Translation Requests

[Wellgunde]

Taki and Hisashi,

Thank you for an interesting analysis of this question. I agree with Taki that it is a difficult problem, but I guess we are stuck with "Governor General' as the best choice under the circumstances. Unfortunately, Japanese and English terms do not always coincide with each other one hundred per cent. During the war, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army intelligence experts had a standing committee on Japanese-English nomenclature. The two sides were often in disagreement! Anyone who has ever looked at the problem of translation understands that it is much more than just swapping words between two dictionaries. One of my professors used to continually harp that context and historical/cultural background must also be taken into consideration. Thanks for furnishing the background in this case.

warm regards,
wellgunde

[VJK]

I would also like to thank everyone sincerely for their analytic input and would like to share some thoughts. I agree that Governor General is not the best translation, but as Wellgunde says, it is probably the best choice we have, however, I would like to go one step further regarding the translation of 都督部 (Governor General Department). Given that the word Department appears in the translation, perhaps the term "Military Department" might adequately express the functions of the office (analogically the US Army also used this designation in the 19th Century). As such, below is the result of my research into the subject - any corrections/amendments/supplements would be most welcome, as well as any comments.

3 Military Departments were established on 11 August 1896 under the Governor General Ordinance by Imperial Edict No. 282/1896 and were initially placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Emperor. They were responsible for the mobilisation, military training and military planning of the 13 Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army (Imperial Guards Division and Divisions 1- 12). In time of war, the Departments would be upgraded to field army status.The Departments were given jurisdiction over the Divisions as follows:

Eastern Military Department: Imperial Guards Division and Divisions 1, 2, 7 and 8
Central Military Department: Divisions 3, 4, 9 and 10
Western Military Department: Divisions 5, 6, 11 and 12

On 2 January 1898 the Ordinance was amended by Imperial Edict No. 8, transferring joint jurisdiction of the Departments to the Army Minister (military training) and the Chief of the General Staff (mobilisation and military planning).

On 25 April 1900 the Ordinance was once again amended by Imperial Edict No. 156, placing the military training aspect under the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate General of Military Training, leaving responsibility for military planning and censorship (検閲).

The Military Departments were disbanded on 14 January 1904 by Imperial Edict No. 4.

Eastern Military Department:
Governor General:
14 Oct 1896 - 25 Apr 1900: General Count Michitsura Nozu (later Field Marshal and Marquis)
25 Apr 1900 - 14 Jan 1904: Lt. General Baron Yasukata Oku (later Field Marshal and Count)

Chief of Staff:
15 Oct 1896 - 1 Oct 1898: Colonel Nobuoki Asada (later General and Baron)
1 Oct 1898 - 25 Apr 1900: Colonel Satoru Nakamura (later General and Baron)
25 Apr 1900 - 17 Apr 1902: Maj. General Iyozo Tamura (later Lt. General posthumously)
14 May 1902 - 14 Jan 1904: Colonel Toshitane Matsukawa (later General)

Central Military Department:
Governor General:
14 Oct 1896 - 29 Oct 1902: Lt. General Viscount Samata Sakuma (later General and Count)
13 Jan 1903 - 14 Jan 1904: Lt. General Tamemoto Kuroki (acting) (later General and Count)

Chief of Staff:
15 Oct 1896 - 25 Apr 1900: Colonel Shigeo Samejima (later General and Baron)
25 Apr 1900 - 11 Jan 1904: Colonel Toyosaburo Ochiai (later Lt. General)

Western Military Department:
Governor General:
14 Oct 1896 - 3 Oct 1897: Lt. General Viscount Motoharu Yamaji
27 Oct 1897 - 14 Jan 1904: Lt. General Tamemoto Kuroki (later General and Count)

Chief of Staff:
15 Oct 1896 - 1 Oct 1898: Colonel Arisawa Ueda (later General and Baron)
1 Oct 1898 - 25 Apr 1900: Colonel Yukihiko Kusunose (later Lt. General)
25 Apr 1900 - 11 Jan 1904: Maj. General Yasumasa Fukushima (later General and Baron)

Given the complex and interesting nature of this subject, I would like to suggest that perhaps the Forum Moderator could split off the posts on this topic and create a separate topic.

Kind regards,

VJK

[hisashi]

For example 'armored division' would be translated as 機甲師団, 戦車師団 or 装甲師団 in Japanese. If non-Japaneses were asked which was appropriate for a specific case, you would say it's the matter of Japanese and you cannot judge on the nuance of each Japanese term. Similarly, we cannot judge which word is the most appropriate in English.

I am interested in Royal Corps of Transport, but I am not sure I correctly realized the nature of adjutant general in British Army. Nor 'inspector general' in various country. If you feel this organization was administrative rather than combat-ready, 'chief' would be one of choices.

[Wellgunde]

VJK: In this case, I think "Military Department" is acceptable in naming the organization based on my understanding of its setup and functions.

I see Hisashi's point, but somewhere along the line a translator must attempt to sort out the nuances of the words on the other side of the language barrier. Not easy to do, but some accomplish it, for example, Edward Seidensticker, the translator of Kawabata. The rest of us are mere plodders.

[guadalcanal42]

Hello, just picked up a bunch of documents captured at Tarawa. I tried to find out what these were, but could not. What do the documents say and what would kind of information would they have? Thank you very much.

[hisashi]

考課調査表 was basically a personnel evaluation document for navy individuals, filled by the person he reported to. It was the most important for their promotion and was kept by authority. These pages look a beginning part of them, stating mainly about their families.

[guadalcanal42]

Oh wow! Thank you very much Hisashi-san!

[Roman1981]

Hello,

Recently i have obtained an old album relating to the cavalry.

Some photos have printed writings, could anyone, please, help with the translation?

1. Liet-general:

2. Lieutenant with falcon:

3. Another Lieutenant

4. Captain:

5. officer (couldn't identify his rank):

Thank you.

[hisashi]

1.
Caption itself sounds disappointing; Ito photo studio, Toyohashi, Aichi.
But he was a LtGen, at least a divisional commander. In Meiji Era 15th division had its HQ in Toyohashi. I found this man in the list of commanders.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%86%85% ... C%E9%83%8E

LtGen Uchiyama Kojiro.

2.
Cavalry 1st Lt. Terashita Chojiro

3.
Cavalry 1st Lt. Kasokabe Hidemasa (Kasokabe is a local family name in Shikoku Island)

4.
Cavalry Capt. Hayakawa Yasushi

5.
Cavalry Master seageant Wada Ichitaro いろは順 [pics sorted in] Iroha order [by their family names, as alphabetical order in English]

[guadalcanal42]

So would a Japanese officer hang on to these or would the sailors hold on to them? Also this magazine came in the lot. Was this a popular Japanese magazine during the war? Thank you very much

[Roman1981]

Thank you so much hisashi san!

Roman.

[hisashi]

So would a Japanese officer hang on to these or would the sailors hold on to them? Also this magazine came in the lot. Was this a popular Japanese magazine during the war? Thank you very much

考課調査表 (koka chosa-hyo) was a secret document, secret to the man in question. 考課を持っている (have [a person's] koka) meant the man could fill anything good or bad to the person's koka chosa-hyo, so the person must be careful not to make him angry. Blanc refill of koka chosa-hyo sometimes appears in net auction. I have heard researchers found a volume of koka records kept in somewhere, but in principle any navy personnel could not see his koka. More or less he would know his relative evaluation among his mates informally, or indirectly by promotion.

戦線文庫 was a free monthly magazine issued by the navy for their personnel. Cheering and amusement. Issue 51 was on sale(? it was free) in Jan 1943.

[guadalcanal42]

Wow thank you very much! That's simply incredible! So what grade of officer would write in these? Would these have been kept in a command post on Tarawa?

[hisashi]

Wow thank you very much! That's simply incredible! So what grade of officer would write in these? Would these have been kept in a command post on Tarawa?

Basically, on vessels,
1.Skipper evaluated officers who directly reports to; e.g. senior officer, gunnery officer.
2.Senior Officer evaluated officers and warrant officers not evaluated by the skipper.
3. buntai (division or department in US navy/coast guard) leader evaluated petty officers and sailors in his buntai.

Perhaps in SNLF company leader was the buntai leader. So every company HQ kept this document for all petty officers and sailors. In Tarawa 3rd SBF HQ had more... In effect chosahyo for all but RAdm Shibazaki and a few senior staffs, perhaps kept in 4th fleet HQ.

[Roman1981]

Hello!

Got 2 photos from a dealer and he assumes that this photos were taken in Nagato battleship. He wrote me that these photos came in a group, and half of the photos were labeled as 長門, which means Nagato. Although these attached ones do not have the captions written on them, he is making the strong assumption that they are all the same ship.

Maybe this writings could give a clue? Could you, please, translate the writings. Any commentaries on these 2 photos are welcome.

Thank you.
1. Navy crew 1

2. Navy crew 2