Mitsuko Ohno
When the scholar, poet and translator Mitsuko Ohno first started focusing on Yeats as a graduate student in Nagoya, Yeats was classified as a “great English poet”.
As time went on, and the Irish literary tradition became better understood, he was reclassified. Thus Ohno’s own focus changed and developed.
Irish literary tradition
Ohno explains “Times changed and an academic paradigm shift took place in the 1980s. Yeats became an Anglo-Irish poet as Irish literary tradition came to the fore, while feminist criticism began to shed light to women writers in Ireland.”
Ohno says “As my trips to Ireland (including visits to Irish universities to establish links, bringing students of Aichi Shukutoku University and lecturing at the Yeats International Summer School in Sligo) became more frequent, I became more closely acquainted with contemporary Irish poets’ work. This motivated me to make their excellent work better known in Japan beyond the academic world through translation.”
English and Japanese translations
Ohno’s work as an educator, scholar and a translator of Irish poets such as Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Eavan Boland, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Paula Meehan, as well as her work on English translations of Japanese poets, Mutsuo Takahashi and Mikiro Sasaki, has been well received. Her work has helped to create global awareness of her own work and the work of the people she translates.
Links between Ireland and Japan
Through her work Ohno creates strong and enriching links between Ireland and Japan. Sharing art and learning from each other’s literary traditions can only deepen our understanding of the world and of the similarities between us all, no matter where in the world we live.
Speaking of the Irish community she has experienced, Ohno says “My colleagues of the Irish literary societies both in Japan and abroad have always been a source of stimulation and warm encouragement, and I am very grateful for their camaraderie.
Support for Irish music
Also, our domestic activities have been supported generously by the Irish Embassy in Tokyo, for which we are all very grateful. Locally in Nagoya, there are some, if not many, Irish citizens and friends/fans of Ireland and Irish music like myself, Japanese or of other nationalities, and up until the Covid pandemic, we had fun joining annual St. Patrick’s Day parades in the city and going to Irish pubs afterwards.”
Ohno says she was surprised and honoured when she had been selected for the Presidential Distinguished Services Award. She explains “I had only followed my own passion for Irish literature without expecting any reward. The news touched my heart, which was filled with immense happiness and gratitude, because the award is the best recognition by the Irish people of what I had been doing in my capacity.”
Irish cultural events
She adds that she is determined to reciprocate Ireland’s generosity for the rest of her life. Also, she is glad to say she has lived up to her promise ever since through her translation, scholarship and organisation of Irish cultural events in Japan.
Mitsuko Ohno was awarded a Presidential Distinguished Services Award in 2020 in the Arts, Culture and Sport category.