Night on the Galactic Railroad
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| Night on the Galactic Railroad | |
| Author | Miyazawa Kenji |
|---|---|
| Original title | 銀河鉄道の夜 |
| Translator | Roger Pulvers, Sarah Strong, John Bester, Joseph Sigrist[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre(s) | Children's, Fantasy, Philosophical |
| Publisher | Bunpodō |
| Publication date | October 1934[2] |
Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜 Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru?), in some translations Milky Way Railroad, Night Train to the Stars or Fantasy Railroad In The Stars,[1] is a classic Japanese novel by Kenji Miyazawa written around 1927. The nine-chaptered novel was posthumously published in 1934 as part of Complete Works of Kenji Miyazawa Vol. 3 (『宮沢賢治全集』第三巻?) published from Bunpodō (文圃堂?).[3] Four versions are known to be in existence, with the last one being the most famous among Japanese readers.[4]
The novel was made into a 1985 anime film of the same title, along with various stage musicals and plays.
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[edit] Plot summary
Giovanni is a boy from a poor family, working hard to feed his sick mother. His kind friend Campanella cares for him. At school in a science class, the teacher asks Giovanni what the Milky Way really is. Giovanni knows that they are stars but cannot answer. The teacher asks Campanella, but he intentionally does not answer to save Giovanni's face.
On the day of a large festival, Giovanni meets his classmate Zanelli. He makes fun of Giovanni and runs away to the festival. Giovanni can not go to the festival because he has to take care of his mother.
Tired, Giovanni lies down on top of a hill. He hears a strange sound, and he realizes he is sitting in a train with Campanella. The train travels through the Northern Cross and other stars in the Milky Way. Along the way, the two see fantastic sites and meet various people—scholars excavating a fossil from the white sands of crystal and a man who catches herons to make candies from them.
Children who were on a ship that crashed into an iceberg (possibly Titanic) get on the train at Aquila, suggesting to the readers that the train is transporting its passengers to their afterlife. The train arrives at the Southern Cross and all the other passengers get off the train, leaving only Giovanni and Campanella in the train. Giovanni promises Campanella to go on forever, together. But as the train approaches the Coalsack, Campanella disappears, leaving Giovanni behind.
Giovanni wakes up on top of the hill. He heads to the town, and finds out that Zanelli fell into the river from a boat. He was saved by Campanella who went into the water, but Campanella had not come up since then and is missing.
[edit] Major themes
After Kenji's most beloved sister Toshi died in 1922, Kenji, in sorrow, went on a railroad trip to Sakhalin. He started working on this novel soon afterwards in 1924, and this trip is said to be the basis of the story.[5] He kept on polishing the work steadily until his death in 1933. The middle part of the novel was never completed but was published as it is nevertheless.
A tribute to those who give themselves to others is a recurring theme throughout the storyline, and according to Hasebe (2000), they are reflections of Kenji's philosophy of self-sacrifice, a view appearing in many other juvenile novels of his such as Yodaka no Hoshi and Gusukōbudori no Denki.[6] Meanwhile, Suzuki (2004) interprets them as representing a "holistic thought of Ecosystem".[7]
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Animated film
| Night on the Galactic Railroad | |
|---|---|
| 銀河鉄道の夜 (Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru) |
|
| Genre | Fantastic, Juvenile, Philosophical |
| Animated film | |
| Director | Gisaburo Sugii |
| Released | 1985 |
| Runtime | 107 min |
The story was made into an anime film in 1985 by director Gisaburo Sugii under Minoru Betsuyaku's screenplay. The anime features Mayumi Tanaka as Giovanni and Chinatsu Sakamoto as Campanella.
The most prominent but controversial alteration made in the anime is that the main two characters (and their classmates) are depicted as cats. Some other characters such as the children from the ship are humans.
Many members of the anime staff ultimately went on to high-profile careers as directors or as studio founders, such as Kōichi Mashimo, then a storyboard artist, who more than ten years later would go on to form the famed studio Bee Train.
The English dubbed version in 1986 starred Veronica Taylor as Giovanni and Crispin Freeman as Campanella.
The captions throughout the film is in Esperanto, paying homage to Kenji Miyazawa who was strongly interested in the language. In the language, the film is called Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo. Texts appearing in various scenes are also written in Esperanto, such as writings on the blackboard in the classroom. An apparent extra at press in the printing house—where Giovanni works—tells the shipwreck of a passenger ship, carrying the Esperanto lyric of "Nearer, My God, to Thee".
[edit] Theatrical works
Playwright Sō Kitamura made the story into a drama titled Sōkō: Night on the Galactic Railroad (想稿・銀河鉄道の夜?). Note that 想稿 could be a play on the word sōkō (草稿? "rough draft") and the character 想 (sō?) carrying meanings such as "conception" or "idea". Premièred in 1986, the play was performed by Kitamura's theatrical company Project Navi.[8]
A part in a 2002 play consisting of various works by Kenji The Account of Kenji Island Exploration (賢治島探検記 Kenji-tō Tankenki?) written by Yutaka Narui for a theatrical company Caramelbox, features the story by the name of Night on the Light Speed Galactic Rairoad (光速銀河鉄道の夜 Kōsoku Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru?). It follows through the episodes in the novel rather briefly. The play also includes some lines by Professor Burukaniro, which appear only in the first three versions of the novel.
Warabiza, a performing arts company in Akita Prefecture, made a musical version of the story. The musical premièred in April 2004 and toured around Japan until March 2007.
[edit] Allusions in other works
The idea of a steam locomotive running through the stars inspired Leiji Matsumoto to create his famous manga, Galaxy Express 999.[9]
In the Tōhoku region of Japan where Kenji Miyazawa grew up, there exists a real-life train line of similar name: Iwate Galaxy Railway Line (いわて銀河鉄道線 Iwate Ginga Tetsudō sen?), running from Morioka Station to Metoki Station.
The story inspired Going Steady, a Japanese punk rock band, to create the song Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru (銀河鉄道の夜?).
This book is also heavily mentioned and referenced in the anime Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (Looking up at the half-moon), as a book that Akiba Rika's father gave to her.
A character in the light novel .hack//AI buster remarks that he took his online handle, Albireo, because he was so affected by Miyazawa's description of the binary star Albireo. The book is referenced once more during a discussion on how much stories can change from the first draft to the final draft, due to the various different versions of Night on the Galactic Railroad.
Utada Hikaru's new album Heart Station contains a song, Take 5, that uses this novel as a basis for the lyrics.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Main English Translation of Kenji's Works. The World of Kenji Miyazawa. Laboratory for Inter-field Communication. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
- ^ Ohyama, Takashi (December 30, 1997), “「宮沢賢治受容史年表」からの報告（１）”, 賢治研究 74, ISSN 0913-5197, <http://www2.gol.com/users/mlv/kenkyu/ronbun04/ooyama04.html>. Retrieved on 29 July 2007
- ^ Book card No. 456 (Japanese). Aozora Bunko. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
- ^ Saitō J., Takanashi M., and Matsumoto R.. 「銀河鉄道の夜」の本文を読む (Reading the Text of "Night on the Galactic Railroad") (Japanese). 賢治の見た夢〜銀河鉄道の夜〜 (The Dream Kenji Saw: Night on the Galactic Railroad). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
- ^ Saitō J., Takanashi M., and Matsumoto R.. 「銀河鉄道の夜」とは (What was "Night on the Galactic Railroad"?) (Japanese). 賢治の見た夢〜銀河鉄道の夜〜 (The Dream Kenji Saw: Night on the Galactic Railroad). Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
- ^ Hasebe, Masahiko (September 11, 2000). 自己犠牲のテーマ (The Theme of Self Sacrifice) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
- ^ Suzuki, Sadami (January 14, 2004). "Japanese Studies Today, and two proposals to synthesize natural and human sciences". The 9th International Symposium on Internationalization of Basic Researches in Japan, Hayama: Sokendai.
- ^ Manekineko (November 2, 2002). Project Navi Presents 70 "Sōkō: Night on the Galactic Railroad ver. 3.2" (Japanese). 演劇◎定点カメラ (Engeki: Teiten Kamera?). Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
- ^ One Hundred Japanese Books for Children (1946-1979) (English). International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka. Retrieved on 2006-10-07.
[edit] External links
[edit] Novel related
As copyright for the novel has expired in Japan (and most of the world besides the United States), Aozora Bunko distributes full text of the novel for free.
- Kadokawa Bunko version (Japanese) (Aozora Bunko)
- Shinchō Bunko version (Japanese) (Aozora Bunko)
- A review by Sabrina Laurent
- A list of English-translated publications
[edit] Anime adaptations
[edit] Theatrical adaptations
- Warabiza
- Caramelbox (Japanese)
