Monogatari Series Volume 21 - Nademonogatari

Translator’s afterword |301

Translator’s afterword

撫 — to caress, to stroke, to pat, to touch, usually in the
context of consolation. Only twice did it appear in this
book, and both times… oh no… where did these teardrops
come from all of a sudden…

撫 物 (nademono) — an accessory used by onmyōji
within 祓 (harai), a purification ceremony. Shaped like a
doll (which can be folded from paper, or more historically
made from straw or wood), it transfers one’s 穢れ (kegare,
roughly ‘defilement’, ‘uncleanness’) onto itself upon
touching, and is later washed away into a river or sent
somewhere to be purified.

撫 物 語 (Nademonogatari) — this book, the third in
Monogatari’s Off Season, and the twenty-first volume
overall.

‘Nadeko Draw’ is first and foremost, in Kurt
Vonnegut’s terms, a ‘Man in Hole’ story, a story of re‐
demption and growth. One may even go so far as to say
Nademonogatari qualifies as a Bildungsroman, though I
would only say it is the first half of one. All children have
to grow up and work someday — preferably in that order.
Everybody has their own path to adulthood, some more
fantastical than others. Given that this afterword is at
the very end, you can be the judge of what Nademono‐
gatari is — a long-awaited developmental arc to a main

302| nademonogatari

character à la Hanekawa’s Nekomonogatari (Shiro), Nisio
pandering to Nadeko fans, a[nother] challenge to Shaft
(especially given 025), a Bildungsroman, half a Bildungs‐
roman, redemption, or simply, ‘Man in Hole’.

Of course, some may put forward the argument that
Sengoku Nadeko is an irredeemable character (and she
would probably agree with you), to which I shall borrow a
maxim from Hellsing: humans can redeem themselves,
monsters can’t. Could this be one subconscious reason
why our gamer girl decided to give up being god? Who
knows? Probably. It is, after all, quite a manga-esque
statement. Whether Nadeko would be a fan of dark story‐
lines such as Hellsing is left as an exercise for the reader.

That said, despite her protestations in 004 and 019,
‘Nadeko Draw’ is not exactly saccharine either; the only
part that can be described as such are Shinobu’s dough‐
nuts, and even then, they were accompanied with a bite of
our main character’s papery imitations. Come to think of
it, Nadeko didn’t eat any of them. She did have instant ra‐
men, but those things are saltier than the Dead Sea.
Nadeko may remind us that even fictional characters are
living, breathing creatures, but there is a certain self-
awareness, if not irony, of that statement appearing in a
series where food breaks are… sparse, shall we say. Trans‐
lating Yotsugi eating ice cream (in the summer, no less) is
making me crave the stuff though. I should go out and
buy some. Treating oneself is part of hard work, after all.

|303

Speaking of, this is a loose translation, where not
every word maps one-to-one with the original. Owing to
fundamental linguistic and cultural differences, some
things will be inevitably lost, some substituted, some ad‐
ded. Yotsugi’s use of masculine 僕 (boku), wordplay sub‐
tlety, and Japanese’s lack of pronouns were definitely
lost. Certain phrases, ‘Naddie’, and Fawning Nadeko’s
voice were definitely substitutions. Anti-Nadeko, mean‐
while, hmm, I wonder… it is worth noting that voices (ac‐
cents?) were pretty much the only thing that was spiced
up, and from a different perspective, one can consider it
as preserving overall tone. Some things I also tried hard
to keep, such as avoiding personal pronouns before
Ougi’s gender reveal in 002 or when discussing Mayoi in
019, or keeping ‘I/me’ vague throughout 027, such that
when it is re-read, it still makes sense even with know‐
ledge of the reveal. Translation is ultimately an art, and
the last thing I wanted to do is to transform ‘Nadeko
Draw’ into a boring read, which it was not intended to
be. It does seem that Nadeko’s arcs are where Nisio ex‐
periments the most with narration. Even as I proof the
thing, this book hits hard, and I hope I have at least con‐
veyed that well; it’s the least a translator should do. This
is a translation I did one hundred percent as a hobby.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed it.

It is worth noting that Sengoku’s narrating voice is
once again markedly different from all other narrators,

304| nademonogatari

even from herself in Otorimonogatari. Two points of note:
First, like Otorimonogatari, Sengoku’s narration is

filled with teineigo (polite honorifics), e.g. ending state‐
ments with desu instead of (e.g.) the informal da, or end‐
ing verbs with the polite masu instead of (e.g.) the
dictionary u/ru. As with many things Japanese, much of it
is inevitably lost in translation, further complicated by
having to preserve small bits of suspense, and Sengoku
being a middle school girl and not exactly Shakespeare
(and more to the point, neither am I).

Second, and completely different from Otorimono‐
gatari, Nadeko speaks and narrates in the first person
with 私 (watashi, first-person neuter singular, formal). She
also no longer spells words out in kana (rendered as
misspellings in the Vertical English release), or at least
does not emphasise that she is spelling those words out.
Considering what Nadeko tells us what being a deity did
to her intellect (027), it could have been an Otorimono‐
gatari exclusive (itself a post hoc narration). The resulting
style of prose is generally drier, more formal and distant
from the reader. Despite what I said about voices, this
aspect of narration is something I tried in keeping, via e.g.
lack of contractions and use of past tense.

These two, when combined, can unfortunately at times
give the text a dry or repetitive impression. I offer my
profuse apologies.

‘Are you saying sorry just so you can end the conver‐

|305

sation like Gentle Nadeko did (030)? Playing the victim,
huh?’

Oh no, I’ve been found out…
‘Stop doing this, you have to face reality someday too.
Have you seriously not learnt anything from this book?’
Gotta go, toodles!

»sawa«
June 2020





つみのぜ結　な撫　つかあ業　つすそ愚 Orokamonogatari
づとぞん物　で物　ばれせ物　きるだ物 Sodachi Fiasco
らめみか語　こ語　さんろ語　ひがち語
ヒウゴマ　　ド　　スオら　　アボフ　 ー Suruga Bonehead
ュ　 ル 　 　 　 　 ロ 　 　 リ ウ ボ 　 　 ン 　 　ィ 　 Tsukihi Undo
　フレメ　　　　　　ガナ　　ドンア　
マ 　 ム イ 　 　 　 　 　 ピ 　 ペ 　 　 　ゥ ヘ ス 　 Wazamonogatari
ン 　 　 ド 　 　 　 　 　 ン 　 テ 　 　 　 　ッ コ 　 Acerola Bon Appétit
　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 グ 　 　ィ 　 　 　 ド 　 　
Karen Ouga
monogatari series: off season ー Tsubasa Sleeping

Nademonogatari
ー Nadeko Draw

Musubimonogatari
ー Zenka Mermaid
ー Nozomi Golem

Mitome Wolf
ー Tsuzura Human







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