Journey to the West – Chapter 2.1

After the Handsome Monkey King got his name, he thanked Master Puti enthusiastically. The patriarch ordered the disciples to take Wukong to the inner courtyard and teach him to sweep and the proper manners to use among the disciples. Obediently, they went out. Outside, Wukong paid respects to his senpais,1 and they found a placeContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 2.1”

Journey to the West – Chapter 1.3

While he was looking around, he suddenly heard a voice coming from deep in the woods. He hurried through the woods toward the sound and found a person singing.  “Watching chess, the axe handle rots.1 Thwack, thwack, I’m chopping wood. I walk through valleys at the edge of clouds and trade my wood for wine.Continue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 1.3”

Journey to the West – Chapter 1.2

*As usual, translation notes are in the mouseover text or at the bottom of the post. 🙂 Let’s continue the story! The monkey multitude cheered upon hearing this.1 They said “Lead us inside! We’ll follow you.” The stone monkey closed his eyes,2 crouched, and jumped in once more, calling “Follow me!”3 The braver of theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 1.2”

Journey to the West – Chapter 1.1

First, a note on retelling Journey to the West. As a part of this, I wanted to share with you some of the decisions I made during translation, but I don’t want to distract from the story, so I’ve inserted them footnotes with mouseover text. There are these decisions almost everywhere. (For touchscreen viewers, clickingContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 1.1”

Journey to the West – a beginning?

Journey to the West is my childhood. My first memory of it was probably this 1963 Chinese cartoon – 大闹天宫 – a movie adaptation of one of the first major episodes in Journey to the West1. Growing up, I read abridged children’s versions in Chinese manhua, watched the 1999 cartoon religiously2, studied a simplified versionContinue reading “Journey to the West – a beginning?”