2017 指輪物語 Yubiwa Monogatari (Tōru Ōkawa & Junpei Morita)

The Lord of the Rings

Release Date: 2017.12.25 – 2020.06.07
Reader: Tōru Ōkawa & Junpei Morita
Language: Japanese
Translators: Teiji Seta and Akiko Tanaka
Copyright: © 1992 Hyoronsha
ISBN: –
Duration: 73 hours 44 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Japan
Licensed: Yes
Format: Digital

This version is based on the “New Edition” (Shinban) of the Seta/Tanaka translation published by Hyoronsha. To make the trilogy more manageable for the digital market, it was split into 6 parts each of which is read by one of the two narrators. It was originally hosted on FeBe, now Audiobook.jp.

Both Tōru Ōkawa and Junpei Morita are known for their voice work in numerous anime films and tv shows. There is a distinct stylistic shift between the heroic tone of Ōkawa and the narrative warmth of Morita.

Before 2017, the only way Japanese fans could hear Middle-earth was through NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai) broadcasts. There were several radio-play adaptations of The Hobbit and portions of The Lord of the Rings in the 1970s/80s. These are notoriously difficult to find and exist only in private tape archives. They used a more ensemble-cast approach, similar to the BBC’s 1981 production.

Japanese is rich in “sound-effect words.” In the readings, the descriptions of nature (the wind in the trees, the creeping of Orcs) use specific Japanese phonetics that give the audio a texture quite different from most other language versions.

Release History