Negotiating Feudal Japan in English Manga Translation : A Comparative Analysis of Translation Strategies in House of Five Leaves, Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, and Tenken

Abstract

[Abstract] This master’s thesis examines how English translations of manga set in feudal Japan negotiate the competing demands of sociohistorical authenticity and target-reader intelligibility. Through a tripartite comparative case study—analysing Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves (historical realism), Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ōoku: The Inner Chambers (alternate history), and Yumiko Shirai’s Tenken (folkloric fantasy)—it identifies genre-specific strategies for handling period speech, honorifics, culturally embedded lexicon, and visual-textual elements (sound effects, typography). Findings reveal that effectiveness depends on three interdependent factors: thematic priorities, publisher conventions, and paratext design. The study demonstrates that strategic domestication (e.g., embedded archaisms, hand-drawn lettering) can outperform foreignization in transmitting feudal ambience. It proposes genre-tailored best practices, emphasising active paratext integration and art-sensitive localisation. This work addresses critical gaps in Translation Studies by establishing a comparative framework for pre-modern Japanese media localization and advocating interdisciplinary engagement with historical linguistics and visual semiotics.