KATANAGATARI 1
NOTE ON THIS ENGLISH EDITION
This volume collects the first trio of a dozen-part series. The cover art was for the original Book One, while Books Two and Three’s have been included as a gatefold.
The footnotes appended to this translation can be ignored, if the reader so wishes, and the story encountered on its own. Not intended to be exhaustive, they give the Japanese word and its transliteration when they occur, in addition to supplying more literal or straightforward renditions in most cases. Readers with some Japanese may find them clarifying, and those with none, too, are invited to observe (for instance) many no doubt familiar terms in their native form.
Where appropriate, the transliterations add bars called “macrons” above vowels for a closer approximation of the pronunciation, including for names and words that appear without them in the main text; a syllable with “Ō” is supposed to sound more like boat than bot. A repeated consonant like “CC” should be construed in the same manner as in Rebecca.
The translator agreed beforehand to provide the bulk of the annotations. The author’s infamous penchant for wordplay always poses a challenge, but it is the work’s period setting that inspired Vertical’s request. If all that it does is open a window into the difficulties of the endeavor, not just for this particular project but regarding any attempt to convey the sense of a source language, then so much the better.
Enjoy.
─Ed.