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Japanese to English: Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover Summary (From the Kingdom Hearts 3 Ultimania) General field: Other Detailed field: Gaming/Video-games/E-sports
Source text - Japanese 時はおとぎ話に語(かた)られる、すべての世界がへだたりなくひとつだったころーー。未来(みらい)を見通す(みとおす)目を持つマスター・オブ・マスターには、6人の弟子(でし)がいた。彼(かれ)は、弟子のひとりに黒(くろ)い箱(ばこ)と１本(いっぽん)のキーブレードをゆだね、ほかの５人には未来を記(しる)した予知書(よちしょ)を授(さず)けた。そして、黒い箱を記された弟子とマスター・オブ・マスターは姿(すがた)を消(け)し、予知書を与(あた)えられた５人の弟子だけが残(のこ)された。
Translation - English In a time where fairy tales were told, all of the world was together as one. The Master of Masters, who held the power to see the future, had six apprentices. He entrusted one of them with a black box and his own keyblade, and to the other five he granted a book of prophecy wherein he had written his visions of the future. Then, the Master of Masters and the apprentice to whom he had conferred the box both disappeared, and only the five apprentices who had the books of prophecy remained.
Later, within the apprentices a suspicion was brewing that a “traitor” was among them, and a dark cloud began to hang over the concerned five. Doubt invited further doubt, their confrontation became the final one, and the apprentices each intended to gather the light on their own. Then, as the book of prophecy foretold, the Keyblade War began.
Japanese to English: Kachi Kachi Yama by Masao Kusuyama General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Translation - English Kachi Kachi Yama
by Masao Kusuyama
One Once upon a time, there was a place where an old man lived with an old woman. Every time the old man went to the field to work, a single old tanuki came from the other side of the mountain and laid waste to the painstakingly cultivated field while peppering the old man’s back with pebbles and clods of earth. Whenever the old man got angry and pursued the tanuki, it would flee nimbly. A short time later it would turn up again, up to mischief as usual. The old man was inconvenienced enough that he hung a trap for the creature. One day, the tanuki finally became ensnared in the trap.
The old man jumped with joy!
“Aaah, what a good feeling. I’ve finally captured it!”
Saying that, he bound all four of the tanuki’s feet and carried it home. When he got there the old man hung the tanuki up on a hook on the ceiling and said to the old woman, “Be on the lookout for it trying to escape. Make it into tanuki soup for me by the time I return home for dinner.”
Having bequeathed this task to her, he once again headed out to the field.
Under where the tanuki was strung up, the old woman brought out a mortar and filled it with wheat. Before long, “Aaah, I’m exhausted.” slipped from the old woman’s lips as she wiped at sweat on her forehead. At this time, the docilely hanging tanuki called from above.
“Um, hello, Ms. Old lady, could you maybe help a little with my being tied up situation, please? To put it bluntly, could you untie this cord please?"
“I couldn’t possibly! Do I look like someone who would help your kind? If I untied that cord, if I helped you, you would probably escape right away.”
“Not at all! I would stay caught just like this, trust me. It’s too late for me to run. Now, how about you put me down, just to test it out.”
Because it was such an insistent, admirable request, the old woman carelessly did as the tanuki said, untying the cord and setting it down. As soon as she did this, the tanuki said, “Well, well" and massaged the limbs which had been tied up. Then, while saying “Now let me see, you did hang me up”, the tanuki took the old woman’s mallet and made as if to pound the wheat. Then all of a sudden the tanuki swung the mallet down onto the crown of her head! Without time to even say “Aah!”, the old woman’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed, dead.
The tanuki set off cooking the old woman at once, making old woman soup in place of the tanuki soup.It then took the form of the old woman, donned a face of sweet payback, sat in front of the hearth, and waited for the old man to return home.
When evening fell, the unsuspecting old man thought “I get to eat tanuki soup for dinner, mmm.”
And, grinning to himself, he hurried home. The tanuki, waiting as if it had been the old lady, called, “Oh, dear, please come inside. I’ve just finished making the tanuki soup and was waiting on you!”
The old man smiled.
“Oh hoh, is that right? Well I'm very grateful for that, darling.”
Having said that, he sat down in front of their small table. Then, the tanuki old woman served him a plate, saying, “This is so delicious, it is so good.”
The old man smacked his lips and absorbed himself in eating the old woman soup. The tanuki saw this and, without thinking,laughed, “Ha!” The moment he laughed, the tanuki’s true form was revealed.
“Old lady-eating old man, check out her bones under the sink.”
The tanuki brought out its large tail as it spoke and fled out the back door.
The old man was heartbroken, and in such shock that he couldn’t stand up. He then retrieved the bones of his wife from under the sink and wept over them.
Soon after , a white rabbit from the other side of the mountain came up to him and asked,
“Old man, Old man, what’s wrong?”
“Oh...Mr. Rabbit. I'm glad you’ve come. Please listen to me for a moment... I’m having a terrible time.”
The old man told the rabbit every detail of the story that was the cause of his grief. The rabbit felt extraordinary malice towards the tanuki upon hearing the tale. “Well, that is an unthinkable thing to hear of! However, I am certain that as an enemy, I can handle the tanuki. So I will see that you have no reason to worry.”
The rabbit said reassuringly. The old man shed tears of joy. “Aaa, how can I ever repay you? Truly, I am nothing but an annoying, intolerable man” he cried.
“It’s alright. Tomorrow I'll lure out the tanuki early, and give him a terrible time. Just wait for a little while, friend, ok?” The rabbit said, and he went home.
Two Since what had occurred had been a bit scary, after the tanuki escaped the old man’s house he dug a hole for himself instead of running far away.
Some time after that, the rabbit put a sickle on his waist and intentionally stumbled upon the tanuki’s hidey hole. He took out his sickle and repeatedly hacked at some firewood. While he was hacking away, he brought out dried chestnuts which he had put in a sack and munched on them loudly. At the sound of all this commotion, the tanuki plodded out of the hole.
“Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit. What is that delicious looking thing you are eating?”
“Dried chestnuts.”
“Could I maybe have a few?”
“If I did give you some, would you carry half of this firewood to the other side of that mountain for me, by any chance?”
The tanuki wanted those chestnuts, so it reluctantly bore the firewood and walked away. Once it had returned from the other side of the mountain, the tanuki rushed back and cried, “Mr Rabbit! Mr. Rabbit! Could I have some chestnuts?”
“Aah, I'll give you some, sure, if you go to the other side of the mountain for me one more time.”
It couldn’t be helped, so the tanuki again rapidly shuffled off into the distance. When it finally returned from the other side of the mountain again, the tanuki rushed back and cried, “Mr Rabbit! Mr. Rabbit! Could I have some chestnuts?”
“Aah, I'll give you some, but, while I have you, why don’t you go to the other side of the mountain for me one more time. This time I will for sure give you some. Definitely.”
Well, it couldn’t be helped, so the tanuki once more headed out, intending to go and return as quickly as he could this time, so it walked diligently without looking back once. This time the rabbit accompanied the tanuki as it carried the last of the firewood, and from his pocket the rabbit drew a flint and struck it until it sparked a flame. “Tch. Tch” The tanuki thought this sound was a bit weird, and asked, “Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, what is that ‘Tch, tch’ thing going on back there?”
“Oh, this mountain is called ‘tch tch’ mountain. So that’s just the sound it makes.”
“Oh, is that right? Ok then.”
The tanuki kept walking, satisfied with the rabbit’s answers. As they spoke, the fire the rabbit had started spread from the firewood on the Tanuki’s back and started burning more vigorously. “Roar, roar.” The tanuki thought this sounded a bit weird, and asked, “Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit, what is that roaring thing going on back there?”
“Oh, the mountain opposite this one is called Roaring mountain. So that’s just the sound it makes.”
“Oh, is that right? Ok then.”
As the tanuki was saying this, the fire was already rapidly burning a wide swath of the tanuki’s back. The tanuki finally screamed, “Oh. OH! Hot, Hot, HOT!!! PLEASE HELP ME!!”
While it cried out, absorbed in its pain, a mountain wind suddenly blew from behind them and made the fire grow excessively large. The tanuki wailed and sobbed, unbearable to look at, flailing around, and it just barely managed to get the burning firewood off of his back and stampede back to his hole. The rabbit called out in a purposely loud voice, “Oh my god, it’s terrible! Fire! Fire!!” as he went home.
Three The following day, the rabbit was making an ointment out of shichimi pepper and miso paste, and the tanuki, who was waiting on that ointment, called upon the rabbit to see how it was going. In the center of the tanuki’s back was a large burn, and it groaned as it lay near the rabbit.
“Man, tanuki. You really had a bad day yesterday, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m having a really terrible time. How can I possibly heal this burn?”
“Yes, well, as far as that goes, since you seem so miserable, I have made the most effective ointment possible. Just for you!”
“Really?? Well I'm very grateful for that, I really am. Hurry up and apply it for me!”
Once he was ready, the rabbit noticed that the tanuki had blisters, abrasions, and inflammation over his whole back.. On top of all of this the rabbit indiscriminately slathered the shichimi pepper/miso paste mix, really laying it on thick. Before long the tanuki’s back felt like it was on fire all over again, and he said, “Ow, ow!”
The tanuki yelled in pain as he ran back to his hole. The rabbit watched all this, smirking to himself, and said, “Why, tanuki, I’m beginning to tingle! It’s almost time to make the most of this opportunity. I just need to be patient a little while longer.”
The rabbit went home, quite pleased.
Four Four or five days later... “I wonder how that tanuki jerk is doing. This time let’s take him to the sea and make him have a REALLY bad time.” The rabbit monologued as he went to the tanuki’s hole to pay an unexpected visit.
“Oh hey! Tanuki! How’s that burn treating you, buddy?”
“Aa, thanks to you its doing much better.”
“That’s good. In that case, do you want to go somewhere with me again?”
“Not really... I’ve had enough of the mountain.”
“If the mountain is no good, how about this time we go to the sea? We can catch fish.”
“Yeah, the sea sound fun!”
And with that the rabbit and tanuki headed off to the sea together. The rabbit made a boat out of a tree, and seeing this the tanuki became jealous and tried to imitate him by making a boat out of mud. When the boats were finished, the rabbit got into his tree one. The tanuki got into his mud one. They individually rowed out to the open ocean.
“Nice weather, isn’t it?” “The scenery is quite nice, too.” They each proclaimed, gazing out at the rare beauty of the ocean, but the rabbit said, “We still can’t find fish right here. We need to get further out. So, let’s have a race!” The rabbit grinned over at the tanuki.
“Alright, alright, that sound interesting.” The tanuki replied.
They called out “One, Two, Three, Go!”and rowed furiously. The rabbit pounded his boat vigorously. “How’s that, my wooden boat is light and pulling ahead!”
He crowed. The tanuki got the feeling that he was going to lose, and so he copiously struck the side of his own boat. “Oh come one, this mud boat is heavy but still healthy.”
He despaired.
Now the whole time they were racing, water was gradually penetrating the mud boat, and eventually the mud crumbled apart.
“Oh no! My boat broke!”
The tanuki was shocked by this turn of events and started an uproar.
“I’m sinking, I’m sinking! Help me!!”
The rabbit, finding the tanuki’s panicked state quite amusing, said, “Serves you right! You tricked the old woman, you killed her, and you fed her to the old man as old woman soup! This is your punishment.”
The tanuki kept pleading for help, not understanding the situation, and he begged the rabbit to save him. The rabbit stood on his boat and watched as the tanuki floundered, and before long the tanuki sunk out of sight and drowned.
Japanese to English: Hana-Saka JiJi by Masao Kusuyama General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Translation - English Flower-Blooming Old Man
Author- Masao Kusuyama
Translator- Aaron Rivera
One
Once upon a time, there was a place where an old man lived with an old woman.
Although they were honest, good, and like-minded people, because they had no children their pet dog Shiro was truly as precious as if he were their real child. Shiro, for his part, shared this strong emotional attachment to the old man and woman.
An old woman and an old man also lived next door, as it so happened. These old folks were hopeless, greedy old people, and because of this they hated Shiro. They thought of him as a detestable, filthy dog and always treated him in a mean-spirited way.
One day, the honest old man shouldered his hoe and headed out to dig up his field with Shiro by his side. Shiro sniffed and snuffled happily around the area until he unexpectedly seized the hem of the old man’s jacket and dragged him under a large hackberry tree in a nook of the field. Shiro scratched at the ground.
“Dig here, bark! Bark!
“Dig here, bark! Bark!”
Shiro barked excitedly.
“What in the world?”
The old man muttered. When he tested the ground with his hoe he heard a clinking sound, and in the hole he had made he could see something shiny sparkling. He rapidly set to digging and many small oval gold coins came out. The old man was flabbergasted, and he shouted at the top of his lungs to get the old woman out to the hole and help him haul their treasure home.
The honest old man and woman were suddenly very rich people.
Two
The greedy old man next door heard all of this happen, became unbearably jealous, and immediately went to borrow Shiro. The honest old man unquestioningly lent him Shiro, because he was such a good person, and afterward the greedy old man tied a cord around the neck of the hated Shiro and began vigorously dragging him in the direction of the field.
“My field must be overflowing with gold coins too! Well, where is it? Where is it??”
The greedy old man demanded while tugging harder than he needed to. Shiro whined in pain and indiscriminately scratched at the ground, so the old man said,
“Here, eh? Gotcha, gotcha.”
Saying this, he started to dig, but no matter how much he dug the only things that came out were things like stones and fragments of roof tiles. Nevertheless, the old man kept haphazardly digging until reeking, rotting filth came swarming out. The old man shrieked “Ach!” and clamped his nose shut. He was then seized by a fit of rage and suddenly brought his hoe down onto Shiro’s head. Poor thing... With a single yelp, Shiro died.
It was impossible to describe how sad the honest old man and woman were after that. However, since there is nothing that can be done about dead things, while tears were still streaming down their faces the couple took Shiro’s corpse, dug a hole in a corner of their yard, carefully filled it in after they placed Shiro into it, and in place of a gravestone they planted a small pine tree on the grave. Then the tree grew up before their very eyes and became a large, splendid tree.
“This is a momento of Shiro.”
Saying that, the old man cut down the pine and turned it into a mortar. “Because he liked mochi” he explained as he put rice into the mortar, and, with the woman calling,
“Pound here, pound here”
, they began to pound the rice. But then the strangest thing happened. As they pounded away, time and again, the rice multiplied inside the mortar. They tried to carry it outside but before long their kitchen was full to the brim! Not only that, all the rice had turned to money!
Three
Upon knowing that their neighbors had a stroke of luck a second time, the greedy old man and woman next door became unbearably jealous, and brazenly went to borrow the mortar. The good old people again unquestioningly lent them the mortar.
Immediately after borrowing the mortar, the greedy old man put rice inside of it and the old woman helped by saying,
“Pound here, pound here”
as they began to pound, but this time too a reeking scent came gushing from the rice, and filth came out in clumps and multiplied inside the mortar. They tried to take it outside, but before long the kitchen was overflowing with nastiness and they were covered in it.
The temper of the greedy old man flared again and he tore the mortar down to firewood which he then burnt.
When the honest old man went to retrieve the mortar, he was surprised to find nothing but ashes. However, since there is nothing that can be done about burnt things, he gathered the remaining ashes, exhausted and heartbroken, into his bamboo draining basket and dejectedly returned home.
“My love, Shiro’s pine tree... It’s been turned to ashes.”
After saying this, the old man carried Shiro’s ashes to the corner of the garden and sprinkled them over his grave. From out of nowhere, a warm rustling breeze blew by and in a flash the ashes were dispersed over the entire garden. What should happen after that, but the dead plum, sakura, and other trees still standing around their yard, when they got covered in the ashes, began to bloom in front of their very eyes! No matter that everywhere else was still in the heart of winter right now, the old man’s garden alone thoroughly wore the visage of spring.
The old man clapped in sublime delight.
“This is fascinating! While we have the chance, let’s bloom all the flowers on the trees here and there and everywhere!”
After saying so, the old man carried the basket of remaining ashes.
“I am flower-blooming old man, I am flower-blooming old man, best flower-blooming old man in Japan, so let’s bloom the flowers on these dead trees!”
He called as he walked down the road.
Just then, a noble dignitary rode his horse down the opposite way on the road, accompanied by a large crowd of retainers, as he was just returning from hunting.
The noble called down to the old man.
“My my, you are a curious old man. In that case let me see you bloom that withered sakura over there.”
The noble ordered him. The old man carted his basket over to the sakura tree without delay.
“Gold sakura, rustle, rustle.
“Silver sakura, rustle, rustle.”
While saying this, the old man grabbed handfuls of ashes and sprinkled them, and then before their eyes flowers bloomed, and before long flowers flourished on every branch of the sakura. The noble was flabbergasted.
“This is magnificent! This is mysterious.”
He exclaimed, praising the old man and bestowing him with many rewards.
Naturally, yet again the greedy old man next door heard all of this happen, became jealous, and threw a quantity of leftover ashes into his own basket in a crass imitation of the honest old man.
“I am flower-blooming old man, I am flower-blooming old man, best flower-blooming old man in Japan, so let’s bloom the flowers on these dead trees!”
He shouted in anger as he walked down the road.
Again, at that time the noble was passing through.
“You know, just the other day I passed by a flower-blooming old man. In that case let me see you bloom that withered sakura over there, like he did.”
The noble ordered him. The greedy old man acted like this was his personal forte as he carted his basket over to the sakura tree, and, like the honest old man, belted out,
“Gold sakura, rustle, rustle.
“Silver sakura, rustle, rustle.”
While he shouted this he recklessly scattered the ashes about, but not a single flower bloomed. During all this, a surging, cruel wind sprung up and threw the ashes in all directions, scattering and dispersing them even into the eyes and noses of the noble and his retainers. The results of this were immediate. The affected started rubbing their eyes, sneezing, pulling their hair, and overall making a tremendous racket. The noble became extremely angry, and said,
“Imposter! You are nothing but a sham flower-blooming old man, there is no mistake about that! Reprehensible cur!!”
The noble then bound the greedy old man. The old man cried, “I'm sorry! “I’m sorry!” But in the end the greedy old man was taken to jail.
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