About the Project

The Tenryumura History Project seeks to translate and archive historical records from Tenryumura, a mountain village in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The village’s history includes a complex role in World War Ⅱ in which laborers from China and Korea, as well as allied POWs captured by the Japanese Imperial Army, were forced to construct the Hiraoka Dam on the Tenryu River. The project focuses on preserving written records and translating them into English so that all can learn from this period in Japan’s history. 

The project is a collaboration by an international team of contributors, including:

  • The Middlebury C.V. Starr School in Japan;
  • Translation and Interpretation (TI) and Translation and Localization Management (TLM) graduate
          students at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies;
  • Middlebury’s Center for Community Engagement;
  • Middlebury’s Japanese Studies Department; and
  • Individuals in Tenryumura

The project is funded through the Middlebury Office of the Provost. It also serves as one of many projects and initiatives that function under the framework of and seek to advance Conflict Transformation.

The Tenryumura History Project strongly reflects the values by which the conflict transformation is based. It also provides translation students the opportunity to engage with historical material that, through careful and accurate translation, can have a transformational impact on how we view, accept, and learn from past episodes of conflict and struggle.

Tenryumura History Project