Monogatari Series - Volume 26 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

There are many arguments for and against the idea that the creator and his creation are separate, but if we think about it simply and logically, it is impossible for the creator and the creation to be the same, or to be in perfect agreement. Personally, I think that the statement, “The creation is but one part of the creator,” is correct. But the funny thing is, there are examples—lots of examples—where that one part surpasses the whole, and I’d like to say that’s the real thrill of creation. I suppose it would be like, “The creator is but one part of his creation”? There is no doubt that he is one of its components, but the proportions of those components and the roles they play may vary. In that case, what if the creator expresses that his creation reached fruition in a manner completely different from his original plan? One may think it equates to being a failed work, but that isn’t the case—the author may have failed, but it surely wouldn’t become a failed work. I’m sure we can solicit any number of opinions on how much the excuse “This wasn’t what I planned” can be used against a creative work, but I imagine the number of people saying that it ended up better than the original plan and the number of people saying that it ended up worse than the original plan would be about the same. Of course, whether it’s good or bad, the work is a part of the creator’s self, so he may not feel any sense of accomplishment as a result, but I suppose that point is what separates the creator from his creation. Even without parents, a child will grow.

Although this has no relation to the above discussion, this book was originally a story about Araragi-kun and Ononoki-chan going on an adventure to the demon world during the summer vacation of his first year in university. That had been the plot at the planning stage, but once I began writing and finished thusly, the contents ended up slightly different. But I am not dissatisfied in the least. Conversely, if I think about how it would’ve never ended up like this if I’d planned everything out in minute detail, then that sounds even scarier. Sengoku Nadeko’s storyline in the latter half also has Ononoki-chan as a partner, so the entire novel was full of this corpse doll as a result, which was also outside of my expectations. But, at least when it comes to me, I have never written a single novel according to my original plans. Nevertheless, it appears that my next novel will become my hundredth one. It was certainly outside of my expectations to have been able to write for this long, so I can only say that I’m truly glad that things didn’t go according to plan. With that, this book was a tsukumogami50 written 100 percent as a hobby, “Amarimonogatari”, “Episode 4: Yotsugi Buddy” and “Episode 5: Yotsugi Shadow”.

As you have seen, the cover features the version of Ononoki Yotsugi-chan in her new fashion. VOFAN-san, thank you very much. Her appearance rate on the covers has inadvertently become top-class, so she’s completely become a main character before I knew it, didn’t she? Monster Season will now be entering its second half, so please look forward to the remaining three volumes. I hope you will follow along with my unplanned plans.

NISIOISIN

Translator’s Afterword

There are often times when I revisit some of my earlier translations and think that I could’ve done better. Of course, feeling ashamed of my past translations is likely a sign that I’ve improved as a translator—but when I consider the embarrassment I feel from recalling my past memories, does that really mean I’ve grown as a person? On the other hand, there have been times when I’ve read a translation of mine and thought, “This holds up surprisingly well for something I did several years ago,” so perhaps I haven’t actually improved as much as I think I have. For example, instead of an upgrade, it would be a sidegrade. (At least, I hope I haven’t downgraded.) In any case, if I had infinite time and resources, I’d be tempted to keep going back and editing what I’ve put up, but then again, if I really did have infinite time and resources, they’d be better off spent translating new works instead. With that in mind, I’d like to have the confidence to never go back and edit my earlier translations, but perhaps that isn’t quite it either.

It was touched upon in the text itself, but the word “buddy” in the arc title “Yotsugi Buddy” could also be read as “body”. Given that the word “body” is more commonly written as bodi unlike title’s badi, and considering the partnership of Koyomi and Yotsugi being more at the forefront of the story than anyone’s bodies, it seemed more appropriate to use the word “buddy”, but in the end, I can’t claim to know for sure the author’s true intentions. Perhaps a translation should seek to be so natural that people forget it’s a translation, but ironically, I’d like to keep reminding people that a translation is but another interpretation of the translator.

On behalf of the author, I would like to thank you for reading “Amarimonogatari”—and I would like to thank you for reading my translation.

Polaris

Updated January 24, 2024

Notes

[←1]

 Hagoromo is written as 羽衣, which contains the kanji 羽 hane.

[←2]

 快傑ゾロ kaiketsu zoro, 解決ゼロ kaiketsu zero.

[←3]

 翼 tsubasa “wings”, hence the reference to the “kitty onee-chan”.

[←4]

 愛車 aisha “beloved car”, 廃車 haisha “demolished car”.

[←5]

 いいえ iie means “no”.

[←6]

 不健康 fukenkou “unhealthy”, 肩甲骨 kenkoukotsu “shoulder blades”.

[←7]

 鎖骨 sakotsu “clavicle”, 粗忽 sokotsu “careless”.

[←8]

 The kanji for “plate” (皿) looks similar to the kanji for “blood” (血).

[←9]

 From the previous lines, 取り合いっこ toriaikko “fighting over someone”. Here, we have 取り替えっ子 torikaekko “replacement child”.

[←10]

 鍵 kagi “keys”, 限らない kagiranai “not necessarily”.

[←11]

 余接 Yotsugi, 余念 yonen “other ideas”.

[←12]

 事情 jijou “situation”, 異常 ijou “anomaly”.

[←13]

 In the above line, 冗談 joudan “joke”, and then 怪談 kaidan “ghost story”.

[←14]

 脅威 kyoui “threatening”, 恐怖 kyoufu “terrifying”.

[←15]

 太もも futomomo “thighs”, 太い futoi “thick”.

[←16]

 布団が吹っ飛んだ futon ga futtonda.

[←17]

 羨望 senbou, “envy”.

[←18]

 From the previous line, 根に持つ ne ni motsu “to hold a grudge”. Here, we have 音を上げる ne o ageru “to admit defeat”.

[←19]

 無表情 muhyoujou “expressionless”, 無情 mujou “heartless”.

[←20]

 量子論 ryoushiron “quantum theory”, 猟奇 ryouki “bizarre”.

[←21]

 The Japanese title of Les Misérables is 噫無情 Aa Mujou “Ah, Heartless”, hence the word association.

[←22]

 The previous line has 引っかかる hikkakaru “to weigh on one’s mind”. Here, we have 引っかき傷 hikkaki kizu “scratch mark”.

[←23]

 探偵 tantei “detective”, 密偵 mittei “spy”.

[←24]

 Ononoki says 手加減は苦手 “not good at holding back” and then says 指加減は苦指, which is the same phrase but with 手 (the kanji for “hand”) replaced with 指 (the kanji for “finger”).

[←25]

 さっぱり sappari can mean both “refreshing” and “not at all”.

[←26]

 巧妙 koumyou “clever”, 怪我の功名 kega no koumyou “lucky break”, 光明 koumyou “ray of light”.

[←27]

 人形 ningyou “doll” is made up of the kanji for 人 hito “human” and 形 katachi “form”.

[←28]

 膝を打つ hiza wo utsu “to slap one’s knee (when impressed)”, 膝を撃ち抜く hiza wo uchinuku “to shoot the knee”.

[←29]

 式神 shikigami contains 神 kami “god”, 使い魔 tsukaima “familiar” contains 魔 ma “demon”.

[←30]

 毛色 keiro “disposition”, 色 iro “color”.

[←31]

 驚嘆 kyoutan “amazement”, 恐怖 kyoufu “fear”.

[←32]

 心血 shinketsu “heart and soul”, 血肉 ketsuniku “flesh and blood”.

[←33]

 目玉 medama can mean both “centerpiece” and “eyeball”.

[←34]

 眼鏡 megane “judgment”, 目がねー me ga nee “The eyes, huh”.

[←35]

 ギャグ gyagu “gag”, ギャラ gyara “fee”.

[←36]

 冷えていない hieteinai “not chilly”, 言えていない ieteinai “not saying it”.

[←37]

 癖 kuse “habit”, 癖に kuse ni “in spite of”.

[←38]

 なめされた namesareta “tanned”, なめる nameru “to lick”.

[←39]

 Up until now, Araragi has always used お前 omae, a less polite form of “you”, when talking to Hanekawa. Here, Hanekawa asks Araragi to stop using omae.

[←40]

 Araragi amends his usage of お前 omae to あなた anata, a more polite form of “you”.

[←41]

 Here, Hanekawa mentions her given name 翼 “Tsubasa” but reads it as “Tasuku”, which is an alternative name reading for the kanji. Though as “Tsubasa” the name usually means “wings”, reading it as “Tasuku” gives it a second meaning of “to help”.

[←42]

 Nadeko mistakenly says 言葉のあら kotoba no ara instead of 言葉の綾 kotoba no aya, or “figure of speech”. Yotsugi’s response uses the word あら探し arasagashi “fault finding”, which could also be read as “finding ara“. You might be able to tell from the conversation why “ara” is on Nadeko’s brain.

[←43]

 Nadeko uses two different words for “training” here, but the second one, 修行 shugyou, can have religious connotations (like ascetic training), which may be more appropriate for her line of work.

[←44]

 Nadeko contrasts 落命 rakumei “losing one’s life” with 吊命, which is likely a pun on 長命 choumei “long life”. However, the kanji used for chou is 吊, for “hanging”.

[←45]

 巻きつく makitsuku “to wind around”, 撒き餌 makie “groundbait”.

[←46]

 撫でる naderu means “to pat”, and shares kanji with 撫子 Nadeko.

[←47]

 Gaen contrasts 一家言 “personal opinion” with 二言 “double-dealing”. The kanji is literally “one (family) word” and “two words”, respectively.

[←48]

 Gaen calls it 軽作業 “light work”, which shares kanji with 軽業 “acrobatics”. Contrasting acrobatics to light work is a bit subtle in English, but it’s more apparent in Japanese as 軽業 has another meaning of “risky undertaking”.

[←49]

 蛇 hebi means “snake”. This line is written in (mostly) English, punning on hebi, heavy, and of course, Hamlet’s “To be or not to be”.

[←50]

 Written as 九十九神 lit. “99 gods” instead of the usual 付喪神.