tsuki ga kirei desu ne (phrase)

月が綺麗ですね

This tag should be used when the phrase "月が綺麗ですね" ("The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It?") or any reference to it is present. This phrase is related to a very well-known but unconfirmed anecdote about the Japanese Meiji Era novelist Natsume Souseki.

During his time as an English teacher, when a student translated "I love you" into Japanese as literally as "我君ヲ愛ス", he is said to have remarked, "A Japanese person would never say something so unromantic. Translate it as 'The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It? (月が綺麗ですね)', that will get the point across."
Some claim what he actually said was "The moon sure is beautiful when I'm with you.", but no reliable sources for this story have been found in the first place, so there is a high probability that the episode was a literary invention or an urban legend. What can be said with certainty is that this story had spread long before it was popularized on the internet and worldwide web.

A parallel episode is a story about when Futabatei Shimei translated Turgenev's "Asya", and translated the eponymous heroine's "I love you" as "I wouldn't mind if I die. (死んでもいいわ)" This is clearly known to be fallacious. It was written on the blog of an IT engineer in 2011, and while he did find a place in Shimei's translation that says "I wouldn't mind if I die.", the corresponding line in the original Russian version says, "Ваша…" ("[I am] yours...")
Since it was Shimei who gave this novella the Japanese title of "Unrequited Love (片戀/片恋)", his superb sensibilities and policy as a translator have made this legend more persuasive.

External links

Posts