Bible translations into Japanese

There are two main translations of the Bible into Japanese widely in use today—the Japanese New Interconfessional Translation Bible and the New Revised Bible. The New Japanese Bible, published by the Organization for the New Japanese Bible Translation and distributed by Inochinokotoba-sha, aims to be a literal translation using modern Japanese, while the New Interconfessional Version, published by the Japan Bible Society, aims to be ecumenically used by all Christian denominations and must therefore conform to various theologies. Protestant Evangelicals most often use the New Japanese Bible, 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. In 1613, Jesuits published portions of the New Testament in Kyoto, though no copies survive. Gospels for the Sundays of the year and other Bible pericopes were translated, but it is unknown exactly how much else was translated. This translation of the Bible is now lost. Shortly afterwards, Christianity was banned and the missionaries were exiled.

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 about 2%; thus, in order to spread their religion across the country more effectively, a Japanese Bible became necessary.
A bilingual version of the Gospel of Luke was published in 1858. Intended for missionary use in Japan, it contained a revision of Bettelheim's Luke next to the Chinese Delegates' Bible version. Because the translation was heavily influenced by Ryukyuan languages, it proved just as unsuitable as Chinese-only Bibles. After 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 Original 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 Original 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 in pre-modern style, but the translation became popular in Japan nonetheless. It was based on the Nestle-Åland 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 was ready in 1954 and the Old Testament in 1955. It was adopted by certain Protestant churches but never became very popular. It was considered to have been written in a poor literary style. This translation was based on the Revised Standard Version.

Japanese Living Bible, 1977, 1993, 2016

Based on the Living Bible, this translation uses an informal literary style which attempts to capture the meaning of the original texts in modern Japanese. A revised version released in 2016 by Word of Life press.

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

In 1970, the Nnihon Seisho Kankōkai – not to be confused with the Japan Bible Society – released the first edition of the New Japanese Bible which was translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The aimed to translate theologically difficult passages in a way that was linguistically accurate to the source texts, to strike a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought while erring toward a literal translation.
The latest edition was released in 2017.

New Interconfessional Translation/Interconfessional Version, 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 were 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. The committee then published a revised version in 1987, the Japanese New Interconfessional Translation Bible, which included the Old Testament. It has been widely distributed by various organisations. The next edition was planned to be released in 2016.
After the 1987 text was published, inconsistencies were discovered and the public expressed interest in a revision. The board of directors of the Japan Bible Society officially decided in 2009 to undertake the revision of the New Interconfessional Translation Bible, the first revision in 31 years. On 2 March 2010, they held a press conference to announce the start of the translation project. The translation work was completed in 2017, and the result was published in 2018 as the Japan Bible Society Interconfessional Version. Taking advantage of the Skopos theory of translation, it sought to serve the "next generation" of Christians while presenting the text in a "dignified Japanese suitable for reading in worship."

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 created a colloquialized version, which was published in 1957. 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 Eastern Orthodox Church, Nicholas and Tsugumaro Nakai translated the New Testament as an official text in 1901.
Some, such as Protestant Fujihara Fujio, have criticized the style of the 1901 translation. In the 1930s, Orthodox Christians called for the translation to be revised, as they felt that the translation was difficult to understand. However, in an effort to ensure the accuracy of the translation, Nicholas opposed any such changes.
In modern times, the 1954 Colloquial Translation is often used instead.

Jehovah's Witnesses, 1973, 1985, 2019

Japanese was among the first eight 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. In 1982, a complete Japanese Bible, the ', was released. By the end of the year, tens of thousands of copies had been printed in Japan. Not long after, in 1985, another edition of the Japanese New World translation was released; this release also included the new Reference Bible. Both the Standard and Reference editions were based on the English 1984 edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, which was released in the United States in 1985.
In 2019, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, Stephen Lett, released a revised edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'' with the same name. This translation was based from the English 2013 revision of the '. This revised edition in Japanese includes the use of more modern and understandable language, clarified Biblical expression, and appendices, among other changes.

Comparison

Translation	John 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 Translation	John 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、言によらずに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。
Japan Bible Society Interconfessional 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。万物は言によって成った。言によらずに成ったものは何一つなかった。言の内に成ったものは、命であった。この命は人の光であった。
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。