Do the Japanese read Classical Chinese poems in Japanese or in on-readings?


The pros and cons of both approaches are obvious.

1) If you read by conversion into Japanese through kanbun, you get the sense.
Meanwhile, you lose the rhythm, and sometimes it is not obvious what the
Japanese rendering is.

2) If you read by string of on-readings, there is rhythm, and it rhymes! But
any hope that it is understandable to the bystanders is excluded.

How do Japanese normally do?




There is always trade-off, as you said. Thus naturally we have both
approaches, depending on what policy and objective you have.

Your #1 is called 訓読 ("interpretative reading") in Japanese, and considered
normal. As it is a form of literal translation, you can relatively easily get
the meaning, at the cost of original prosody. Fortunately, Japanese verse does
not count foot, just meter, so it is not impossible to make up a "rhyming"
translation with a little contrived idea. (訓読 has a much fixed set of rules on
how to translate the grammar, but has no restriction on which word you choose
for a character.) There are works such as
[和漢朗詠集](https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%92%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9C%97%E8%A9%A0%E9%9B%86),
which collects "musical" Chinese poems when read in Japanese. We also have
idioms originated from 訓読 and have incorporated into ordinary Japanese. Many
people are only familiar with 訓読 as today's Classical Chinese curriculum only
deals with it.

On the other hand, #2 is called 直読 ("direct reading"). It retains the original
rhythm and prosody, as long as you can read it in correct pronunciation, and a
fair amount of it even in the current form of on'yomi. This method is
traditionally applied to pedagogical scene, and not the usual way to enjoy
works except for those who has mastered the Chinese grammar or interested in
the original rhythm.

There is another special practice called
[文選【もんぜん】読み](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%96%87%E9%81%B8%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BF/),
which pronounces the on'yomi first, then Japanese reading second. This is also
a classroom methodology. The most typical example is its use in reciting of
[千字文](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Character_Classic) ([cited from
this article](https://1000ya.isis.ne.jp/0357.html)).

> テンチのあめつちは  
>  ゲンコウとくろく・きなり（天地玄黄）  
>  ウチュウのおおぞらは  
>  コウコウとおおいに・おおきなり（宇宙洪荒）  
>  ジツゲツのひ・つきは  
>  エイショクとみち・かく（日月盈昃）  
>  シンシュクのほしのやどりは  
>  レッチョウとつらなり・はる（辰宿列張）  
>  カンライとさむきこときたれば  
>  ショオウとあつきこと・いぬ（寒来暑往）  
>  シュウシュウとあきはとりおさめ  
>  トウゾウとふゆはおさむ（秋収冬蔵）

Korean has a similar practice when reading Classical Chinese, and [this
article](http://user.keio.ac.jp/~rhotta/hellog/2016-03-07-1.html) points to
its similarity with English binominals which is especially outspread in Early
Modern English.

> "The _inaudible_ and _noiseless_ foot of Time" (Shakespeare: All's Well That
> Ends Well, V. iii. 41)  
>  "The dark _backward_ and _abysm_ of Time" (Shakespeare: The Tempest, I. ii.
> 50)




There is always trade-off, as you said. Thus naturally we have both
approaches, depending on what policy and objective you have.

Your #1 is called 訓読 ("interpretative reading") in Japanese, and considered
normal. As it is a form of literal translation, you can relatively easily get
the meaning, at the cost of original prosody. Fortunately, Japanese verse does
not count foot, just meter, so it is not impossible to make up a "rhyming"
translation with a little contrived idea. (訓読 has a much fixed set of rules on
how to translate the grammar, but has no restriction on which word you choose
for a character.) There are works such as
[和漢朗詠集](https://ja.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%92%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9C%97%E8%A9%A0%E9%9B%86),
which collects "musical" Chinese poems when read in Japanese. We also have
idioms originated from 訓読 and have incorporated into ordinary Japanese. Many
people are only familiar with 訓読 as today's Classical Chinese curriculum only
deals with it.

On the other hand, #2 is called 直読 ("direct reading"). It retains the original
rhythm and prosody, as long as you can read it in correct pronunciation, and a
fair amount of it even in the current form of on'yomi. This method is
traditionally applied to pedagogical scene, and not the usual way to enjoy
works except for those who has mastered the Chinese grammar or interested in
the original rhythm.

There is another special practice called
[文選【もんぜん】読み](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%96%87%E9%81%B8%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BF/),
which pronounces the on'yomi first, then Japanese reading second. This is also
a classroom methodology. The most typical example is its use in reciting of
[千字文](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Character_Classic) ([cited from
this article](https://1000ya.isis.ne.jp/0357.html)).

> テンチのあめつちは  
>  ゲンコウとくろく・きなり（天地玄黄）  
>  ウチュウのおおぞらは  
>  コウコウとおおいに・おおきなり（宇宙洪荒）  
>  ジツゲツのひ・つきは  
>  エイショクとみち・かく（日月盈昃）  
>  シンシュクのほしのやどりは  
>  レッチョウとつらなり・はる（辰宿列張）  
>  カンライとさむきこときたれば  
>  ショオウとあつきこと・いぬ（寒来暑往）  
>  シュウシュウとあきはとりおさめ  
>  トウゾウとふゆはおさむ（秋収冬蔵）

Korean has a similar practice when reading Classical Chinese, and [this
article](http://user.keio.ac.jp/~rhotta/hellog/2016-03-07-1.html) points to
its similarity with English binominals which is especially outspread in Early
Modern English.

> "The _inaudible_ and _noiseless_ foot of Time" (Shakespeare: All's Well That
> Ends Well, V. iii. 41)  
>  "The dark _backward_ and _abysm_ of Time" (Shakespeare: The Tempest, I. ii.
> 50)

