Translator’s Corner

Thank you for reading volume 7 of Holmes of Kyoto! This was probably the most straightforward volume to translate so far, but as is typical for this series, there’s always something to elaborate on.

First off, the chapter 1 title “The Heart of the Matter.” The original title in Japanese was sono kokoro wa, or “the heart is.” This is a phrase commonly used in Japanese wordplay riddles, which follow the format of “What ‘heart’ do [item A] and [item B] have in common?” where the answer is a pair of homophones. For example:

Q: What “heart” do glass and a NEET have in common?

A: They’re both mushoku (colorless / jobless).

Obviously the word “heart” isn’t really used this way in English, but since the title had to stay heart-related because of the chapter content, I opted for a relevant heart idiom.

The other topic I’d like to talk about is the kotodama (spiritual power of words) brought up in chapter 3. For the sake of conversation flow, I had to keep the gloss brief, but this is actually a prominent concept in Japanese culture that can be found in everything from mythology to martial arts to weddings. The belief is that words and sounds contain spiritual power that can influence the environment, body, and soul. The manager gives positive and negative examples of kotodama, but here are some other real-world applications of the concept:

• At weddings, people avoid saying any separation-related words, such as “cut,” “break,” or “end.” For example, they can’t say “the wedding ceremony ended”—instead, they say “the wedding ceremony opened.” Instead of saying “cut the cake,” they say “put the knife in the cake,” and so on.
• Kiai, the shout performed in martial arts while attacking (think “hi-yah!”), also has its roots in kotodama. Part of it is for focusing energy into the strike, while part of it is to intimidate the opponent.
• For students taking entrance exams, failing an exam is called “falling,” so words such as “tumble” and “slip” shouldn’t be used either.