Two lexical works have been used as basic references in this translation. The Vocabulario de Lingoa de Iapam (hereafter the Vocabulario) produced by the Jesuit Mission Press at Nagasaki in the years 1603 and 04. In a carefully annotated version by Professor Doi, under the title Nippo jisho (Tokyo, 1960), this work is the most important single source for the vocabulary of the period. The second work is the Dictionarium sive Thesauri Linguae Iaponicae Compendium (hereafter the Dictionarium) which is the companion piece to the present text. This dictionary has been carefully edited and cross-referenced by Ōtsuka Mitsunobu, under the title Koriyaado Ra Su Nichi jiten (Tokyo, 1966). In this form it has served as a constant aid to the translator in the determination of the proper glosses for the lexical items in the text.
The aforementioned Arte of 1604-08 by Rodriguez, has been the single most frequently used tool in the preparation of this translation.[[40]] As the most significant influence upon Collado's work and the source for most of his material, both theoretical and practical, I have related the two works at every point in the translation. In its Japanese version by Professor Doi, Rodorigesu Nihon daibunten (Tokyo, 1950), this work has been invaluable in gaining a clearer understanding of many of the passages which might have otherwise been obscure.
Rodriguez' Arte Breve of 1620, while having no influence upon the preparation of the Ars Grammaticae, is nevertheless of fundamental
importance as a work against which Collado's treatment of Japanese grammar is to be judged. This shorter grammar is as yet to be fully translated into English—Moran having limited his study to the treatment of the phonology.
With respect to the text itself I have made this translation on the basis of the facsimile edition published by the Tenri Central Library in 1972 as part of its Classica Japonica series. Ōtsuka Takanobu, Koiyaado-cho Nihongo bunten (Tokyo, 1934) and its revised edition under the title of Koriyaado Nihon bunten (Tokyo, 1957) have served as invaluable aids at every step of the translation.
Ōtsuka's second edition is of invaluable scholarly importance because it contains a cross-reference to the Spanish manuscript from which Collado prepared the printed Latin edition as well as a concordance to the Japanese vocabulary.[[41]] This translation attempts to supplement Ōtsuka's invaluable contribution by relating the Latin text of this grammar with Rodriguez' Arte.
Editorial Conventions
The Latin matrix of the text is printed in italic letters while the Japanese is in roman. For this translation I have reversed the convention. (In footnotes where the text is quoted the style of the original is followed.) In making editorial corrections in the Japanese material the corrected version is presented in brackets with periods to indicate the general location;
e.g., mairu mai queredomo [... qeredomo]
(The only exception to this rule is the correcting of a missing open o, q.v.) Sentences that have been taken from the Arte are indicated by the parenthetical recording of the leaf number of the citation immediately after the sentence;