The first Japanese translation from Grimm’s Fairy Tales for the general public（ as distinct from translations in English textbooks） was‘ The Little Shepherd Boy’（ KHM152） in the magazine Rōmaji Zasshi in
April 1886（ vol. 1, no. 11）, translated by Kin-Ichiro Katayama into Rōmaji（ Roman letters used to represent Japanese words）. Another tale,‘ The Straw, the Coal and the Bean’（ KHM18）, was translated by Chusuke
Imura in Rōmaji Zasshi in June 1887（ vol. 2, no. 25）. However, details about these translators（ besides their names in Rōmaji）, their motivations, and the original source language（ English or German） have been unknown.
The present author has clarified these details. The German teachers Rudolf Rehmann and Kajō Nakayama motivated the translations, which were from the German, and the forensic medicine specialist Kuniyoshi Katayama（Kin-Ichiro’s brother） probably inspired their translation into Rōmaji. This paper established that several Rehmann Society members were engaged in translations of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. These new discoveries will contribute to the research on the reception of Grimm’s Fairy Tales in Japan.
『RŌMAJI ZASSI』に邦訳されたグリム童話について―日本初のグリム童話邦訳をローマ字で訳出した訳者について―
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