# Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today...



## SweetBabyLune

Hi all,

I'm looking to get my third tattoo and am in need of an accurate translation of the following phrase:

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

I would like to put it going down my rib cage so if someone could also direct me how to break it up vertically so that it still makes sense that would be awesome. Thanks so much in advance!


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## fitter.happier

Hi and welcome to the forums.

This is a tricky one. The English phrase is a play on words, since _present _is a polysemous word which includes both 贈物 and 現在 among its meanings. Therefore a literal translation would be somewhat awkward and the pun would be lost.

Let's wait for a native speaker to chime in


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## SweetBabyLune

So a friend that I had asked about this sent me a translation, but it looks like it is off of one of the online translators. Is there any merit to this translation?

昨日は歴史である。明日は謎ですが、今日は贈り物です。それが現在と呼ばれる理由です。


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## kenjoluma

Maybe...

過去は変えず
未来は知らず
現在に頑張るだけ

???


That's why it's called 'present', well, you know, pun is one of the most difficult things to translate.


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## fitter.happier

SweetBabyLune said:


> So a friend that I had asked about this sent me a translation, but it looks like it is off of one of the online translators. Is there any merit to this translation?
> 
> 昨日は歴史である。明日は謎ですが、今日は贈り物です。それが現在と呼ばれる理由です。



This is a literal translation that doesn't really work in Japanese. _Gift_ and _present _are synonymous in English, but they aren't in Japanese. The result is a sentence that doesn't make sense to a Japanese reader despite being grammatical. Another example off the top of my head is アルミ缶の上にあるミカン, which only makes sense in Japanese. Translating sentences like this into any other language while still keeping the original pun is almost impossible.

 You might want to go for a different proverb or saying that has a similar meaning, or try a different wording. It would be nice to hear a native speaker's opinion. Perhaps there is a 四字熟語 (Japanese saying/proverb/idiom expressed by using four Chinese characters) that suits your needs.


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## SweetBabyLune

Thanks for the input so far! You guys have been super helpful. I understand that the pun is going to be impossible to translate over, but the biggest thing i'm concerned about is it making sense. I don't want to be one of those people who has a tattoo of unintelligable jibberish that they regret getting because it makes no sense.

If anybody has any other suggestions or translations that would be awesome. You guys have already helped me so much so far!!


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## YangMuye

昨日は過ぎ去りぬ
明日は知る可からず
今日は「御来ル者（＝贈ル物）」なり
其れ故にこそ「来者」と呼ばるれ
訳：
　昨日はもう過ぎ去ったことになった
　明日は予知することはできない
　今日はここにお見えになったもので
　だからこそ、「現れてここに在る」と呼ばれている

でいかがでしょうか？

As for 来者, it came from 論語.
往者諫む可からず、来者猶追う可し
訳：過ぎたことは取り返せない、これから来る日はまだ追いつける。

Since the traditional Chinese doesn't have tense,
来者 also means “things or people that have already come”.

I think “present” means  「現れて、そしてずっとそこに在る」 or 「見えるようになる」.
But Japanese don't say “見せるもの”. I have to find a way to associate “送る” and “見える” together, so I use くる.
I'm waiting for native speakers's correcting.


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## Wishfull

SweetBabyLune said:


> "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."


 
「昨日」はヒストリーで、「明日」はミステリーだ。
されど「今日」という日はプレゼント（贈り物）である。その心は、「今日」は英語で現在（プレゼント）と呼ばれているから。

edit) This translation is not suitable for tattoo, as others said.


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## Aoyama

Both Yang Muye and fitter.happier are right. Beware of "funny" translations.
A phrase like "Yesterday is history" cannot be translated as 昨日は歴史である, because here "history" means "past", "yesterday is what is gone already", so YangMuye is right in translating it as 昨日は過ぎ去りぬ or also 昨日はもう過ぎ去ったことになった. The rest (明日は謎ですが、今日は贈り物です。それが現在と呼ばれる理由です) is not impossible (but the pun is lost), but think of the length of the text as a tattoo ...
The best way would be to ask YangMuye to translate/adapt the whole thing _in Chinese_ (something like wenyan/kambun, close to what fitter.happier is suggesting). It would be shorter and better and could be somewhat understood by Japanese also.
What kenjoluma writes is very creative ... but maybe a bit different from the original ...
What Wishfull is saying is interesting, but wouldn't fit for a tattoo ...


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## The Mad King

Are you really so set on that one phrase? It just seems so bizarre to me to rewrite a pun in a language other than the one it makes sense in. However it's translated, it's gonna seem really strange and unnatural.

Maybe you don't want my advice, but this is gonna be on your body for the rest of your life, so I'm gonna give it to you...
If you wanna use that phrase, write it in English.
If you want a Japanese tattoo, pick a real Japanese proverb. Believe me, it'll look nicer, require less ink, and sound a lot better to anyone who speaks Japanese than the phrase you wanted would. Here's a good list (each of the orange Japanese characters represents a whole different page of them): http://www.languagerealm.com/japanese/japaneseproverbs.php


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## Aoyama

Well, the Mad King is showing some real common sense ... Couldn't agree more.


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## almostfreebird

Here is another 四字熟語 dictionary.

http://home.earthlink.net/~4jword/index3.htm


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## SweetBabyLune

Thanks for all your input, I will definitely think about this. I was really hoping to get this Eleanor Roosevelt quote because it is something that my father always said to me and he recently passed away. The other tattoos I have are in Japanese (he helped me design a lot of them) so I was hoping to continue the theme. I understand that getting a direct translation is next to impossible, but I was hoping to find something that would be close and make sense in Japanese. If anybody has any suggestions in the realm of Chinese as has been previously suggested please let me know. Thanks again so much for all your input, this has been a real learning experience.


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## mikun

Hi,
It's my try.
きのう（昨日）は（変更のできない）歴史だ、
あす（明日）は（予測のつかない）謎だ、
しかしきょう（今日）は楽しいきょう（饗）だ。


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## Aoyama

Could then be :
*昨日は歴史,明日は謎,今日は楽しい饗
*だ to be avoided on a tattoo. Now, I wonder if *今日は楽饗 *could be possible ...
Then :*昨日は歴史,明日は謎,今日は楽饗 *to be concised.


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## almostfreebird

First of all, there's no official Japanese equivalent for the quote to be adequate for tattooing, considering the length, nuance, etc.

How about  "色即是空 " ?
http://tangorin.com/general/色即是空


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## Aoyama

I agree with the first comment.
As for 色即是空, it's interesting but different from the original saying by E. Roosevelt, which would be something like :
cherish the present more than the past and more than the future .


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## lammn

SweetBabyLune said:


> I was hoping to find something that would be close and make sense in Japanese. If anybody has any suggestions in the realm of Chinese as has been previously suggested please let me know.





YangMuye said:


> 往者諫む可からず、来者猶追う可し



Hi SweetBabyLune,

I think YangMuye's suggestion is nice, although a bit different from your original quote.
Here is a shorter Chinese version of it:

往者已矣 来者可追

A rough translation of the above Chinese proverb would be:
Yesterday is history, but the future can still be redeemed.


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## almostfreebird

I think this is good for tattoo:

今日を生きよう Let's Live for Today


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