備えよ常に sonae yo tsune ni Be Prepared
備えよ常に (sonae yo tsune ni), be prepared, always, is the Japanese Scouts' own motto, their rendering of Baden-Powell's Be prepared of 1908, which he said was founded on his initials. It is in print as the Boy Scouts' motto by 1924, in the older spelling 備へよ常に, with the imperative first.
Abstract
備えよ常に, be prepared, always, is the motto of the Japanese Scouts, their rendering of Be prepared, which Baden-Powell gave the Scouts in 1908 and said was founded on his initials. The Japanese form is in print as the Boy Scouts' motto by 1924, in a Kyoto scoutmaster's camping manual, spelled 備へよ常に with the imperative first, and the Scout Association of Japan writes it today in kana beside this kanji form.
Overview
The sense. Be prepared is Baden-Powell's pun on his own initials. Of the mottos of service rendered into Japanese, this is the one with a Japanese institution of its own: the Japanese Scouts say it.
The words. 備えよ sonae yo, the imperative of 備える, to make ready; 常に tsune ni, always.
The text in English. The imperative comes first in the Japanese, be prepared, always, which is how the Japanese Scouts say it, and a rendering keeps it there.
The historical record
1908 and 1924. Be prepared, and the Japanese Scouts' 備へよ常に. Baden-Powell wrote that the Scouts' motto is founded on my initials, B. P., and glossed it: readiness in mind and body to do one's duty, in mind by discipline and forethought, in body by strength [1]. The Japanese form was in print by 1924: Nakano Chūhachi's camping manual, written after he took fifty Kyoto Boy Scouts to see Tokyo three days before the great earthquake, says 「備へよ常に」とはボーイ、スカウトの標語である, "be prepared, always" is the Boy Scouts' motto, and applies it to packing for camp [2]. The Scout Association of Japan writes the motto today in kana, そなえよつねに, with this kanji form beside it; the historical spelling is in 69 prewar books in the National Diet Library's full-text index, the modern in 4, the kana in 4 [3][4].
What is not a source. The 1924 manual is a witness that the motto was the Boy Scouts' by then, not its origin; the motto's author is Baden-Powell, and its Japanese is the Scouts' own.
A reading
The one motto of service here that belongs to a Japanese institution. The imperative first is the Japanese Scouts' order, and the old spelling 備へよ常に in a camping manual of 1924 shows the motto already at work, packing a tent, within sixteen years of Baden-Powell's book.
References
- Robert Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys, at Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65993/65993-h/65993-h.htm
- 中野忠八, テント生活の仕方, 創文社, 1924, scan 10. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/981704/1/10
- Scout Association of Japan, member page. https://www.scout.or.jp/member/tagline
- National Diet Library Digital Collections, next-generation full-text search on 備へよ常に, 備えよ常に and そなえよつねに, counted to 1946. https://lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/