Resources for Art Translation
This introduces books and websites for confirming style guides, terminology, and transliteration conventions necessary for translation in the art field. It covers art materials from a wide range of periods, not limited to modern and contemporary art. The primary audience consists of practitioners and researchers at art museums, universities, and research institutions involved in English translation of art literature, exhibition materials, and artwork descriptions. English translations on this APJ website are based on the Bunka-cho Artplatform Japan: Translation Project Style Guide (2021) (PDF) and the APJ Japanese-English Bilingual Glossary listed below.
1. Style Guides
Bunka-cho Artplatform Japan: Translation Project Style Guide. Compiled by Andrew Maerkle. 2021. (PDF)
A specialized style guide for art literature translation published in March 2021 as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Art Platform project. Compiled through repeated hearings with experts with practical experience, based on the Chicago Manual of Style, with the aim of ensuring quality art translation that meets international standards. The content is specialized in translation rules and standardized notation suited to the context of Japanese art and contemporary art.
ALA-LC Romanization Tables. Japanese Romanization Table. ALA-LC Romanization Tables (PDF)
Cataloging rules for transliterating non-Latin characters into Latin characters, established by the American Library Association and the Library of Congress.
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. Eibun sutairu manyuaru: kiso hen [English Style Manual: Basic Edition]. 2022.
Guidelines for creating English texts used at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
Japan Style Sheet: The SWET Guide for Writers, Editors, and Translators. 2022.
A style guide for writing English texts about Japan, created by the Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (SWET). Contains practical content for translators, editors, writers, designers, and others involved in English-language publishing related to Japan.
Japan Tourism Agency. Chiiki kanko shigen no eigo kaisetsubun sakusei no tame no raitingu sutairu manyuaru [Writing Style Manual for Creating English Descriptions of Regional Tourism Resources]. 2025. (PDF)
A writing and editing manual for production companies (writers and editors) to create effective English descriptions of Japanese tourist destinations.
2. Glossaries
National Center for Art Research. APJ Japanese-English Bilingual Glossary. (To be released soon.)
A Japanese-English bilingual glossary created to improve the translation accuracy of specialized terms related to modern and contemporary Japanese art and promote international understanding. This APJ Glossary was compiled from terms used in the Art Platform Japan "Dictionary of Artists in Japan" (DAJ), with each entry including romanization (Transliteration), English translation, and Japanese name. Some terms include brief explanations.
Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System (JAANUS). Compiled by Neighbour Parent. 2003.
A glossary of terms related to Japanese architecture and art. Includes English explanations.
Wozny, Milosz, ed. Japanese to English Translation at the Tokyo National Museum: A Guide to Tombstones and other Gallery Labels. Tokyo: International Relations, Tokyo National Museum, 2022. (PDF)
A style guide and glossary for translating exhibition captions, created by the Tokyo National Museum.
Nara National Museum. Shōsōin-ten yōgo kaisetsu [The Exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures Glossary]
Materials, techniques, and related matters used in Shōsō-in treasures can be researched. Includes English explanations.
Wa-ei taishō nihon bijutsu yōgo jiten [A Dictionary of Japanese Art Terms, Bilingual "Japanese & English"]. Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 1990.
A glossary containing approximately 4,300 specialized terms, from general names in Japanese art to techniques, painting subjects, schools, rituals, and aesthetic terms. Covers all periods of Japanese art, not limited to modern and contemporary, from ancient to early modern times.
3. English Translations of Japanese Literature on Contemporary Japanese Art
Art Platform Japan. Reading Lists
A collection of literature translated from Japanese to English through the Art Platform project.
Chong Doryun, Hayashi Michio, Kajiya Kenji, and Sumitomo Fumihiko, eds. From Postwar to Postmodern Art in Japan 1945–1989: Primary Documents. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2012.
A translated anthology collecting major texts on postwar Japanese art.
Tokyo Art Club. The 20th Century Art in Japan. Tokyo: Tokyo Art Club, 2019.
Translated text of Tokyo Bijutsu Kurabu, ed., Nihon no 20-seiki geijutsu [20th Century Art in Japan] (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2012).
Kitazawa Noriaki, Kuresawa Takemi, and Mitsuda Yuri. History of Japanese Art after 1945: Institutions, Discourse, Practice. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2023.
Translated text of Chapters 7–9 of Kitazawa Noriaki, Kuresawa Takemi, and Mitsuda Yuri, Bijutsu no nihon kingendaishi: seido, gensetsu, zokei [Modern History of Japanese Art: Institutions, Discourse, Practice] (Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 2014).
KuroDalaiJee. Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance Art in 1960s Japan. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2023.
Translated text of Kuroda Raiji, Nikutai no anākizumu: 1960-nendai nihon bijutsu ni okeru pafōmansu no chikasuimyaku [Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance in 1960s Japanese Art] (Tokyo: grambooks, 2010).
Ann Adachi-Tasch, Hirasawa Go, and Julian Ross. Japanese Expanded Cinema and Intermedia: Critical Texts of the 1960s. Berlin: Archive Books, 2020.
A translated anthology collecting major texts introducing the trends of expanded cinema and intermedia that developed in Japan in the 1960s.