Inuyasha - Translation Notes

INUYASHA: SENGOKU O-TOGI ZOUSHI:
TRANSLATION & READING NOTES

READING THE MANGA

The manga is scanned as it appears in the Japanese publication "Shonen Sunday.
That is, it's read from right to left. I generally keep the words in the same
places as they appear in the original.

PARDON MY JAPANESE...

First of all, obviously I'm not a professional translator. I've studied Japanese
and translate this for my own enjoyment, so I just don't forget what I've learned.
(Not that manga is a very good way of "studying the Japanese language" so to
speak, it's fun to read...) That and I like continuing to read and learn more about
the Japanese culture and language.

Anyway, I do take a few minor liberties in translating. I try to keep things as literal
as possible while still trying to flow in natural English (ie. not quite "bookish")
and build on character personalities. There are swear words where the language becomes
so in the original Japanese version. I also find mistranlations and errors in my
translating here and there. Plus there's almost always lines that bowl me over
in regards to what they really mean...

This isn't perfect, but hopefully passable. Special thanks to Roy for doing some
proofing for me, as well as being my dictionary, thesaurus, and all-around Japanese crash
course instrcutor when I'm thrown for a loop. Heh-heh.

~ MS

CHAPTER 355 GLOSSARY & NOTES

Please refer to the Inuyasha General Glossary for recurring words that remain untranslated.

WHOA. I'm all about Kagome and Inuyasha. And I'm all about Kongousouha. And, although I've actually never had the chance to say it, I've always been partial to youkai-Inuyasha. So... after 355 Inuyasha chapters of reading, this... has just become my favorite. Let's get down to business, shall we? ^_^

YOU WANT THE SHIKON FRAGMENTS... - (page 2) Ah, the lovely Japanese language. Kagome actually says "Masaka, shikon no kakera o..." Which literally only means "It can't be! The shikon fragments..." Basically there is no VERB in the sentence to complete what she means. She's likely implying the verb "you want to use them!?" or "you want me to give them to you?!" Something like that. I just had to translate it into something that fit naturally into the following lines. English tends to sound really awkward without the objects in the sentence having a verb. -_-

PLEASE... SHIKON FRAGMENTS - (page 5) Tanomu... shikon no kakera. The word tanomu is like very politely asking someone for a favor. "Do this for me, please," in other words.

WE'RE GOING TO... - (page 10) "ora-tachi o..." Gah, AGAIN with the incomplete sentences without verbs! RAWR! Hehe. The implication here is "he's going to attack us."

INUYASHA, DON'T GIVE UP! - (page 11) Inuyasha, makenaide! Well, it's not exactly a hard line to translate, but the subject could have been either Kagome herself, or Inuaysha. In any event, the word "makenaide" literally means "to not lose." The line could have translated to several things along the lines of: "Don't give up, Inuyasha," or "I won't lose you, Inuyasha."

COULD YOU JUST... HOLD ME A LITTLE LONGER...- (page 12) Yep, this is the moment that left me practically bowled over. Inuyasha's words are "Mou sukoshi dake... sasaetete kure..." Sasaeteru means to hold (up) and support. The nuance here is that he wants her to hold him longer so he can get them out of trouble, although with that look, I'm sure he's got a more gentle thing on his mind. ^_^ He's not exactly asking her to hold him (as in, just embrace him), although I've often heard sasaeru used in conjunction with things like moral and spirital support as well.

I think I need to go and watch some old Inuyasha DVDs now. Episode 19 in particular. It's moments like this that absolutely remind me of why I love Inuyasha. ^_^

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