Donald Keene

Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February

24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, Donald Keene
Junior Third Rank
historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese
literature.[1][2] Keene was University Professor キーン ドナルド
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.[3] This was also his poetic pen name ( 雅
号, gagō) and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji
form 鬼怒鳴門.[4][a]

Early life and education

Keene in April 2011
Donald Lawrence Keene was born on June 18, 1922 in Born Donald Lawrence Keene
Flatbush, Brooklyn. His father was a international June 18, 1922
trade businessman while his stay-at-home mother New York City, U.S
raised both Keene and his elder sister. When Keene
Died February 24, 2019 (aged 96)
was seven years old, the Great Depression was
Tokyo, Japan
beginning to gain momentum in the United States,
Citizenship United States (1922–2012)
which subsequently had a negative effect on his family.
In July 1931, amid the economic crisis, a 9-year-old Japan (2012–2019)
Keene begged his father to allow him to accompany Alma mater Columbia University (BA) (MA)
him on a business trip to Europe, to which his father (PhD)
agreed. He and his father boarded a United States
Harvard University
Lines ship sailing to Normandy in France
disembarking at Cherbourg. By train he and his father Cambridge University (MA)
went to Paris. In Paris, Keene met a girl around the Occupation(s) Scholar, historian, professor,
same age, but had a hard time talking to her due to a writer and linguist
language barrier, but proceeded to sing to her Frère Organizations Cambridge University (1949–
Jacques which was the only song he knew in 1954)
French.[5] These experiences instilled in him great
Columbia University (since
sense of curiosity for cultures abroad, as well as
1955)
learning languages.
Known for "History of Japanese
Literature" series (1976–)
In 1933, two years after his visit to France, Keene's "Emperor of Japan: Meiji and
elder sister died of illness which was followed by his His World, 1852–1912" (2002)
parents divorce. Keene attended the James Madison Awards Kikuchi Kan Prize (1962)
High School, while living with his mother, where he
Yamagata Banto Prize (1983)
showed great academic achievement.[6] He than
enrolled at Columbia University, where he received a Yomiuri Prize (1985)
bachelor's degree 1942,[7] studying under Mark Van Japanese Literature Award
Doren, Moses Hadas, Lionel Trilling, and Jacques (1985)
Barzun. While at Columbia he was obsessed with Fukuoka Prize (1991)
Arthur Waley's English translation of The Tale of Genji 2nd Class, Order of the Rising
and became increasingly interested in Japanese culture Sun (1993)
after he met Ryusaku Tsunoda, an individual who
Asahi Prize (1998)
Keene cites as a mentor and key influence in his
Mainichi Publication Culture
writings.[8][9] Following his graduation, Keene was
Award (2002)
enlisted in the United States Navy under the Selective
Training and Service Act of 1940, a pacifist at heart, Order of Culture (2008)
Keene was not enthusatic about joining, especially Junior Third Rank (2019)
after hearing about the Japanese-led Attack on Pearl
Harbor.[10]

While in the Navy, Keene applied to and was accepted into the United States Navy Japanese Language
School in Boulder, Colorado and in Berkeley, California,[11] where he learned Japanese, and served as an
intelligence officer and in the Pacific region during World War II.[3][11] Upon his discharge from the
Navy, he returned to Columbia where he earned a master's degree in 1947. Keene studied for a year at
Harvard University before transferring to Cambridge University as a Henry Fellow, where he earned a
second master's and became a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1948 to 1954, and a
University Lecturer from 1949 to 1955.[12] In the interim, in 1953,[13] he also studied at Kyoto
University, and earned a PhD from Columbia in 1949. While staying at Cambridge, Keene went to meet
Arthur Waley who was best known for his translation work in classical Chinese and Japanese literature.
For Keene, Waley's translation of Chinese and Japanese literature was inspiring, even arousing in Keene
the thought of becoming a second Waley.[14]

Career
Keene was a Japanologist who published about 25 books in English on Japanese topics, including both
studies of Japanese literature and culture and translations of Japanese classical and modern literature,
including a four-volume history of Japanese literature which has become a standard work.[15] Keene 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.

Keene was awarded the Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 2008, one of the highest honors
bestowed by the Japanese Imperial Family in the country, becoming the first non-Japanese to receive the
award.[16] Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Keene retired from Columbia and moved
to Japan with the intention of living out the remainder of his life there. He acquired Japanese citizenship,
adopting the legal name Kīn Donarudo (キーン ドナルド). This required him to relinquish his American
citizenship, as Japan does not permit dual citizenship.[3]
Keene was well known and respected in Japan[17] and his relocation there following the earthquake was
widely lauded.[15]

Personal life
In 2013 Keene adopted shamisen player Seiki Uehara as a son.[18] Keene was not married.

Keene died of cardiac arrest in Tokyo on February 24, 2019, aged 96.[19]

Selected works
In an overview of writings by and about Keene, OCLC/WorldCat lists roughly 600+ works in 1,400+
publications in 16 languages and 39,000+ library holdings.[20]
 These lists are not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to them.

Works in English

Original Publication Translation(s)

The Battles of Coxinga: Chikamatsu's Puppet

Play, Its Background and Importance (Taylor's
Foreign Pr, 1951)

日本人の西洋発見 (錦正社, 1957). Jp trans. 藤田豊 & 大沼

雅彦
The Japanese Discovery of Europe: Honda
Toshiaki and other discoverers 1720–1952
nihonjin no seiyou hakken 日本人の西洋発見 (中
(Routledge and K. Paul, 1952) 公叢書, 1968). Jp trans. 芳賀徹訳 [?trans of 2nd
ed]

Japanese Literature an Introduction for Western

Readers (Grove Pr, June 1, 1955)

Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology (Grove

Pr, June 1, 1956)

生きている日本 (朝日出版社, 1973). Jp trans. 江藤淳 & 足

立康

Living Japan (Doubleday, 1959)

ikiteiru nihon Revised edition published as 果て
しなく美しい日本 (講談社学術文庫, 2002). Jp
trans. 足立康改 [?mistake. ?Separate work]

Major Plays of Chikamatsu (Columbia University

Press, January 1, 1961)

Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu (Columbia

University Press, June 1, 1961)

Donald Keene, Kaneko Hiroshi (photography) & 文楽 (講談社, 1966). Jp trans. 吉田健一
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (introduction), Bunraku: The Art
of the Japanese Puppet Theatre (kodansha bunraku
International, 1965)

Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720–1830.

Revised/2nd ed. (Stanford University Press, June
1, 1969)
The Manyoushu (Columbia University Press,
1969)

Twenty Plays of the Noh Theatre (Columbia

University Press, June 1, 1970)

昨日の戦地から (中央公論新社, 2006). Jp trans. 松宮史朗.

War-Wasted Asia: letters, 1945–46 (Kodansha
International, 1975) kinou no senchi kara
World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the
Pre-Modern Era, 1600–1867 (Henry Holt & Co, 日本文学史 近世篇, 2 vols. (中央公論社, 1976–77). Jp
October 1, 1976) trans. 徳岡孝夫訳
Second book in the "A History of nihon bungakushi kinseihen
Japanese Literature" series

Landscapes and Portraits: Appreciations of

Japanese culture (Kodansha International, 1978)

日本との出会い (中央公論社, 1972). Jp trans. 篠田 一士

Meeting with Japan (学生社, 1979) nihon tono deai

日本文学散歩 (朝日選書, 1975). Jp trans. 篠田 一士

Some Japanese Portraits (Kodansha Amer Inc,
March 1, 1978/9) nihon bungaku sanpo

日本細見 (中央公論社, 1980). Jp trans. 中矢一義

Travels in Japan (Gakuseisha, 1981) nihonsaiken

Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the

Modern Era; Fiction (Holt Rinehart & Winston,
April 1, 1984)
Third book in the "A History of Japanese
Literature" series

* Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the

Modern Era; Poetry, Drama, Criticism (Holt
Rinehart & Winston, April 1, 1984)
Fourth book in the "A History of Japanese
Literature" series

Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the

Modern Era (Henry Holt & Co, September 1, 1987)

古典の愉しみ (JICC, 1992). Jp trans. 大庭みな子

The Pleasures of Japanese Literature (Columbia
University Press, October 1, 1988; ISBN 0-231- koten no tanoshimi Later published by 宝 島 社 ,
06736-4) 2000.

Donald Keene with Herbert E. Plutschow,

Introducing Kyoto (Kodansha Amer Inc, April 1,
1989)

百代の過客 日記にみる日本人 (朝日選書, 1984 and 1988).

Jp trans. 金関寿夫
Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese As
Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Diaries (Diane
hyakudai no kakaku: nikkini miru nihonjin Later
Pub Co, June 1, 1989) published by Asahi, 2011 and 2012. [?trans of
revised edition]

Modern Japanese Novels and the West (Umi

Research Pr, July 1, 1989)
 能・文楽・歌舞伎 (講談社, 2001). Jp trans. 吉田 健一 &
No and Bunraku: Two Forms of Japanese Theatre 松宮史朗
(Columbia University Press, December 1, 1990)
noh, bunraku, kabuki

Appreciations of Japanese Culture (Kodansha

Amer Inc, April 1, 1991)
Donald Keene with Ooka Makoto, The Colors of
Poetry: Essays in Classic Japanese Verse
(Katydid Books, May 1, 1991)

Travelers of a Hundred Ages (Henry Holt & Co,

August 1, 1992)

Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from

Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century
(Henry Holt & Co, June 1, 1993)
First book in the "A History of Japanese
Literature" series

On Familiar Terms: A Journey Across Cultures

(Kodansha Amer Inc, January 1, 1994) このひとすじにつながりて (朝日選書, 1993). Jp trans. 金
関 寿夫
Reworking of the 1990–1992 Japanese
newspaper column. kono hitosuji ni tsunagarite

Modern Japanese Diaries: The Japanese at Home

and Abroad As Revealed Through Their Diaries
(Henry Holt & Co, March 1, 1995)
Later published by Columbia University
Press, 1999 [?revised edition] Japanese
edition published first.

The Blue-Eyed Tarokaja: A Donald Keene 碧い眼の太郎冠者

Anthology (Columbia University Press, June 1, aoi me no taroukaja
1996). Editor. J. Thomas Rimer

On Familiar Terms: To Japan and Back, a Lifetime

Across Cultures (Kodansha Amer Inc, April 1,
1996)

もう一つの母国、日本へ – Living in Two Countries

(Kodansha International, 1999). Jp trans. 塩谷紘
English and Japanese bilingual text

Donald Keene with Anne Nishimura & Frederic A.

Sharf, Japan at the Dawn of the Modern Age:
Woodblock Prints from the Meija Era, 1868–1912
(Museum of Fine Arts Boston, May 1, 2001)
Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest
Times to 1600 compiled by Donalde Keen, Wm.
Theodore De Bary, George Tanabe and Paul
Varley (Columbia University Press, May 1, 2001)
 明治天皇 (新潮社, 2001). Jp trans. 角地 幸男.
Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–
1912 (Columbia University Press, April 1, 2002) meiji tennou Also published in 4 volumes, 2007.

Donald Keene with Lee Bruschke-Johnson & Ann

Yonemura, Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints
from the Anne Van Biema Collection (University of
Washington Pr, September 1, 2002)

思い出の作家たち―谷崎・川端・三島・安部・司馬 (新潮
社, 2005). Jp trans. 松宮史朗
Five Modern Japanese Novelists (Columbia
University Press, December 1, 2002) omoide no sakkatachi: Tanizaki, Kawabata,
Mishima, Abe, Shiba

足利義政と銀閣寺 (中央公論新社, 2008). Jp trans. 角地 幸

Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation 男.
of the Soul of Japan (Columbia University Press,
November 1, 2003) Yoshimasa to ginkakuji

Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe 渡辺崋山 (新潮社, 2007). Jp trans. 角地 幸男
Kazan 1793–1841 (Asia Perspectives),(Columbia Watanabe Kazan
Univ. Press, 2006)

私と20世紀のクロニカル』 (中央公論新社, 2007)

watashi to 20 seiki no kuronikaru Later
published as ドナルド・キーン自伝 (中公公論新
Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of
Japan. (Columbia University Press, 2008) 社, 2011). Jp trans. 角地幸男 Un Occidental En
Japon (Nocturna Ediciones, 2011). Es trans.
José Pazó Espinosa

? 日本人の戦争 作家の日記を読む (文藝春秋, 2009). Jp

So Lovely A Country Will Never Perish: Wartime trans. 角地幸男
Diaries of Japanese Writers (Columbia University
Press, 2010) nihonjin no sensou: sakka no nikki wo yomu

正岡子規 (新潮社, 2012). Jp trans. 角地 幸男

The Winter Sun Shines In: A Life of Masaoka Shiki
(Columbia University Press, 2013) Masaoka Shiki

Works in Japanese

日本の文学 (筑摩書房, 1963). Jp trans. 吉田健一

nihonbungaku

日本の作家 (中央公論社, 1972)

nihon no sakka

Kobo Abe and Donald Keene, 反劇的人間 (中公新書,1973)

hangekiteki ningen. In conversation with Kobo Abe

Ooka Shouhei and Donald Keene, 東と西のはざまで 大岡昇平と対談 (朝日出版社, 1973)

higashi to nishi no haza made. In conversation with Ooka Shouhei

Tokuoka Takao and Donald Keene, 悼友紀行 三島由紀夫の作品風土 (中央公論社, 1973)

ドナルド・キーンの日本文学散歩. Column in Asahi Weekly 週刊朝日, January 8, 1957 – September 26, 1975
Donarudo Kiin no nihonbungaku sanpo

ドナルド・キーンの音盤風刺花伝 (音楽之友社, 1977)

Later published as わたしの好きなレコード watashi no sukina rekoodo

日本文学を読む (新潮選書, 1977)

nihonbungaku wo yomu

日本の魅力 対談集 (中央公論社, 1979)

nihongo no miryoku. A collection of conversation.

日本を理解するまで (新潮社, 1979) [?trans]

nihon wo rikaisuru made

日本文学のなかへ (文藝春秋, 1979)

nihonbungaku no nakahe

音楽の出会いとよろこび (音楽之友社, 1980). Jp trans. 中矢 一義.

ongaku no deai to yorokobi Later published by 中央公論社 1992.

ついさきの歌声 (中央公論社, 1981) Jp trans. 中矢一義訳

tsuisaki no utagoe

私の日本文学逍遥 (新潮社, 1981)

watashi no nihonbungaku shouyou

日本人の質問 (朝日選書, 1983)

nihonjin no shitsumon

百代の過客 日記にみる日本人. Column in the Asahi Evening News, July 4, 1983 – April 13, 1984.
hyakudai no kakaku: nikki nimiru nihonjin

Ryotaro Shiba and Donald Keene, 日本人と日本文化 司馬遼太郎との対談 (中公新書, 1972, 1984)
nihonjin to nihonbunka: conversations with Ryotaro Shiba Later published as 世界のなかの日
本 十六世紀まで遡って見る 司馬遼太郎対談 (中央公論社, 1992) sakai no naka no nihon:
juurokuseiki made sakanobattemiru. In conversation with Ryotaro Shiba.

少し耳の痛くなる話 (新潮社, 1986)

sukoshi mimi no itakunaru hanashi

二つの母国に生きて (Asahi, 1987) [?trans. 塩谷紘]

futatsu no bokoku ni ikite [Living in two countries]

このひとすじにつながりて. Column in the Asahi Evening News, January 7, 1990 – February 9, 1992.
kono hitosushi ni tsunagarite

古典を楽しむ 私の日本文学 (朝日選書, 1990)

koden wo tanoshimu: watashi no nihonbungaku

日本人の美意識 (中央公論, 1990)

nihonjin no biishiki

声の残り 私の文壇交遊録 (Asahi, 1992)

koe no nokori: watashi no bundankouyuuroku [Remaining voices: Record of my literary circle]

Yukio Mishima & Donald Keene (editor), 三島由紀夫未発表書簡 ドナルド・キーン氏宛の97通 (中央公論社,

1998)
Mishima Yukio mihappyoushokan 97 letters addressed to Donald Keene

日本語の美 (中公文庫, 2000)

nihongo no bi [The beauty of Japanese]

明治天皇を語る (新潮新書, 2003).

meijiennnou wo kataru [Stories of the Emperor Meiji]. Based on a series of lectures.

日本文学は世界のかけ橋 (たちばな出版, 2003)

nihonbungaku ha sekai no kakebashi

Jakucho Setouchi, Donald Keene & Shunsuke Tsurumi, 同時代を生きて 忘れえぬ人びと (岩波書店, 2004)
doujidai wo ikite wasureenu hitobito

私の大事な場所 (中央公論新社, 2005/2010)

watashi no daijina basho

ドナルド・キーン著作集（全15巻・別巻）(新潮社, 2011–2020)
 donarudo kiin chosakushou (zen-15gan). The collected works of Donald Keene (15 volumes)
[excluding 日本文学史 The history of Japanese literature]

Donald Keene & Koike Masayuki, 戦場のエロイカ・シンフォニー 私が体験した日米戦 (藤原書店, 2011)

senjou no Eroica shinfonii: watashi ga keikenshita nichibeiikusa

Donald Keene and Setouchi Jakuchou, 日本を、信じる (中央公論新社, 2012)

私が日本人になった理由―日本語に魅せられて (PHP研究所, 2013)

watashi ga nihonjin ni natta riyuu – nihongo ni miserarete

Translation of the History of Japanese literature series

日本文学史 nihonbungakushi

History of Japanese literature: Modern era, published in 8 volumes, (中央公論社, 1984–1992). Jp trans. 角地
幸男, 徳岡孝夫 & 新井潤美
History of Japanese literature, including modern era and pre-modern era, published in 18 volumes (中央公論
社, 1994–1997). Jp trans for Pre-modern: 土屋政雄
History of Japanese literature: Modern era, published in 9 volumes, 2011–2012 (中央公論新社, 2011–2012).
Editor. 徳岡 孝夫

Translations
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, The Battles of Coxinga: Chikamatsu's Puppet Play, Its
Background and Importance (Taylor's Foreign Pr, 1951)
Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human (New Directions, 1958)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, The Major Plays of Chikamatsu (Columbia University Press, June
1, 1961)
Includes critical commentary

Yoshida Kenkō, Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko (Columbia University

Press, June 1, 1967)
Mishima Yukio, Five Modern Noh Plays – Including: Madame de Sade (Tuttle, 1967)
Chushingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, a Puppet Play (Columbia University Press,
April 1, 1971)
Mishima Yukio, After the Banquet (Random House Inc, January 1, 1973)
Abe Kobo The man who turned into a stick: three related plays (Columbia University Press,
1975). Original text published by Tokyo University Press.
Dazai Osamu, The Setting Sun (Tuttle, 1981)
??, The tale of the shining Princess (Metropolitan Museum of Art and Viking Press, 1981)
Abe Kobo, Friends: a play (Tuttle, 1986)
Abe Kobo, Three Plays (Columbia University Press, February 1, 1997)
Matsuo Bashō, The Narrow Road to Oku (Kodansha Amer Inc, April 1, 1997)
Kawabata Yasunari, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Kodansha Amer Inc, September 1,
1998)
Yamamoto Yuzo, One Hundred Sacks of Rice: A Stage Play (Nagaoka City Kome Hyappyo
 Foundation, 1998)
Miyata Masayuki (illustrations), Donald Keene (essay), H. Mack Horton [En trans], 源氏物語
– The Tale of Genji (Kodansha International, 2001). Bilingual illustrated text with essay.
Donald Keene & Oda Makoto, The Breaking Jewel, Keene, Donald (trans) (Columbia
University Press, March 1, 2003)

Editor
Anthology of Japanese Literature from the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
(Grove Pr, March 1, 1960)
The Old Woman, the Wife, and the Archer: Three Modern Japanese Short Novels (Viking
Press, 1961)
Anthology of Chinese Literature: From the 14th Century to the Present Day (co-editor with
Cyril Birch) (Grove Pr, June 1, 1987)
Love Songs from the Man'Yoshu (Kodansha Amer Inc, August 1, 2000)
Modern Japanese Literature from 1868 to the Present Day (Grove Pr, January 31, 1994)

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.[21]
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
(Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, Third Class, 1975)
(Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Second Class, 1993)
(Order of Culture (Bunka kunshō), 2008[22])

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

Notes

a. Glossed as 鬼怒（キーン・ド）鳴門（ナルド） or kīn do narudo; 鬼怒 is usually

pronounced kinu, as in Kinugawa River, and 鳴門 as naruto, as in the Naruto Strait, which
are both well-known place names, yielding the reading kinu naruto. A further twist is that 怒
can also be read as do, corresponding to the Do- in Donald.

References
 1. Shavit, David (1990). The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=IWdZTaJdc6UC&q=%22Keene%2C+Donald%22+june+1922&pg=PA279).
Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780313267888.
2. "Japanese literature scholar Donald Keene dies at 96" (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2
019/02/24/national/japanese-literature-scholar-donald-keene-dies-96/#.XHHxcudS-Co). The
Japan Times. Tokyo. February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
3. Fackler, Martin (November 2, 2012). "Lifelong Scholar of the Japanese Becomes One of
Them" (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/world/asia/with-citizenship-japan-embraces-col
umbia-scholar.html?pagewanted=all). The New York Times. Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20141110200744/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/world/asia/with-citizenship-jap
an-embraces-columbia-scholar.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) from the original on November
10, 2014.
4. "年譜 | プロフィール | ドナルド・キーンについて | ドナルド・キーン・センター柏崎" (http
s://www.donaldkeenecenter.jp/profile01.html). www.donaldkeenecenter.jp. Retrieved
February 5, 2021.
5. Keene, Donald; Yamaguchi, Akira (2008). Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of
Japan. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-14441-4.
6. "Donald Keene's Japan (Pt. 1): 100 years since the birth of the late scholar" (https://mainich
i.jp/english/articles/20220314/p2g/00m/0et/037000c). Mainichi Daily News. March 14, 2022.
Retrieved December 5, 2024.
7. Kilgannon, Corey (April 26, 2011). "Columbia Professor's Retirement Is Big News in Japan"
(https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/columbia-professors-r
etirement-is-big-news-in-japan/). City Room. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
8. "Sensei and Sensibility | Columbia College Today" (https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/arc
hive/winter11/features1). www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
9. "Donald Keene's Japan (Pt.2): An inspiring encounter with 'The Tale of Genji' " (https://maini
chi.jp/english/articles/20220328/p2a/00m/0et/019000c). Mainichi Daily News. March 28,
2022. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
10. "Donald Keene's Japan (Pt.3): War and fate linked scholar with Japanese language" (https://
mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220411/p2a/00m/0et/014000c). Mainichi Daily News. April 11,
2022. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
11. Cary, Otis and Donald Keene. War-wasted Asia: Letters, 1945–46. Kodansha International,
1975. ISBN 9780870112577 p13
12. Donald Keene, 'Reminiscences of Cambridge' (https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/files/Fifty%20y
ears%20of%20Japanese.pdf), in Richard Bowring (ed.), Fifty years of Japanese at
Cambridge, 1948–98: A Chronicle with Reminiscences (Cambridge: Faculty of Oriental
Studies, University of Cambridge, 1998), pp.16-7.
13. Donald Keene. "Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience" (http://www.japantime
s.co.jp/news/2015/01/01/national/history/donald-keene-reflects-70-year-japan-experience/)
Japan Times. January 1, 2015
14. Keene, Donald (2008). Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=KZO1AwAAQBAJ). Columbia University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-
231-14441-4. "I too had studied Chinese along with Japanese and hoped to become the
second Waley."
15. "Lunch with the FT: Donald Keene" (https://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9a0ebac8-00f5-11e1-8590-
00144feabdc0.html), by David Pilling, Financial Times, October 28, 2011. (Archive link (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20111030174558/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9a0ebac8-00f5-11e1-8
590-00144feabdc0.html))
16. "U.S.-born scholar of Japanese literature Donald Keene dies at 96" (https://www.reuters.co
m/article/japan-scholar-obituary-idUSL3N20J00S). Reuters. February 24, 2019. Retrieved
October 21, 2022. "Keene, who befriended giants of Japanese literature such as Yukio
Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata, was awarded the Order of Culture in March 2008, the first
non-Japanese to receive it, and became a Japanese citizen in 2012."
17. "Famed Japan scholar Donald Keene dies at 96" (https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/
02/afba593a936a-update1-famed-japan-scholar-donald-keene-dies-at-96.html). Kyodo
News. February 24, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
18. "Keene adopts shamisen player as son" (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/01/nati
onal/keene-adopts-shamisen-player-as-son/#.W0NH7NIzZPY). The Japan Times. May
2013. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
19. Reiji Yoshida. "Donald Keene, lauded scholar of Japanese literature, dies at 96" (https://ww
w.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/02/24/national/japanese-literature-scholar-donald-keene-dies
-96/#.XHKBANJCeUk), Japan Times. February 24, 2019
20. WorldCat Identities (http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/identities/default.htm) Archived (h
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101230150412/http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/identitie
s/default.htm) December 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine: Keene, Donald (http://www.wo
rldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-46423); retrieved November 1, 2012.
21. "Professor Gets Prize; Keene of Columbia Cited for Work in Japanese Letters," (https://sele
ct.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F16FC385B12718DDDAC0894DB405B828AF1D
3&scp=3&sq=Donald+Keene+&st=p) New York Times. March 5, 1962.
22. "Donald Keene, 7 others win Order of Culture," (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/200810
29TDY01304.htm) Yomiuri Shimbun. October 29, 2008.

External links
Media related to Donald Keene at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or about Donald Keene at Wikisource
Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture (http://www.keenecenter.org)

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