Water Margin - Translations

Translations

The Water Margin has been translated into many languages. Japanese translations date back to at least 1757, when the first volume of an early Suikoden (Water Margin rendered in Japanese) was printed. Other early adaptations include Takebe Ayakari's 1773 Japanese Water Margin (Honcho suikoden), the 1783 Women's Water Margin (Onna suikoden), and Santō Kyōden's 1801 Chushingura Water Margin (Chushingura suikoden).

In 1805, Kyokutei Bakin released a Japanese translation of the Water Margin illustrated by Hokusai. The book, called the New Illustrated Edition of the Suikoden (Shinpen Suikogaden), was a success during the Edo period and spurred a Japanese "Suikoden" craze.

In 1827, publisher Kagaya Kichibei commissioned Utagawa Kuniyoshi to produce a series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 heroes of the Water Margin. The 1827-1830 series, called 108 Heroes of the Water Margin or Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori, catapulted Kuniyoshi to fame. It also brought about a craze for multicolored pictorial tattoos that covered the entire body from neck to mid-thigh.

Following the great commercial success of the Kuniyoshi series, other ukiyo-e artists were commissioned to produce prints of the Water Margin heroes, which began to be shown as Japanese heroes rather than the original Chinese personages.

Among these later series was Yoshitoshi's 1866-1867 series of 50 designs in Chuban size, which are darker than Kuniyoshi's and feature strange ghosts and monsters.

Pearl S. Buck was one of the first English translators of the 70-chapter version. Titled All Men are Brothers and published in 1933, the book was well received by the American public. However, it was also heavily criticized for its errors and inaccuracies; an often cited example from this edition is Buck's mistranslation of Lu Zhishen's nickname "Flowery Monk" as "Priest Hua".

Of the later translations, Chinese-naturalized scholar Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh (1980) is considered to be one of the best. However, as it was published during the Cultural Revolution, this edition received little attention then. It is a translation of a combination of both the 70-chapter and 100-chapter versions. The most recent translation, titled The Marshes Of Mount Liang, by Alex and John Dent-Young, is a five-volume translation of the 120-chapter version.