Ivan Morris

Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies.

Biography Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris and Ira Victor Morris (son of diplomat Ira Nelson Morris and grandson of meat-packer Nelson Morris). He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and received a doctorate at the SOAS University of London, specializing in Oriental languages.

Morris wrote widely on modern and ancient Japan, and translated numerous classical and modern literary works. He personally knew writer Yukio Mishima and translated some of his writings. He helped to found Amnesty International USA

Selected works As writer Nationalism and the Right Wing in Japan: A Study of Postwar Trends, Oxford University Press, 1960 The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 Dictionary of Selected Forms in Classical Japanese Literature, Columbia University Press, 1966 The Tale of Genji Scroll, Kodansha, 1971 The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975

As translator The Crazy Iris by Masuji Ibuse, Encounter, Vol. 6 no. 5, 1956 As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams (translation of Sarashina Nikki), The Dial Press, 1971 The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, Oxford University Press, 1967 The Journey by Jirō Osaragi, Charles E. Tuttle, 1967 The Life of an Amorous Woman by Ihara Saikaku, Unesco/New Directions Books, 1963 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959 Fires on the Plain by Shōhei Ōoka, Martin Secker & Warburg, 1957 "The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love" by Yukio Mishima, in Death in Midsummer and Other Stories, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1966 "Swaddling Clothes" by Yukio Mishima, in Death in Midsummer and Other Stories, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1966

As editor Modern Japanese Stories, Charles E. Tuttle, 1962 Thought and Behaviour in Modern Japanese Politics, by Masao Maruyama, Oxford University Press, 1963 Japan, 1931–45: Militarism, Fascism, Japanism?, Heath, 1963 The Pillow-Book Puzzles, Bodley Head, 1969 Madly Singing in the Mountains: An Appreciation and Anthology of Arthur Waley, Walker, 1970