Samurai Diary?

[tokashikibob]

Might be of interest for someone?  Surely very unusual.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Samurai-Battle-of-Kawanakajima-/192117839355?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

[Greg F]

Gday Bob,

 

Thats very interesting, it would be great to have this translated huh. Thanks for sharing.

 

Greg

[Guido]

It'll be a major undertaking to have this book translated, and it certainly will not be me who tackles this task .

 

I own a copy of 村垣淡路守与三郎範正 Muragaki Awaji no Kami Yosaburō Norimasa’s 航海日記 Kōkai Nikki, the diary of the first embassy to the US by this Hatamoto. In part it’s simply hilarious, like when he remarks he felt the basic precept of life in the US was neither drawn from loyalty or etiquette, but the spirit of friendliness, which completely puzzled him. Or when he was asked if he found American or Japanese women more attractive, and told his host that those in the US are the most beautiful – only to muse later that the Americans are extremely naïve to believe his answer, which he obviously only gave because he thought it to be the most polite, but certainly not the truth.

 

I think the English translation is sometimes available.

[Randy McCall]

I manage the Antique Japanese Manuscript Collector's group on Facebook, with a number of our members being Classical Japanese literate (including some from NMB).   Even the most skilled of them note that a document written in sosho cursive script is one of their most difficult challenges. 

Not only does sosho tend to use simplified strokes for characters, making translation difficult, but  you also have to factor in differences in personal handwriting style, idiosyncratic use of "shorthand" characters, and the use of regional dialect characters.  

A running joke among translators re: use of cursive, even in English...