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I'm currently working on one of my Japanese translation assignments and having some major difficulties with the translation of a sentence. First of all, this is the sentence:

中央集権の権化とも見られる内務省の存続に対しては、ただに一般国民が同情を持たないばかりでなく、今まで内務官僚の圧力に押されがちであった各省からも内務省解体の声に応じて、猛裂な攻勢が展開され、内務省の権限をこのさい自省に移そうとする運動が、せきを切った感があって、 ここに六十年の歴史を持った内務省も、いまや廃庁の運命に立至ったのである。

How I love these endless Japanese sentences!^^'

In particular I'm having a problem with the part of the sentence that is written in bold. Especially the different ways you are able to translate the word "自省に" in this makes me so confused. I would be so thankful for any kind of help or advise! :) My head is spinning by now.

Thanx a lot in advance!

istrasci
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Merlin
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  • One way I thought about would be ... "The movement to transfer the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs to its own ministry seems to have run its course, ..." ... but that unfortunately doesn't really make sense to me in the context of the sentence. The other way I thought about was to translate "自省に" as "self-examination" or "reflection", which might make more sense, but this way I'm somehow not able to translate the rest ... :/ – Merlin Aug 20 '21 at 23:36

2 Answers2

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Your first reading is basically correct.

  • The subject of 移す should be 各省 (other ministries), without further contexts. So 自省 means here '(The movement where) other ministries try to transfer the authorities of MHA to themselves'.
  • 堰 in 堰を切る is literally a dam or a structure shutting a huge amount of water. So 堰を切る gives the idea of the movement getting going suddenly (like a dam breaking down and water overpouring).

Since it is about dismantling MHA, it implies the division of authorities or privileges of MHA. The sentence means that other ministries were trying to get a share of those, and such a movement got a momentum in a short time.

sundowner
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  • Thank you so much for your explanation!! I simply didn't realize that 自省 is linked to 各省 but with you pointing that out, I finally understood the context. This really helped a lot! – Merlin Aug 21 '21 at 09:06
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Just like 各省 means それぞれの省, 自省【じしょう】 means 自分たちの省. Since 自分 can refer to "myself", "yourself" or "themselves", this 自 can mean "my", "our", "their own", "your own", etc., depending on the context. In this context, 自省 is "their own". 自 works like a prefix, and you can say 自説, 自国, 自社, 自サイト and so on.

内務省の権限をこのさい自省に移そうとする運動が、せきを切った
movements had been launched to transfer the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs to their own ministries.

naruto
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  • Thanks a lot for your explanation! This really helped me a lot in better understanding the wording and meaning of 自省 in its context. – Merlin Aug 21 '21 at 09:10