SACREDTWIGANDTREE: TAMAGUSH ZAND SAKAKI INJAPANESE-ENGLISHDICTIONARIES MichaelCarr ThepresentarticleanalyzesJapanese-Englishdictionarytransla- tionsfor tamdguShi 玉串 `aShintooffertory sakaki branch'and sakaki 榊 `anevergreen (Cleye71aOChnacea) regardedassacred.'lThiscasestudyin bilinguallexicographyhasfoursections_Thefirstreviewshow tamagu- shi wastranslatedasEnglish"sacredtwig"inanewspaperstoryabout theconstitutionalseparationofreligionandstate.Thesecondsection introducestheJapanesewords ta magushi and sakaki ,andpresentsout- standingdefinitionsfromamonolingualdictionary(Figures1and2). Thethirdcompares tamLquShi and sakaki translationequivalentsfrom twodozenJapanese-Englishdictionaries(Tables1and2),findingtypo- graphicalerrorslike"offerasprigbranch"insteadof"offerasprig or branch."Theconcludingsectiondiscussesbilingualdictionaryerrors abou ttamqushi asexemplifyingoftenunreliableEnglishequivalentsof Japanesefloraandfaunanames.Forinstance,the hzmLquShi entryin 1.Anumberoffriends,colleagues,editors,andrefereessuggestedimprove一 meれtsuponearlierversionsofthispape r.ThanksgotoYukieAihara,Lew Ballard,CarlBecker,EdandRuthCarr,WilliamChisholm,GeraldCohen , LotharYonFalkenhausen,MatthewHanley,SheilaHanley,RobertIIson , HisanoriKimira,MichaelSherard,IsaoShimomura,OsamuTakai,Steve Toskar,YokoTsuboya,andHisaoYamamoto.Theauthordiscussed tama- gushi and sakak iinapubliclectureentitledHNihongonojishonitsuite 日本 語の辞書についで '[OnJapaneseDictionaries](summarizedinCarr1992). 2 人 文 研 究 第 89 輯 theprestigiousKenkyusha'sNe u) Japanese-EnglikhDictiona7y(4thed.) misspellsCleyeraochnaceaas"CleyeyiaWChnacca." Whatlsa"SacredTwig"? Theoriginalideaforstudyingtamagushitranslationequivalents camewhen I saw"sacredtwig"inanewspaperstoryandlookedin Japanese-Englishdictionariestotrytofindoutitsmeaning(unsuccess- fully,asitturnedout).Thisprefacewillintroducethe"EhimeTamqu- shiDonationLawsuit"andelucidatesomelogographicproblemsforusers otJapanesedictionaries. WhateventuallybecamecalledtheEhimetamagushi 17y O-sosho J愛媛 玉串料訴訟 "Ehime[Prefecture]TamLquShiDonationLawsuit"beganin 1982whenaninterdenominationalgroupofprefecturalresidentssued governmentofficialsforhavingspent¥166,000(about$735)inpublic fundstopurchaseShintoofferings.OnMarch17,1989,theMatsuyama DistrictCourt- Overturningallpreviousprecedents - ruledthese tamagushiexpendituresviOlatedtheJapaneseconstitutional"wallof separation"betweenreligionandstate,andorderedthedefendantsto repaytheprefecture. Anattention-grabbing"UseofPublicMoneyforSacredTwig RuledIllegal"headlineintheAsahiEveningNews(March17,1989,p.1) introducedanaccountoftheEhimegovernment'sunconstitutionaldona- tionofsomethingcalled"sacredtwigs"toShintoshrines.Notknowing whata"sacredtwig"was ,I comparedaJapanesevernacularnewspaper , theHokkaidoShinbun(March17,p.1),andfoundthestorycenteredupon awordtranscribed 玉 ぐし料 withthreeelements:aChineselogograph 玉 SACREDTⅥGANDTREE: TAMAGUSWAND S朋払灯INJAPANESE･ENGLISHDICTIONARIES 3 meaning`jade ,'gushi written ぐし inhiraganasyllabary,andalogograph 料 `fee'suffix. AlthoughIknewboththese kanji #S 'Chineselogographs'and couldthinkoftwoJapanese (gushi regularlyvoiced <) kushi words meaning`comb'and`skewer,'Iwasuncertainhowtolookupthekey- wordbecausemostlogographshavealternativeJapanesereadings. Kanji canhave kun'yomi 訓読み `semanticreading(S)'fromnative Japanesepronunciationand/or on'yomi 音読み `phoneticreading(S)'bor rowedfromChinese,WiththelatterSinoJapanesepronunciationsloosely dividedbetween kan'on 漢音 `Hanreading ,' gO-on 呉音 `Wu[Shanghai region]reading ,' toJl0n 唐音 `Tangreading, 'and kan'y0--on 慣用音 `popular reading.'Thecommon'tree;wood'logograph i ,forexample,isread ki or ko inindigenous kun'yomi,boku in kan'on ,or moku in go10n. Forthe "sacredtwig"terminquestion,theinitiallogograph 玉 denoting`jade; preciousstone;exquisite;bead;ball;etc.'Canberead ByOku or gpo in SinoIJapaneseor h zm ainnativeJapanese,andthesuffixallogograph 料 isaloanword -Yy 6`fee;charge;materials.'IntheEhimelawsuitcontext , governmentalfunds (i.e.,- 叩0-) hadbeendonatedforsomethingpossibly called tamagushi,gyokugushi,gyogushi ,mutatismutandis. Atthisjuncture,nativespeakersoりapanesecouldintuitivelylook up h2maguSh i inamonolingualdictionaryarrangedalphabetically.2But nonnativespeakersarecaughtinaCatch-22peculiartodictionariesof 2."Alphabetical"intheextendedsenseofJapanese あいう `a ,i,u' …ordering followedinpracticallyallmodernmonolingualdictionariesandafewbilin- gualones(e.g. ,NewStandaydJapanese-EnglishDiciiona7y). 4 人 文 研 究 第 89 帝 logographicallywrittenlanguages:theyneedtoknowthepronunciation ofawordbeforelookingitupinanalphabeticaldictionary.Ifyoudo notknowhowtoreadaparticularJapanesewordwrittenin kanji ,the mostefficientapproachistouseaspecializeddictionaryoflogographs. IlookedinNelson's ModernReader's Japanese-EnglishCharacterDiction- ary(2nded･)S･V ･玉 `jade;etc･'andfoundacompoundwith kushi 串 `skewer;tostring'glossedas Htam 曙 uShi,hzmakushi Shinto〈sic,amisI printofShinto)sacredpaper-decked sakaki-branch offering."Knowing thepronunciationofthiskeyJapanesewordtranslatedas"sacredtwig" unlocked Ken々γus ha' sNew Japanese-EnglishDictiona7 y (4thed.)which translates tamLquShi and sakaki asequivalentsto"asprigof Cleyera wchnacca (sic〉offeredtoagod"and"a sakakiO)l.IS)." Stilluninformedabou ttamqushi and sakaki or "Cleyerawchnacca" (amisspellingof C.ochnacea) ,IlookedinsomeJapanesemonolingual dictionariesandlearnedtha ttamagushi means 'a sakaki branchdecorated withcottonorpaper,presentedasanofferinginShintoceremonies'and sakaki meansgeneral ly'evergreensusedforreligiousofferings'Orspecifi- cally'asmallevergreenoftheTheaceaefamily.'Thisserendipitous findingoferrorsintwoofthebestJapanese-Englishdictionariesledto thepresentinvestigationinto tamLquShi and sakaki. Sincethe"seedidea"forthisstudycamefromaJapanesenews- paper,thefirststepwastocheckotheraccounts.Ⅰnthevernacular press,theEhimelawsuitwasliterallyfront-pagenewsinMarch17,1989 , eveningeditions.Comparingthreemajornationalnewspapers (Asahi Shinbun,YomiuriShinbun ,and MainichiShinbun) andtheregionalone mentionedabove (HokkaidoShinbun) revealedterminologiCalsimilarity. SACREDTWIGANDTREE: TAMAGuS HTAND SAR ARTINJAPANESE-ENGLISHDICTIONARIES 5 Headlinesinal1fourcited tamagushi- 7yO-玉ぐし料 `tamagushiofferings/ donations'withdifferingwaysofsaying"courtrules"and"unconstitu- tional."Thefourstoriesrepeatedthiswordalongwithotherterms quotedfromtheoriginallawsui t:tam喝'uShi1 7y O-nado legalisticallyhedged with nado など `etc. ,'kent0--叩 0-献灯料 `votivelantern/lightofferings,'and kumotsu-1y O-供物料 `oblations;Offerings.' Incontrastwiththis tamagushi-2y 6uniformityamongvernacular pressaccounts,fourEnglishlanguagenewspapersgavevariouslyless understandabletranslations.The AsahiEveningNews (March 17 ,p. 1) and MainichiDailyNeu Js (March 18 ,p. 12) translatedthefundamental word tamqushi- 7yO-. Theirheadlineswere"UseofPublicMoneyfor SacredTwig〈sic)3Ruledillegal"and"Co ur t:UseofPublicFundsFor ShrineOfferingsIllegal"withstoryreferencesto"sacredtwigs"and Hsprigsofsacredtrees...treesprigs."The JapanTimes (March 18 ,p. 1) and DailyYomiuri (March 18 ,p. 12) bypassed tamqushi ,presumably owingtotheEnglishlexicalgapforsuchspecializedShintovocabulary. Headlinesread…Courtinstructsgovernortorepayshrinedonations"and HCourtDecisionSupportsState-ReligionSeparation"with"donations" andHprefecturalfunds … publicfunds"intheirstories. Afteraprolongedappeal,theTakamatsuHighCourtoverturned theMatsuyamadecisiononMay 12,1992 ,rulingthattheEhimedonations 3. The Asahi' sstorytranslatingplural"sacredtwigs"madebettersensethan thesingular"SacredTwig"initsheadline.This-swasprobablyomittedin ordertosqueeze"SacredTwigRuledIllegal"intothreecolumns (28 point , 14 cm.). 6 人 文 研 究 第 89 韓 wereconstitutionalandwithintherealmof"socialprotocol"because eachonewastoosma ll( ¥5000-10,000) tobeconsideredasgovernmental supportofShintoism.TheEnglish-languagepresstreatedhzmLquShi aboutthesame;Comparetheseheadlineandstoryreferences:"Offerings toShrine ," "offeringstoashrine ...shrineofferings"(AsahiEvening Neu)sMay 13,p.4),"shrinedonations ," "donationstoShintoshrines ... donationstoshrines"(The JapanTt'mesMay13,p.1),and"shrineoffer- ings...tamLquShi(treeboughOfferings)"(MainichiDailyNewsMay16 , p.2).Thelattertransliteration-explanationiscomparativelythemost informative. Whethertamagushisshouldbetranslated"twigs ," "sprigs ," "boughs, " or"branches"dependsuponrelativesize;seeTable 1. They aregenerallyavailableinlengthsrangingfromaroundtwentycenti一 metersforuseinminiaturekamidana 神棚 `homealtars'uptoonemeter forpublicshrineofferings;andinsomeprocessionsShintoistscarryentire sakakitrees."Twigs"or"sprigs"isasuitabletranslationforprivately usedtamagushis,but"boughs"or"branches"ismoreaccurateforthe Ehlmelawsuit.JapanesemonolingualdictionariesdefinetamLquShiin termsofeda 枝 `branch;bough;limb'ratherthanoneofitssmaller designations:koeda 小枝 "smallbranch '‥twig;sprig;spray';wakaeda 若枝 "youngbranch"`sprig;Switch;shoo t'; Orhosoeda 細枝 "slenderbranch" `twig;wand.' UnlikeJapaneseke n to- `votivelight/lamp'Orkumotsu`oblations; Offerings,'neithertamLquShinorsakakihasadirectEnglishcounterpar t. Idealtranslationscouldtransliterateandexplain;forinstance , "hZm曙u- shi,adecoratedShintooffertorysakaki-treebranch"or"sakaki,aflower- SACREDTWIGANDTREE: TAMA G uS HIAND SA RA 7RIINJAPANESE･ENGLISHDICTIONARIES ingevergreen (Cleyeylajaponica) consideredsacredbyShintoists." UnderstandabilityisthebiggestdifferencebetweenJapaneseand Englishlanguagereportingofthe1989 tamqushi donationlawsuit.All thevernacularnewspapers,aswellasothernewsmedia,mentioned tamL q uShi- り6玉串料 ,whichmostnativespeakersofJapaneseknowto