Judge Ydrad: FQ 1.1.2.7-9 and a bit of art commentary

I was listening to the soundtrack, by Philip Glass, to the Paul Schrader film Mishima for inspiration while preparing this bit. I went to see a newly remastered (or whatever) cut at Film Forum several weeks ago and was quite moved by the stage-piece mise en scène as well as the score, which I promptly downloaded. Apparently, this film, done in Japanese with an all-Japanese cast, was never released in Japan due to a conflict with the Mishima estate (he was a writer with extreme views) and the virulently right-wing political establishment with which he is identified. Schrader himself was there to answer questions. Although Glass did the score, he said, they couldn't pay him for it, so the Candyman end titles composer retained the rights to it instead, subsequently sold it to whoever was buying, and now you've probably heard it before.

I am going to do things a little differently this time. Since I have a "readership" with different levels of Japanese, I want to figure out a way to make my posts as user-friendly as possible to all. For those who don't know the language, I want to continue to assure you that the grammar is not difficult. My canned explanations should give you enough information to muddle your way through the kanji I transcribe. I can't stress enough that it's this transcription that takes the greatest amount of my time when I'm typing up these posts. The translation itself is relatively straightforward, but looking up unfamiliar kanji in the dictionary is laborious. But that's, of course, why I'm doing this--to enhance my literacy over time.

Here are the final three lines, 7-9, of the second stanza of the first canto of the first book:

言行共に正義、誠実、真実の人ながら、
顔つきは厳し過ぎると見えたが、
恐れるものを知らず、常に人から恐れられていた。

And the romaji transliteration:

genkou* domo ni seigi, seijitsu, sana no hito nagara,
kaotsuki wa genshi sugiru to mieta ga,
osoreru mono o shirazu, tsuneni hito kara osorerareteita.

*note: I should have mentioned this earlier, but the transliteration of the Japanese long o ("oh") into romaji is usually written "ou" when macrons are not available (or, in this case, tedious to employ) and should not be pronounced as it is in English or French ("oo" or "ew") but as a regular English or Romance long o (always rounded, never open).

And the original:

Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,
But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but euer was ydrad.

Now I will try a literal disposition in English of the Japanese parts of speech:

言行共に正義、誠実、真実の人ながら、

言行 (genkou) is a compound comprised of 言, which can mean either "words," or "speaking" when used as a verb; and 行, which has a few distinct uses, but typically appears as the common verb meaning "to go" (pronounced "iku" so "Tokyo e iku" means "I am going to Tokyo"). Genkou means "speech and behavior."

共 (domo) is an uncommon, and I suppose archaic pronoun of, it seems, any applicable person. Ususally, the Japanese word for "I" is "watashi" (among others), but in the olden days, "domo" might be used by an inferior speaking to a superior or by a superior to refer to an inferior. I had to look up this word by stroke count, because I couldn't figure out the radicals, and I happened to discover the kanji 卍 (manji), which means "swastika." I had no idea! Please note that the Nazi variety goes the other way. 共に can also mean "both; alike; together; along with" as I am sure it does here.

正義 (seigi) means "justice; righteousness; right" as you might expect any word containing 正 (right, correct, etc.) to mean. This kanji, interestingly, is also used by the Japanese when counting things up, like scores--it is their version of the Western way of counting in fives by drawing four straight lines and then slashing through them with the fifth. About 義, all I can say is try writing it!

誠実 (seijitsu) means "sincere; honest; faithful."

真実 (sana) means "truth; reality." Remember 真, used with the archaic pronounciation "makoto" before? Guess how 誠 is pronounced--makoto. It means "truth." 実 means truth. 真 also means "truth." 誠 also contains the radical 言 (look on the left side). Are these puns? Certainly they are attempts to vary the language.

の (no) is a possessive particle followed by
人 (hito) "person" and
ながら (nagara) which is a suffix adding the meaning "while" (or "both" or "as" or being "in" a certain condition). So--

言行共に正義、誠実、真実の人ながら、
Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,

Literally, from the Japanese, we get, in reverse order "a person of truth, honesty, righteousness in both speech and behavior." That's my best guess, the "nagara" being used in the sense of "in the state of" rather than "while," which doesn't seem to fit.

That was a bit laborious, so I'll be more terse with the next phrase:

顔つきは厳し過ぎると見えたが、

顔つき (kaotsuki) "countenance" は (wa) topic particle 厳し過ぎる (genshi sugiru) a verbalization of the noun "rigidity; severity" followed by a common verb, "sugiru," to add the sense of "too much" so "[is] too strict" と (to) "and" or a particle used, as likely in this case, in indirect speech 見えた (mieta) "seemed" が (ga) probably "but" though it's more typically the subject particle.

But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;

Once again, literally, back to front, as we must do: "but his countenance seemed too severe." That was an easy one. In Japanese order, this phrase looks like "countenance being severe too much seemed but."

Finally:

恐れるものを知らず、常に人から恐れられていた。

恐れる (osoreru) "be afraid of" a word, when pronounced "kowai" in an annoying, high-pitched voice, is a common interjection used, mostly by young females, to mean "I'm afraid!" They seemed to me to be afraid of everything. もの (mono) is added after verbs to make them into things or to create a relative clause, so with "osoreru" we get "something to be afraid of" を (o) direct object particle 知らず (shirazu) "unaffected by" in this case, I imagine, though 知る (shiru) is the common verb "to know" 常に (tsuneni) "always; constantly" 人 (hito) "person" から (kara) a suffix adding the sense "from" either causally ("because") or directionally 恐れられていた (osorerareteita) an amazing, and I think invented, verb that turns the first verb of this phrase, 恐れる, which is already in a passive form (I cannot find an active form, which is typical in many languages for this sort of self-reflexive deponent), into a double passive, also in past progressive (or imperfect) tense, so "was being feared." Seriously, try pronouncing it: o-so-re-ra-re-te-i-ta.

Yet nothing did he dread, but euer was ydrad.

More poetic in English than can perhaps be translated, literally the Japanese reads: "He was unaffected by things to be feared (the present verb here takes on the past tense of the main verb), "always by people was feared." I translated 人から (hito kara) "by people" but it does confuse me. The words don't appear in the English, but I suppose it adds emphasis to the verb "was being feared." I suppose it could also make the phrase mean "because he never feared anything, he was feared."

Altogether:

a person of truth, honesty, righteousness in both speech and behavior
but his countenance seemed too severe.
He was unaffected by things to be feared always by people was feared.

Let me try to clean that up:

In speech and bearing, a righteous, true, and honest person was,
Although his visage did seem too severe,
Frightful matters moved him not at all, since always he himself was feared withal.

I could not resist using "withal."

Here is the whole stanza, 1.1.2:

だが騎士の胸当には、主の受難の尊い形見の
血の十字架がつけてあり、この主のために
この輝く記章を身につけ、亡くなられた主を
生きておられるものとして崇めていた。
盾にも、主の加護を仰ぎたいとの
至高の望みから、同じ印が刻まれていた。
言行共に正義、誠実、真実の人ながら、
顔つきは厳し過ぎると見えたが、
恐れるものを知らず、常に人から恐れられていた。

daga kishi no munea ni wa, shu no junan no toutoi (?) katami no
chi no juujika ga tsukete ari, kono shu no tame ni
kono kagayaku kishou o mi ni tsuke, nakunarareta shu o
ikiteorareru mono toshite agameteita.
tate ni mo, shu no kago o aogitai to no
shikou no nozomi kara, onaji shirushi ga kizamareteita.
genkou domo ni seigi, seijitsu, sana no hito nagara,
kaotsuki wa genshi sugiru to mieta ga,
osoreru mono o shirazu, tsuneni hito kara osorerareteita.

My translation:

But as for the breastplate of the knight, there a holy reminder of the suffering of the Lord,
a crucifix of blood, has been affixed, for the sake of this Lord
this glittering badge on his person he wears and dead Jesus--
just as for the reason He continues to live--has been revering.
Into his shield as well, from a supreme hope for the protection of the Lord
which he wanted to depend on, the same mark was carved.
In speech and bearing, a righteous, true, and honest person was,
Although his visage did seem too severe,
Frightful matters moved him not at all, since always he himself was feared withal.

The original:

But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead as liuing euer him ador'd:
Vpon his shield the like was also scor'd,
For soueraine hope, which in his helpe he had:
Right faithfull true he was in deede and word,
But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but euer was ydrad.

Finally, and this is an irrelevant bonus, I was reading an early modern philosophical treatise for a course in aesthetics I am auditing, and I came across an alarming sentence. I was about to put an exclamation point next to it to indicate my knowing bemusement, but, even more amusingly, I found one already there, faintly carried over onto my photocopy. I have captioned it, below, where I thought it appropriate:

But never were any so extravagant as to affect such figures as are made by the casual spilling of liquid colours.

-- Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design (1725)

(Did anyone get my Judge Dredd joke?)