Dorothy Guyver Britton, Lady Bouchier MBE (14 February 1922 – 25 February 2015) was born in Yokohama and went to the

Yokohama International School is a co-educational international school located in Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The school consists of a pre-school (Early Learning Centre), a kindergarten/ elementary school (grades K-5), a middle school (6-8) and a high school (9-12), covering ...

, moved to the United States at the age of 11, and was educated in the United States and England, returning to Japan after the American Occupation. She was best known as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

into English of

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is a Japanese actress, television personality, World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. She joined NHK Broadcasting Theatre Company as the first television actress in 1953. In 1954, she made her debut as the lead ...

's ''Madogiwa no Totto-chan'' as '' Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window'', and ''

Oku no Hosomichi , translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the List of Japanese language poets, Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese liter ...

'' by Basho: ''A Haiku Journey – Basho's Narrow Road to a Far Province''. She was the author of ''The Japanese Crane: Bird of Happiness'' and co-author of ''National Parks of Japan''. Dorothy Britton was also a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and was a pupil of

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

. She was known for her popular album ''Japanese Sketches'', in which

's father is

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

soloist. Her husband, Air Vice Marshal Sir Cecil ("Boy") Bouchier, K.B.E., C.B., D.F.C. was the first commander of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

and a station commander during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

. Lady Bouchier was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. To commemorate her legacy, a street in Markham, Canada was named after her.

Selected translations

* Tomiko Higa – '' The Girl with the White Flag'' * Tsuneo Hayashida – ''The Japanese Crane: Bird of Happiness'' *

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa , art name , was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He took his own life at the age ...

– ''The Spider's Thread and Other Stories'' *

Matsuo Bashō ; born , later known as was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as th ...

– ''A Haiku Journey: Bashō's'' Narrow Road to a Far Province *

– '' Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window'' * Princess Chichibu – ''The Silver Drum, A Japanese Imperial Memoir'' * Takashi Kojima – ''Rashomon and Other Stories'' *

Chihiro Iwasaki was a Japanese artist and illustrator best known for her Watercolor painting, water-colored illustrations of flowers and children, the theme of which was "peace and happiness for children". Life Chihiro Iwasaki was born the first daughter of Ma ...

– ''Chichiro's Album of Words and Pictures''

References

Japanese–English translators 2015 deaths Members of the Order of the British Empire Writers from Yokohama English women poets English composers 20th-century English translators Pupils of Darius Milhaud 1922 births Literary translators {{UK-translator-stub