Paradox in Cultural Studies

I was reading the introduction to the Tale of Genji yesterday.
The tiny English text drove me dizzy in no time. I don't know why English text has this effect on me. Wish I had the original.....well maybe not the original, cos that would be in classical Japanese I won't be able to understand.
Anyhow the English version is all I have from college days.
I was thinking that it may be time to purchase a few classical novels from Amazon....ouch, it's going to be expensive.

Back to the Tale of Genji; the author, Edward G. Seidensticker, stated that in translating to English, many side notes were left out, and some details simplified so the western readers can more easily understand the story. He said if all the explanation to connotations were included, the notes would probably be thicker than the book itself.
So how much details might a person miss by reading the English version of a classical literature.

Then it dawned on me, how can we study a culture without first learning the language?
Isn't that the most fundamental thing?
Why does the Center for Japanese Studies not use Japanese books but instead English translations?
In order to fully appreciate the literature, one must read the original.
How can it not be a prerequisite to first learn the language before studying the culture?

From my personal experience this is especially true.
During college I took various Japanese literature and history classes. But not until recently, after watching Japanese historical dramas, and doing research on wikipedia had I come to some understanding of what their history was really like.
Without seeing things from the Japanese perspective, reading history on paper was just like words with no meaning. They were just a bunch of names and dates.

One good example, without knowing Japanese, one cannot appreciate the different names people had throughout their lives, and their meanings.
As Seidensticker said, he kept the name Aoi consistent throughout because western audience can only accept the idea of one unbreakable name.

To further my studies of Japanese history, I hope to learn classical Japanese someday.

大河劇

以篤姫為契機
最近一連K了好多部大河劇
以前從沒看過大河劇的我，看完第一部的篤姫以為相當好看
之後多看了幾部才瞭解篤姫其實還好而已
劇情的起伏不大
歷史上來說篤姫的影響也甚小

目前正在看的是1991年的太平記
相當好看，是我第一次會迫不期待想一集一集看下去的大河劇

[不負責任]最好看的大河劇排行榜：
1. 太平記
2. 風林火山
3. 功名十字路
4. 篤姫
5. 新選組!
6. 義経

8/3/2009 我的忌日

一切都沒意義了
我每次都這樣嘛
總是要到後來才後悔說為什麼沒有專心聽你說話
老是忘東忘西
你說的對
如果對我來說很重要的事我怎麼會這樣
現在可好了
是時候讓自己成熟點了
成為一個成熟的女人
可以支持你的
改變自己無所事事的過日子方法
不要太一廂情願，自以為事情是這樣就是這樣

不敢去想因為太痛苦