Approach considerations in the translations of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat into Japanese

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam has been translated into Japanese by several translators, some of whom have translated it indirectly based on the English translations (mainly by Edward Fitzgerald), and some have translated it directly from Persian. The present study briefly introduces 29 translators of Rubaiyat into Japanese and their translations. The results of the investigations revealed that various approaches to poetry translation can be found among Japanese translations of Rubaiyat. Some translators use archaism to create a feeling of antiquity, while others use contemporary language. Some translations apply formal or poetic expressions, while others have informal spoken language. Some translators have translated Rubaiyat in the forms of verse and some in the form of prose. Among the former group, some have used forms close to traditional Japanese poetry such as tanka, and some have tried modern forms like shintaishi. Some Japanese translators have even tried to create a form similar to the original form of Rubaiyat in Persian. The present study examines all these approaches using related examples and tries to classify them.