Donald Keene

Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer, and translator of Japanese literature. He was Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years. Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he retired from Columbia, moved to Japan permanently, and acquired citizenship under the name Kīn Donarudo (キーン ドナルド) which is essentially his birth name in the Japanese name order. This was also his poetic and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji form .

Early life Donald Lawrence Keene was born in the Flatbush neighborhood of New York City's Brooklyn borough on June 18, 1922. His father was an international trade businessman while his mother stayed at home to raise Keene and his elder sister. In July 1931, amid the economic crisis of the Great Depression, a nine-year-old Keene begged his father to allow him to accompany him on a business trip to Europe, to which his father agreed. He and his father boarded a United States Lines ship sailing to Normandy, disembarking at Cherbourg before they continued on to Paris by train. Keene met a girl around his age in Paris, but the language barrier made it difficult to talk with her, so he proceeded to sing Frère Jacques to her as it was the only thing he knew in French. These experiences instilled in him a great sense of curiosity for cultures abroad, as well as learning languages. In 1933, his elder sister died of an illness and his parents divorced.

Education and military service Keene lived with his mother and attended James Madison High School, showing great academic achievement. He then enrolled at Columbia University, where he received a bachelor's degree 1942, studying under Mark Van Doren, Moses Hadas, Lionel Trilling, and Jacques Barzun. While there, he was obsessed with Arthur Waley's English translation of The Tale of Genji, and he became increasingly interested in Japanese culture after he met Ryūsaku Tsunoda, who became a mentor and key influence on his writings. Following his graduation, Keene enlisted in the United States Navy under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. A self-described pacifist, he was not enthusiastic about joining, especially after hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

While in the Navy, Keene successfully applied to the in Boulder, Colorado, and in Berkeley, California, where he learned Japanese. He served as an intelligence officer and in the Pacific region during World War II, In the interim, he earned a PhD from Columbia in 1949 and studied at Kyoto University in 1953. While staying at Cambridge, he met his idol Waley, who had sparked his initial interest in Asian culture.

Career Keene went on to become a Japanologist who published about 25 English-language books on Japanese topics, including studies of Japanese literature and culture and translations of classical and modern Japanese literature. He also published about 30 books in Japanese, some of which have been translated from English. He was president of the Donald Keene Foundation for Japanese Culture.

Personal life In 2008, Emperor Akihito awarded Keene the Order of Culture, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Japanese Imperial House; as of 2025, he remains the only non-Japanese person to receive the award.

In January 2011, at the age of 87, Keene was taken to a Japanese hospital after becoming gravely ill; concerned that he was dying, he instead asked himself what he would do if he recovered, and quickly realized that he would rather live out the rest of his life in Japan than return to the U.S. and his relocation following the earthquake was universally welcomed. Uehara was 63 years old at the time.

Death Keene died of cardiac arrest in Tokyo at the age of 96 on February 24, 2019.

Selected works

In an overview of writings by and about Keene, OCLC/WorldCat lists over 600 works in over 1,400 publications in 16 languages and over 39,000 library holdings.

Works in English Year Title Publisher Notes 1951 The Battles of Coxinga: Chikamatsu's Puppet Play, Its Background and Importance Taylor's Foreign Press 1952 The Japanese Discovery of Europe: Honda Toshiaki and Other Discoverers, 1720–1952 Routledge and K. Paul Japanese trans.: 日本人の西洋発見 (錦正社, 1957), trans. 藤田豊 & 大沼雅彦; nihonjin no seiyou hakken; 日本人の西洋発見 (中公叢書, 1968), trans. 芳賀徹 [?trans of 2nd ed] 1955 Japanese Literature: An Introduction for Western Readers Grove Press 1956 Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology Grove Press 1959 Living Japan Doubleday Japanese trans.: 生きている日本 (朝日出版社, 1973), trans. 江藤淳 & 足立康; ikiteiru nihon; Revised edition: 果てしなく美しい日本 (講談社学術文庫, 2002), trans. 足立康改 [?mistake. ?Separate work] 1961 Major Plays of Chikamatsu Columbia University Press 1961 Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu Columbia University Press 1965 Bunraku: The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre Kodansha International With Kaneko Hiroshi (photography) & Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (introduction); Japanese trans.: 文楽 (講談社, 1966), trans. 吉田健一; bunraku 1969 The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720–1830 Stanford University Press Revised/2nd edition 1969 The Manyōshū Columbia University Press 1970 Twenty Plays of the Noh Theatre Columbia University Press 1975 War-Wasted Asia: Letters, 1945–46 Kodansha International Japanese trans.: 昨日の戦地から (中央公論新社, 2006), trans. 松宮史朗; kinou no senchi kara 1976 World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era, 1600–1867 Henry Holt & Co Second book in "A History of Japanese Literature" series; Japanese trans.: 日本文学史 近世篇, 2 vols. (中央公論社, 1976–77), trans. 徳岡孝夫; nihon bungakushi kinseihen 1978 Landscapes and Portraits: Appreciations of Japanese Culture Kodansha International 1978/79 Some Japanese Portraits Kodansha America Inc Japanese trans.: 日本文学散歩 (朝日選書, 1975), trans. 篠田一士; nihon bungaku sanpo 1979 Meeting with Japan 学生社 Japanese trans.: 日本との出会い (中央公論社, 1972), trans. 篠田一士; nihon tono deai 1981 Travels in Japan Gakuseisha Japanese trans.: 日本細見 (中央公論社, 1980), trans. 中矢一義; nihonsaiken 1984 Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era: Fiction Holt Rinehart & Winston Third book in "A History of Japanese Literature" series 1984 Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern Era: Poetry, Drama, Criticism Holt Rinehart & Winston Fourth book in "A History of Japanese Literature" series 1987 Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern Era Henry Holt & Co 1988 The Pleasures of Japanese Literature Columbia University Press ; Japanese trans.: 古典の愉しみ (JICC, 1992; 宝島社, 2000) 1989 Introducing Kyoto Kodansha America Inc With Herbert E. Plutschow 1989 Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese As Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Diaries Diane Publishing Co Japanese trans.: 百代の過客 日記にみる日本人 (朝日選書, 1984 and 1988), trans. 金関寿夫; hyakudai no kakaku: nikkini miru nihonjin; Later published by Asahi, 2011 and 2012 [?trans of revised edition] 1989 Modern Japanese Novels and the West Umi Research Press 1990 No and Bunraku: Two Forms of Japanese Theatre Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 能・文楽・歌舞伎 (講談社, 2001), trans. 吉田健一 & 松宮史朗; noh, bunraku, kabuki 1991 Appreciations of Japanese Culture Kodansha America Inc 1991 The Colors of Poetry: Essays in Classic Japanese Verse Katydid Books With Ooka Makoto 1992 Travelers of a Hundred Ages Henry Holt & Co 1993 Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century Henry Holt & Co First book in "A History of Japanese Literature" series 1994 On Familiar Terms: A Journey Across Cultures Kodansha America Inc Reworking of 1990–1992 Japanese newspaper column; Japanese trans.: このひとすじにつながりて (朝日選書, 1993), trans. 金関寿夫; kono hitosuji ni tsunagarite 1995 Modern Japanese Diaries: The Japanese at Home and Abroad as Revealed Through Their Diaries Henry Holt & Co Later published by Columbia University Press, 1999 [?revised edition]; Japanese edition published first 1996 The Blue-Eyed Tarokaja: A Donald Keene Anthology Columbia University Press Editor: J. Thomas Rimer; Japanese trans.: 碧い眼の太郎冠者; aoi me no taroukaja 1996 On Familiar Terms: To Japan and Back, a Lifetime Across Cultures Kodansha America Inc 1999 もう一つの母国、日本へ – Living in Two Countries Kodansha International English and Japanese bilingual text, trans. 塩谷紘 2001 Japan at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Woodblock Prints from the Meiji Era, 1868–1912 Museum of Fine Arts Boston With Anne Nishimura & Frederic A. Sharf 2001 Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600 Columbia University Press Compiled by Donald Keene, Wm. Theodore De Bary, George Tanabe and Paul Varley 2002 Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912 Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 明治天皇 (新潮社, 2001), trans. 角地幸男; meiji tennou; Also published in 4 volumes, 2007 2002 Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne Van Biema Collection University of Washington Press With Lee Bruschke-Johnson & Ann Yonemura 2002 Five Modern Japanese Novelists Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 思い出の作家たち―谷崎・川端・三島・安部・司馬 (新潮社, 2005), trans. 松宮史朗; omoide no sakkatachi: Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishima, Abe, Shiba 2003 Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 足利義政と銀閣寺 (中央公論新社, 2008), trans. 角地幸男; Yoshimasa to ginkakuji 2006 Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe Kazan 1793–1841 Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 渡辺崋山 (新潮社, 2007), trans. 角地幸男; Watanabe Kazan 2008 Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 私と20世紀のクロニカル (中央公論新社, 2007), trans. 角地幸男; watashi to 20 seiki no kuronikaru; Later published as ドナルド・キーン自伝 (中公公論新社, 2011); Spanish trans.: Un Occidental En Japon (Nocturna Ediciones, 2011), trans. José Pazó Espinosa 2010 So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 日本人の戦争 作家の日記を読む (文藝春秋, 2009), trans. 角地幸男; nihonjin no sensou: sakka no nikki wo yomu 2013 The Winter Sun Shines In: A Life of Masaoka Shiki Columbia University Press Japanese trans.: 正岡子規 (新潮社, 2012), trans. 角地幸男; Masaoka Shiki 2016 The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku Columbia University Press

Works in Japanese Year Japanese title Romanized title Publisher Notes 1957–1975 ドナルド・キーンの日本文学散歩 Donald Kīn no Nihonbungaku Sanpo 週刊朝日 Column in Asahi Weekly 1963 日本の文学 Nihon no Bungaku 筑摩書房 Trans. 吉田健一 1972 日本の作家 Nihon no Sakka 中央公論社 1972 日本人と日本文化 司馬遼太郎との対談 Nihonjin to Nihonbunka: Shiba Ryōtarō to no Taidan 中公新書 In conversation with Ryotaro Shiba; republished 1992 as 世界のなかの日本 1973 反劇的人間 Hangekiteki Ningen 中公新書 In conversation with Kobo Abe 1973 東と西のはざまで 大岡昇平と対談 Higashi to Nishi no Hazama de 朝日出版社 In conversation with Ooka Shouhei 1973 悼友紀行 三島由紀夫の作品風土 中央公論社 With Tokuoka Takao 1977 ドナルド・キーンの音盤風刺花伝 音楽之友社 Later published as わたしの好きなレコード 1977 日本文学を読む Nihonbungaku wo Yomu 新潮選書 1979 日本の魅力 対談集 Nihon no Miryoku 中央公論社 Collection of conversations 1979 日本を理解するまで Nihon wo Rikai suru Made 新潮社 1979 日本文学のなかへ Nihonbungaku no Naka e 文藝春秋 1980 音楽の出会いとよろこび Ongaku no Deai to Yorokobi 音楽之友社 Trans. 中矢一義; republished 中央公論社 1992 1981 ついさきの歌声 Tsuisaki no Utagoe 中央公論社 Trans. 中矢一義 1981 私の日本文学逍遥 Watashi no Nihonbungaku Shōyō 新潮社 1983 日本人の質問 Nihonjin no Shitsumon 朝日選書 1983–1984 百代の過客 日記にみる日本人 Hyakudai no Kakaku: Nikki ni Miru Nihonjin Asahi Evening News Column 1984–1997 日本文学史 Nihonbungakushi 中央公論社 Translation of "History of Japanese Literature" series; various volumes and editions 1986 少し耳の痛くなる話 Sukoshi Mimi no Itakunaru Hanashi 新潮社 1987 二つの母国に生きて Futatsu no Bokoku ni Ikite Asahi Trans. 塩谷紘 1990 古典を楽しむ 私の日本文学 Koten wo Tanoshimu: Watashi no Nihonbungaku 朝日選書 1990 日本人の美意識 Nihonjin no Biishiki 中央公論 1990–1992 このひとすじにつながりて Kono Hitosuji ni Tsunagarite Asahi Evening News Column 1992 声の残り 私の文壇交遊録 Koe no Nokori: Watashi no Bundan Kōyūroku Asahi 1998 三島由紀夫未発表書簡 ドナルド・キーン氏宛の97通 Mishima Yukio Mihappyō Shokan 中央公論社 Editor; 97 letters from Yukio Mishima 2000 日本語の美 Nihongo no Bi 中公文庫 2003 明治天皇を語る Meiji Tennō wo Kataru 新潮新書 Based on lecture series 2003 日本文学は世界のかけ橋 Nihonbungaku wa Sekai no Kakebashi たちばな出版 2004 同時代を生きて 忘れえぬ人びと Dōjidai wo Ikite Wasureenu Hitobito 岩波書店 With Jakucho Setouchi & Shunsuke Tsurumi 2005 私の大事な場所 Watashi no Daiji na Basho 中央公論新社 Republished 2010 2011 戦場のエロイカ・シンフォニー 私が体験した日米戦 Senjō no Eroica Shinfonī: Watashi ga Keiken shita Nichibei-sen 藤原書店 With Koike Masayuki 2011–2020 ドナルド・キーン著作集(全15巻・別巻) Donald Kīn Chosakushū (Zen-15kan) 新潮社 Complete works (15 volumes) 2012 日本を、信じる Nihon wo, Shinjiru 中央公論新社 With Setouchi Jakuchou 2013 私が日本人になった理由―日本語に魅せられて Watashi ga Nihonjin ni Natta Riyū—Nihongo ni Miserarete PHP研究所

Translations Year Original author Title Publisher Notes 1951 Chikamatsu Monzaemon The Battles of Coxinga: Chikamatsu's Puppet Play, Its Background and Importance Taylor's Foreign Press 1956 Dazai Osamu The Setting Sun New Directions 1958 Dazai Osamu No Longer Human New Directions 1961 Chikamatsu Monzaemon The Major Plays of Chikamatsu Columbia University Press Includes critical commentary 1967 Yoshida Kenkō Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko Columbia University Press 1967 Mishima Yukio Five Modern Noh Plays Tuttle Including Madame de Sade 1971 Chushingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, a Puppet Play Columbia University Press 1973 Mishima Yukio After the Banquet Random House Inc 1975 Abe Kobo The Man Who Turned into a Stick: Three Related Plays Columbia University Press Original text published by Tokyo University Press 1981 The Tale of the Shining Princess Metropolitan Museum of Art and Viking Press 1986 Abe Kobo Friends: A Play Tuttle 1997 Abe Kobo Three Plays Columbia University Press 1997 Matsuo Bashō The Narrow Road to Oku Kodansha America Inc 1998 Kawabata Yasunari The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter Kodansha America Inc 1998 Yamamoto Yuzo One Hundred Sacks of Rice: A Stage Play Nagaoka City Kome Hyappyo Foundation 2001 The Tale of Genji Kodansha International Bilingual illustrated text with essay; with Miyata Masayuki (illustrations) & H. Mack Horton 2003 Oda Makoto The Breaking Jewel Columbia University Press

Editor Year Title Publisher Notes 1960 Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century Grove Press 1961 The Old Woman, the Wife, and the Archer: Three Modern Japanese Short Novels Viking Press 1987 Anthology of Chinese Literature: From the 14th Century to the Present Day Grove Press Co-editor with Cyril Birch 1994 Modern Japanese Literature from 1868 to the Present Day Grove Press 2000 Love Songs from the Man'Yoshu Kodansha America Inc

Honorary degrees Keene was awarded various honorary doctorates, from: University of Cambridge (1978) St. Andrews Presbyterian College (North Carolina, 1990) Middlebury College (Vermont, 1995) Columbia University (New York, 1997) Tohoku University (Sendai, 1997) Waseda University (Tokyo, 1998) Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Tokyo, 1999) Keiwa College (Niigata, 2000) Kyoto Sangyo University (Kyoto, 2002) Kyorin University (Tokyo, 2007) Toyo University (Tokyo, 2011) Japan Women's University (Tokyo, 2012) Nishogakusha University (Kyoto, 2012) Doshisha University (Kyoto, 2013)

Awards and commendations Guggenheim Fellowship, 1961 Kikuchi Kan Prize (Kikuchi Kan Shō Society for the Advancement of Japanese Culture), 1962. Van Ameringen Distinguished Book Award, 1967 Kokusai Shuppan Bunka Shō Taishō, 1969 Kokusai Shuppan Bunka Shō, 1971 Yamagata Banto Prize (Yamagata Bantō Shō), 1983 The Japan Foundation Award (Kokusai Kōryū Kikin Shō), 1983 Yomiuri Literary Prize (Yomiuri Bungaku Shō), 1985 (Keene was the first non-Japanese to receive this prize, for a book of literary criticism (Travellers of a Hundred Ages) in Japanese) Award for Excellence (Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University), 1985 Nihon Bungaku Taishō, 1985 Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University named in Keene's honour, 1986 Tōkyō-to Bunka Shō, 1987 NBCC (The National Book Critics Circle) Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publishing, 1990 The Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (Fukuoka Ajia Bunka Shō), 1991 Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) Hōsō Bunka Shō, 1993 Inoue Yasushi Bunka Shō (Inoue Yasushi Kinen Bunka Zaidan), 1995 The Distinguished Achievement Award (from The Tokyo American Club) (for the lifetime achievements and unique contribution to international relations), 1995 Award of Honor (from The Japan Society of Northern California), 1996 Asahi Prize, 1997 Mainichi Shuppan Bunka Shō (The Mainichi Newspapers), 2002 The PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, 2003 Ango Award (from Niigata, Niigata), 2010

National honors and decorations

Decorations

Honors Person of Cultural Merit (Bunka Kōrōsha) (Japanese Government), 2002 (Keene was the third non-Japanese person to be designated "an individual of distinguished cultural service" by the Japanese government) Freedom of (meiyo kumin) Kita ward, Tokyo, 2006