My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes

As a member of a non-English-speaking culture, it was inevitable that I would read the Holmesian Canon in translated editions. However, this means that I can enjoy reading many different translations and adaptations. Even faithful translations have a different flavor and atmosphere; in addition, reading children’s adaptations was great fun for me when I was a small child. This is a kind of fun that is denied to English and American Sherlockians or children, who are able to enjoy the stories in their native tongue.

I was eight years old when I found the thick volumes of children’s adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes series, with their colorful dust jackets, at my elementary school’s library. There were also other mystery adaptations - for example, the Arsène Lupin series and “Boy Detectives” series written by Edogawa Rampo, a famous Japanese mystery writer (whose name is a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe). All the boys in my class enjoyed reading the “Boy Detectives” series, but half of them liked Holmes, and the other half were devotees of Lupin. To me, although I do not why, the most attractive volumes were the Sherlock Holmes series.

The Japanese adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories were done by several writers, and there were three or four editions of Sherlock Holmes for children. The series most favored by children was written by Yamanaka Minetarou. Yamanaka was already a veteran writer of many bestsellers when he adapted the Sherlock Holmes series. His greatest success was Tekichu Oudan Sanbyakuri [Crossing the Enemy Camp], published in 1931. It is a documentary story of a cavalry scout team of the Japanese army during the Russo-Japanese War. Another of Yamanaka’s book is Ajia no Akebono [Dawn of Asia], published in 1932. It is a spy novel featuring Japanese officer Hongo Yoshiaki. Japanese science fiction writer Yokota Junya claimed that he did not find the “007” series interesting at all, simply because he had read the superior Ajia no Akebono when he was a child.

It is said that almost all Japanese children of my father’s generation read Yamanaka’s books. He was an army officer in his youth, and retired from the army to support Sun Yat-sen, the father of the Chinese Republic, as a general staff officer during the Second and Third Revolutions. He also acted on behalf of a peace movement during the Sino-Japanese War, as he was a military academy schoolmate of Tojo Hideki, the Japanese prime minister and army minister, and Anan Korechika, the last army minister. Yamanaka is also said to have been a speechwriter for Prime Minister Tojo.

Yamanaka changed many lines of the Canon to make them easier for Japanese children to understand. So many changes were made that some Sherlockians believe he destroyed the Canon. For example, Sherlock Holmes, in this book, is a cheerful person with a good appetite, and some of the stories were written by Violet Hunter or even Mary Watson! Of course, many children have also read other author’s versions, and so they know such liberties were characteristic of Yamanaka’s version. Thus, they simply read to enjoy his vivid expression. For example, here is the opening of “Six Napoleons.”

“The Great Detective Holmes!”

It is a great joy for me that all of you read the detective stories of Holmes. I am so happy!

However, I, Watson, was married to my lovely Mary, and went to practice medicine. I left Holmes after having lived with him for years. From the first day of my practice, I was surprised that there were so many patients.

“Oh my Mary, what’s going on?”I asked my wife.

“Of course, we must be thankful to Mr. Holmes.”

“I see. He has become famous, and everyone also knows me, too. That’s the reason for my many patients?”

“It must be. Otherwise there would not be so many patients at our door.”

“OK, but it is I who make Holmes famous. And readers of Holmes stories would also think Dr. Watson’s treatment is good.”

“You advertised yourself by writing Mr.Holmes’ record?”

“Wait, wait! Not at all! Don’t you believe me, Mary?” Just after one week after our marriage, we were verging on a quarrel. “All right. I declare not to write Holmes’s record, forever. Never again!”

Who could tell that this is “Six Napoleons”? After that scene, many readers demand that Watson write new stories, and Mary proposes that she and her husband write the next story together. In the Yamanaka version, “Six Napoleons” is written by Mary and John Watson. Such adaptations were much more effective than any television programs or films of the Canon I have ever seen.

Children were crazy about Yamanaka’s Holmes, even while understanding it was not a faithful translation. Without Yamanaka’s adaptations, I would not be a Sherlockian, nor would I be interested in Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle. Even now, his books are in my bookcase, and I read them again and again. It brings back good childhood memories, and I still enjoy his exciting adaptations.

I am sorry his versions are no longer available and are not in school libraries. Nowadays, only a few Sherlock Holmes books are displayed at the bookshop’s children’s corner. These faithful but boring adaptations are still popular for children, but now these books are read because they must be. The students are not enthusiastic readers, as I was.

In my opinion, an enjoyable adaptation is essential for a first meeting with Sherlock Holmes for small children in non-European cultures. This might be one reason there are so many Sherlockians in Japan and why the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club is the largest Sherlockian society in the world. I wish every child could have read Yamanaka’s books, but unfortunately they are too expensive at antique bookshops now.

It’s my dream to publish Yamanaka’s adaptations for my own children someday. It might be too late - they are already six and four years old - but I believe if they read Yamanaka’s adaptations, they will be good Sherlockians, too.

(The Baker Street Journal, Vo.51, No.3, Autumn 2001)