Chapter 2 preface to reprint

Needless to say, "Three Kingdoms" tells about events about 1,800 years ago, but the characters in the book who were active in that distant era still seem to be alive in every corner of China today - as long as you go there in person When I come to China, I get in touch with all kinds of beings there, from the political leaders to the common people, especially after the relationship is drawn closer, from time to time people feel like a certain character in the story of the Three Kingdoms, or at least there is something in him. something similar. From this, it can be said that the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms era is still being staged in modern China. Although the social and cultural forms have undergone earth-shaking changes, the characters in the works are still alive today.That's not an exaggeration to say.

There are many opening words and ending poems in "Three Kingdoms". These poems not only describe the battle records and stories of the rise and fall of chaos and chaos, but also have a kind of harmony, music and color that make the blood of the oriental people rush and the energy flow through the rainbow. If these poetic praises are removed from it, this magnificent work, which is hailed as a world-class masterpiece, will not only be boring to read, but its literary value will also be greatly reduced. Because of this, if the work "Three Kingdoms" is rewritten or translated bluntly, not only will the poetic flavor of the original work disappear, but what is even more worrying is that it will lose the most touching things in it.

For this reason, I did not choose to rewrite or excerpt, but boldly tried to recreate this work in the style of newspaper serial novels that are most suitable for long-form giants, and in Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other important The characters have added their own understanding and creativity.The words, sentences and dialogues that can be seen everywhere in the book that are not in the original work are my touches. As we all know, although "Three Kingdoms" is based on Chinese history, it is not official history.The author moves the brush freely to make the historical figures come alive and come into the works.This work describes the rule of about 112 years from the period of Emperor Lingdi, the twelfth emperor of the Later Han Dynasty (around 168 AD, which is equivalent to the reign of Emperor Chengwu of Japan) to the first year of Taikang when Emperor Wu of Jin destroyed Wu. The rise and fall of chaos, the grand conception, and the vast stage are unparalleled in classical novels all over the world.Counting carefully, there are more than hundreds of characters in the book.Coupled with the ubiquitous and unrestrained majestic arrogance, the sad and sad feelings, the generous and tragic words, the exaggerated and humorous humor, and the fierceness of three sighs in the works, the narration is full of charm. , so that readers can't help but flash back to the ups and downs of the world and the rise and fall of culture that happened on this land in the past century, and turn to cover the book for deep thinking and emotion.

From another point of view, "Three Kingdoms" can be said to be a folk novel.The human love, morality, religion, life reflected in the work, as well as the theme of war as the main line of the novel and the separatism of the heroes, etc., are undoubtedly a rich and colorful folk picture scroll, which is full of vigor and encouragement. It can be regarded as a human drama staged on the stage of heaven and earth, accompanied by majestic music. Due to the changes of the times, the place names appearing in the original work are of course different from the place names in use now. I have added notes in the book for all the place names that can be verified, but there are still many old place names that are not very clear.As for the titles and official positions of the characters on the scene, it can be inferred from the literal that they are still the same, and they are copied.Because if the words are too modern, the special color and feeling of the words may be lost.

The original "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and several other versions exist.The author did not carry out a simple literal translation based entirely on these versions, but drew on the strengths of each, thus forming a self-contained "Three Kingdoms".Recalling the scene when I was writing this work, while I was writing hard, I couldn’t help but flash back to my mind when I was a teenager and read Mr. Kubo Tiansui’s "New Translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the middle of the night. Scene of father scolding and forcing to bed. Speaking of it, if you want to chew and taste the true taste of "Three Kingdoms", there is nothing better than reading the original work.However, today's readers may be afraid and stop at the difficulty of understanding it. At the same time, considering that the reading pleasure pursued by the general public is also varied and varied, so I boldly follow the instructions of the book and rewrite the old works. Revised, republished.

Eiji Yoshikawa