(510) Ikkyu-san's saying: Crossing the bridge

   I found an interesting article (Ikkyu) by Anita Yang (JAPAN 111, Fall 2017) from Book review by students of Japanese language program in The University of Pennsylvania.

  She read Ikkyuusan books.

一休さん (寺村輝夫のとんち話 1)

• 出版社/メーカー: あかね書房
• 発売日: 1976/07/25
• メディア: 単行本

She wrote:

Crossing the bridge is one of skits in the books. The books were about a young boy named Ikkyuu who lives in a temple, with a group of other young boys, training to become a monk. Ikkyuu is a very clever boy who have a peculiar perspective on things and the books go through various skits of when Ikkyuu responded in an unexpected manner that left the other characters speechless. An example of this was when he came across a sign that says "Do not cross the bridge (はし)", he crossed the bridge anyway. When questioned about why he crossed it, he responded by pointing out that はし in Hiragana can be translated as bridge(橋) or edge(端) and he said he did not cross the はし because he walked on the center of the bridge. I found this skit to be especially interesting because it exposed me to the use of puns in the Japanese language.

  I think, because of the puns in Japanese, it becomes very hard to translate this skit into English. Can you translate Ikkyu-san's answer with English puns?

  I searched and found Professor Yamagishi's translation using two words, 'ridge' and 'bridge'.

You're not allowed to cross this bridge.
Haha, no! I knew I was not allowed to
So I chose the ridge instead of the bridge!
(Professor YAMAGISHI Katsuei holds copyright of this English translation.)

  These two similar words sound very good to me, but I cannot get the exact meaning of 'ridge'. What part of the bridge is called the ridge? I don't know. What do you think of his translation?

  Next two translated answers are understandable but not good enough for me.

The first example:

はじめてのえいご・むかしばなし１１　一休さん
発行　キープ株式会社
絵：殿河内　勝　
文：桑畑絹子

The sign said,
  "Do not cross this bridge."
Ikkyu-san was asked.
  "Ikkyu, did you not see the sign?"
Then he replied.
  "Yes, that is why we did not cross the bridge but walked across it.

The second example:

The notice says,
  "Don't walk across this bridge."
Ikkyu-san said,
  "I did not walk across the bridge, but I run across the bridge."

Why not challenge to translate in English 'Ikkyu-san's crossing the bridge skit'?
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