Bible translations into Japanese


There are two main translations of the Bible into Japanese widely in use today—the New Interconfessional Version and the New Japanese Bible. Both are published by the Japan Bible Society but with different translation goals. The New Japanese Version aims to be used as a literal translation using modern Japanese while the New Interconfessional Version aims to be ecumenically used by all Christian denominations and must therefore conform to various theologies. Protestant Evangelicals most often use the New Japanese Version, but the New Interconfessional Version is the most widely distributed and the one used by the Catholic Church, the United Church of Christ, Lutheran Church factions and many Anglicans in Japan.

Jesuit missions

Japanese Bible translation began when Catholic missionaries entered Japan in 1549, and Jesuits published portions of the New Testament in Kyoto, in 1613, though no copy survives. Exactly how much was translated by the Jesuit Mission is not confirmed. It would seem that at least Gospels for the Sundays of the year and other Bible pericopes were translated. Shortly afterwards, however, Christianity was banned and all the missionaries were exiled. That translation of the Bible is now lost.

Protestant missionaries

Work on translation started outside Japan in the 19th century by Protestant missionaries interested in Japan. Karl Gutzlaff of the London Missionary Society translated the Gospel of John in Macau in 1837, referring to the Chinese version of Robert Morrison. Bernard Jean Bettelheim, who had been a missionary in the Ryūkyū Kingdom and who had been exiled, translated the Bible to Ryūkyūan and published the Gospel of Luke and John, Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans in Hong Kong in 1855. Japan re-opened in 1858, and many missionaries came into the country. They found that intellectuals could read Chinese texts easily, so they used Chinese Bibles at first. However, the proportion of intellectuals was only in the region of 2% and in order to spread their religion across the country more effectively, a Japanese Bible became necessary. Incidentally, a second reversion of Bettelheim's Luke was published in 1858, intercolumnated with the Chinese Delegates' version, and designed for missionary use in Japan. This version, with its heavy Ryūkyūan flavor, proved just as unsuitable as Chinese-only Bibles. After leaving Asia and immigrating to the United States, Bettelheim continued work on his translations, and newly revised editions of Luke, John, and the Acts, now closer to Japanese than Ryūkyūan, were published posthumously in Vienna in 1873-1874 with the assistance of August Pfizmaier.

Meiji Version, 1887

A translation was done by James Curtis Hepburn, of the Presbyterian Mission, and Samuel Robbins Brown, of the Reformed Church of America. It is presumed that Japanese intellectual assistants helped translate Bridgman and Culbertson's Chinese Bible into Japanese, and Hepburn and Brown adjusted the phrases. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and John were published in 1872. Hepburn's project was taken over by a Missionary Committee, sponsored by the American Bible Society, British and Foreign Bible Society and the Scottish Bible Society in Tokyo. Their New Testament and Old Testament, called the Meiji Version, was published in 1880 and 1887 respectively. They translated from a Greek text as well as the King James version.

Taisho Revised Version, 1917

A revision of the New Testament, the Taisho Revised Version appeared in 1917 during the Taishō period. This version was widely read even outside of Christian society. Its phrases are pre-modern style, but became popular in Japan. This was based on the Nestle-Aland Greek Text and the English Revised Version.

Bible, Japanese Colloquial, 1954, 1955, 1975, 1984, 2002

After World War II, the Japan Bible Society translated the "Bible, Japanese Colloquial". The New Testament being ready in 1954 and the Old Testament in 1955. It was adopted by certain Protestant churches but never became really popular, perhaps because of its poor literary style. This translation was based on the Revised Standard Version.

Japanese Living Bible, 1977, 1993, 2016

Based on the New Living Translation this translation has an informal literary style which attempts to capture the meaning of the original texts in modern Japanese. Revised version released in 2016 by Word of Life press.
1977 version available online in PDF form from and at

New Japanese Bible, 1965, 1970, 1978, 2003, 2017

In 1970 the Nnihon Seisho Kankōkai - different from the Japan Bible Society - released the first edition of the New Japanese Bible which was translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Shin Kaiyaku endeavors to translate theologically difficult passages in a way that is linguistically accurate to the source texts, to strike a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought but erring toward a literal translation.
The latest edition was released in 2017.

New Interconfessional Translation, 1987, 1988, 2018

The Second Vatican Council decided to promote ecumenism and emphasized respect for the Bible. Consortia between the Catholic and the Protestant churches were organized and translation projects started in many countries, including Japan. The collaboration committee published the Japanese New Interconfessional Translation Bible#Interconfessional Translation Bible of the New Testament in 1978, but it was not widely supported by both congregations, Catholic and Protestant. The committee then published a revised version in 1987, the Japanese New Interconfessional Translation Bible, which included the Old Testament. It has been distributed well by various organisations such as Gideons International, the next edition was planned to be released in 2016.
Translation spent eight years from 2010 to 2017. In terms of translation theory, while the Joint Bible followed Eugene Naida's theory of dynamic correspondence, and criticism of it, the New Joint Bible changed its direction to formal correspondence , The Bible Society's Joint Translation Bible, referring to the Scopos theory proposed by Lawrence de Vries in the Netherlands, adopted the scopos "to aim for a dignified Japanese suitable for reading in worship."
The Bible Society Joint Translation Bible is a Japanese translation of the Bible. This is the Japanese translation of the Bible by the Bible Society of Japan, and has been published as a new translation for the first time in 31 years since the New Joint Translation Bible. The first edition was published on December 3, 2018. The official English name is Japan Bible Society Interconfessional Version.

Other translators

There are many other Japanese translations of the Bible by various organizations and individuals.

Catholic versions

In the Catholic Church, Emile Raguet of the MEP translated the New Testament from the Vulgate Latin version and published it in 1910. It was treated as the standard text by Japanese Catholics. Federico Barbaro colloquialized it. He went on to translate the Old Testament in 1964.
The Franciscans completed a translation of the whole Bible, based on the Greek and Hebrew text, in 1978. This project was inspired by the Jerusalem Bible.

Orthodox versions

In the Orthodox Church, Nicholas and Tsugumaro Nakai translated the New Testament as an official text in 1901, but the 1954 Colloquial Translation is often used.
The Japanese Orthodox Bible, of course, describes the Orthodox Yasuyuki Takahashi as "the most credible Bible that can be used regardless of the religion", but even Protestant missionaries in the Meiji era have apostles. Some have described the Gospels of the Book and John as "much better than any translation currently in existence".
Some people don't appreciate the style very much like the Protestant Fujihara Fujio, but in the modern Bible, etc., it is described as an accurate translation. On the other hand, it is true that this translation is difficult, and in the 1930s, orthodox people called for revision. However, Nikolai himself should raise the understanding of the believers toward the translation by having the Orthodox teachings understood correctly, and on the contrary, he was opposed to damaging the accuracy of the translation by asking the public.
There were Even in the 1930s debate, Nakai Kuma Maro was not only able to break down some of Nikolai's elaborate translations, but also had to maintain its magnificent style, so he understood the need for translation. However, expressed opposition to easy translation. As a result, some observers have said that the Japanese Orthodox Church translation has been preserved to date, and that the long-standing inheritance itself can be appreciated.

Jehovah's Witnesses, 1973, 1985, 2019

Japanese was among the first 8 languages into which the New World Translation was translated. Jehovah's Witnesses first released the Japanese New World Translation as 「クリスチャン･ギリシャ語聖書 新世界訳」 in 1973. This Bible, however, contains Christian Greek Scriptures only. By 1982, the first complete Bible was finally released in Japanese and it is called as '. By the same year, tens of thousands of copies had been printed in Japan printery. Not long after, in 1985, another edition of the Japanese New World translation was released, this release also includes the new Reference Bible. Both the Standard and Reference edition of this Bible is based from the English 1984 edition of the ' which was released on 1984 in United States.
After several years since the released in 1985, on April 13, 2019, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, Stephen Lett, released the revised edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'' with a same name—' in Japanese. This new Bible is based from the English 2013 revision of the ' which was released at the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. This revised edition in Japanese includes the use of more modern and understandable language, clarified Biblical expression, appendixes, and many more.

Comparison


TranslationJohn 1
Gutzlaff John 1:1-2
ハジマリニ　カシコイモノゴザル、コノカシコイモノ　ゴクラクトトモニゴザル、コノカシコイモノワゴクラク。ハジマリニ　コノカシコイモノ　ゴクラクトトモニゴザル。
Bettelheim "Loochooan" version John 1:1-2
ハジマリニ　カシコイモノ　ヲテ，　コノカシコイモノヤ　シヤウテイトトモニヲタン。 コノ　カシコイモノ　ハジマリニ　シヤウテイト　トモニ　ヲタン。
Hepburn John 1:1-4
元始に言霊あり　言霊は神とともにあり　言霊ハ神なり。この言霊ハはじめに神とともにあり。よろづのものこれにてなれり　なりしものハこれにあらでひとつとしてなりしものハなし。これに生ありし　いのちは人のひかりなりし。
Bettelheim revised version John 1:1-2
はじめに　かしこいものあり　かしこいものハ　神と　ともにいます　かしこいものハすなわち神
Meiji version John 1:3
万物これに由て造らる造れたる者に一つとして之に由らで造られしは無
Orthodox church TranslationJohn 1:1-3
太初に言有り、言は神と共に在り、言は即神なり。 是の言は太初に神と共に在り。万物は彼に由て造られたり、凡造られたる者には、一も彼に由らずして造られしは無し。
Taisho Revised Version John 1:1-3
太初に言あり、言は神と偕にあり、言は神なりき。この言は太初に神とともに在り、萬の物これに由りて成り、成りたる物に一つとして之によらで成りたるはなし。
Shinkeiyakuversion John 1:1-4
初に言ありき、また言は神と偕にありき、また言は神なりき。 此の者は初に神と偕にありき。 すべての物、彼によりて刱まれり、また刱まりたる物に、一つとして彼を離れて刱まりしはなし。 彼に生ありき、また此の生は人の光なりき。
Colloquial version John 1:1-3
初めに言があった。言は神と共にあった。言は神であった。この言は初めに神と共にあった。すべてのものは、これによってできた。できたもののうち、一つとしてこれによらないものはなかった。
Barbaro John 1:1-3
はじめにみことばがあった。みことばは神とともにあった。みことばは神であった。かれは、はじめに神とともにあり、万物はかれによってつくられた。つくられた物のうち、一つとしてかれによらずつくられたものはない。
Shinkaiyaku Seisho John 1:1-3
初めに、ことばがあった。ことばは神とともにあった。ことばは神であった。この方は、初めに神とともにおられた。すべてのものは、この方によって造られた。造られたもので、この方によらずにできたものは一つもない。
Franciscan John 1:1-3
初めにみ言葉があった。／み言葉は神と共にあった。／み言葉は神であった。／み言葉は初めに神と共にあった。／すべてのものは、み言葉によってできた。／できたもので、み言葉によらずに／できたものは、何一つなかった。
The New Interconfessional Translation John 1:1-3
初めに言があった。言は神と共にあった。言は神であった。この言は、初めに神と共にあった。万物は言によって成った、成ったもので、言によらず成ったものは何一つなかった。
Japanese Living Bible John 1:1-4
まだこの世界に何もない時から、キリストは神と共におられました。キリストは、いつの時代にも生きておられます。キリストは神だからです。 このキリストが、すべてのものをお造りになりました。そうでないものは一つもありません。 キリストには永遠のいのちがあります。全人類に光を与えるいのちです。
New World Translation John 1:1-4
初めに，言葉と呼ばれる方がいた。言葉は神と共にいて，言葉は神のようだった。 この方は初めに神と共にいた。 全てのものはこの方を通して存在するようになり，彼を通さずに存在するようになったものは一つもない。