Osore, MiriamNgugi, Pamela2023-11-222023-11-222001Miriam Osore & Pamela Ngugi: “Maisha: Kitendawili na Johari” in Daisaku Ikeda and Africa, (2001) edited by Indangasi H. and Hashimoto, M. O., published by Nairobi University Press, Nairobi, pp 96-101. ISBN: 99668464929966846492http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/27174Book ChapterThis chapter examines Daisaku Ikeda's Maisha: Kitendawili na Johari translated into Kiswahili from Life: An Enigma, A Precious Jewel. It focuses on the contribution of the translated text on the subject of life and death. Our main objective is to highlight the.relevance of Ikeda's work to the Kiswahili audience in East and Central Africa. But first we look at the meaning of translation. _"oc According to th~ Internatil!nal Encyclopaedia of Linguistics Vol. 4 (1992), the word translation refers to the transfer of a written message from a source language to a target language. We can therefore say that translation is a process of substituting a text in one language for a text,in another language. At another level, translation could be regarded as communication; thus, it is intended to communicate some information to a given audience. This 97 Maisha Kitendawili na Joha,; implies, therefore, that in order for a translation to be done, there must be a need for doing it. It is in this regard that Maisha: Kitendawili na Johari is timely. Translation is an activity of enormous importance in the modem world. A lot has been translated into the various languages of the world. Research findings, in different fields have been disseminated through translation in different languages of the world. In the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries translated very many books including the Bible into Kiswahili and other languages in Kenya and East Africa. During the colonial period, a lot of literary works from Europe and Asia were translated into Kiswahili. After independence, the Africans, themselves were at the forefront in translating some of the great-literary works of the world into Kiswahili. For example, two of Shakespeare's plays, The Merchant of Venice as Mabepari wa Venisi and Julius Caesar as Julias Kaizari, were translated by Julius Nyerere.Maisha: Kitendawili na Johari by Daisaku Ikeda is an important addition to the 'other, translations that we have in the Kiswahili language. In Maisha: Kitendawili na Johari, Daisaku Ikeda has addressed very salient issues which are relevant to the human race all over the world.otherBook chapter