, who has the largest number of digitised texts available for analysis across translated and non-translated categories, and was one of the most prominent translators of the period (Akashi 2018). The results obtained from Ōgai’s works were then compared with those of other well-known translators, such as Shimamura Hōgetsu, Kuroiwa Ruikō, Futabatei Shimei, and Uchida Roan, using the limited digitised material currently available, in order to explore potential patterns across translators.
However, the comparative analysis indicated that producing meaningful results would require a substantially larger corpus than is currently available. The differences in patterns that were identified between direct and indirect translations and non-translations produced by Ōgai, and between his works and those of other translators, whether prominent or less well known, were of very limited scale, and implied that further variables would need to be added to the analysis to make it fully meaningful. These findings suggest that a larger dataset is necessary to draw statistically meaningful conclusions regarding the concatenation effect in Meiji-period translations, thereby motivating a new research project that addresses this methodological limitation.