By F.B. Verwaijen
This lack of attention for the translations springs, it may be assumed, from the reason that
they have exerted no perceptible influence on the final shape of the Japanese codification,
and, perhaps more importantly, from the fact that very little is known about the
circumstances under which they were made. Therefore, our knowledge about the translations
has, thus far, not extended beyond the fact that they were commissioned, the names of those
who were charged with the translation, and the fact that the translations of the Dutch
Constitution (in 1843) and of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure (in 1848)
were eventually completed.
That a translation of the Code of Civil Procedure had been attempted by Mitsukuri Genpo
has hitherto remained unknown, although there was the record of the existence of a
manuscript from Genpo's hand, allegedly containing the translation of a legal text. Despite
their subsequent neglect, it can be argued that these translations, constituting the first
substantial introduction of Western legal ideas can rightly be taken as the starting point of
the reception of Western law in Japan, and as such merit more attention than they have
received until now.
Precisely because they form the first introduction of ideas that were largely alien to the
indigenous Japanese culture, the translations of the Dutch codes present us with some highly
interesting questions, such as, for instance, how these concepts were understood by the
translators and what Japanese words were used to render them. Mostly these questions can
best be answered by studying the text of the translations and comparing these with the
original Dutch text. In view of the almost total absence of other relevant materials, this also
is virtually the only available method.
Indeed, an analysis of Genpo's translation of Articles 329 to 383 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure, which is what is contained in the manuscript alluded to above, leads to interesting, though not particularly surprising, conclusions. It shows that some essential elements of the Dutch law text, their inherent legal logic and implicit recognition of fundamental legal principles, have completely eluded Genpo. In many instances, his translation shows a lack of understanding of the legal institutions mentioned in the text, which can be attributed clearly to the differences between Japanese and Western ideas about law. Even in places where we find indications that Genpo has understood a legal notion unknown in Japan to a certain extent (as is, for instance, the case with his translation for the Dutch word regt - right-) his translation suffers from the fact that the Japanese language lacked the words to express such concepts adequately. A comparison with the original text of the translation of the Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure by Udagawa Yþan, shows that he, too, has struggled -- and largely in vain as well -- with similar difficulties.
Legal notions
It may safely be assumed that the results of the translators' -- doubtlessly prodigious -- efforts
would not have met the expectations of Mizuno Tadakuni (no longer in office anyway by the
time of their completion), who had wished to obtain some useful information about the Dutch
legal system. This may also have been the reason why the translations were not referred to
when, after 1868, more extensive knowledge about Western legal systems was
sought.
Although this seems unpromising, there is reason to assume that the translators have not
toiled totally in vain and that, through their work at least some fragmentary knowledge about
Western law was acquired, which was passed on to a next generation. When we compare the
translations of Dutch legal terms that can be found in the Oranda Ji-i, a Dutch-
Japanese dictionary that appeared in the years 1855-58, with those devised by Genpo, we see
that in the meantime the understanding of certain legal notions had developed. It is also
significant that those who were to take an interest in Western law after the opening of Japan
in 1854, like Nishi Amane, Tsuda Mamichi, Kanda Takahira, and Katþ Hiroyuki, were either
pupils of Genpo or of Sugita Seikei, translator of the Constitution, or worked with them at
the Bansho Shirabesho, the institute for the study of Western books established in 1854.
Of the four scholars mentioned, Katþ was to become the author of several influential works
on constitutional law. Nishi and Tsuda would go to Holland in 1862 and follow private
lectures on natural law, constitutional law, international law, economics, and statistics in
Leiden. The translations of their lecture notes, notably those on constitutional law made by
Tsuda, and those on natural law by Kanda Takahira, published in the first years of Meiji,
would be the first useful introductions in these subjects to appear in Japanese. Unlike the
earlier translations of the Dutch law texts, they offer a comprehensible explanation of the
principles of Western law, thus succeeding, where Tadakuni's translation project had been
bound to fail.
Although it can be said that the translations ordered by Tadakuni have never served the
purpose for which they were intended, and have not exerted a direct influence on the wider
reception of Western law, it cannot be denied that they were instrumental as the first step in
bringing knowledge about Western legal systems to Japan. A story survives about Sugita
Seikei, translator of the Constitution, which offers a striking illustration of the impact this
knowledge had on those who first acquired it. In the short biography of Seikei by þtsuki
Shuji, we came across the following passage:
"Because he devoted his attention to the political systems and customs of the Western countries since, at one time, he had to translate books on political matters, he discovered for the first time the meaning of what was called vrijheid. This is the same word as freedom in England: that is to say: to uphold spiritual autonomy and freedom of thought as personal rights. The people of the present world talk about human rights, and advocate and applaud the plead for freedom under new circumstances. To the master however, in the early days several decades ago, such advocacy was unknown. On the contrary, because at that time people like Takahashi, Watanabe, Takano, and Takashima, having started to explain things foreign, had been convicted of crimes against the government, the master, fearing to bring disaster down upon himself, took care to restrain himself, lest such things should recklessly escape his mouth. Only when he was drunk, having drowned the pain that grieved his heart in sake, he would not restrain himself, and start crying: Vrijheid!
This article contains the summary of a thesis on which the author gained his doctorate at the University of Leiden on 2 May 1996.