is known as the "father of

Japanese studies Japanese studies (Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese ...

" at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He was directly responsible for developing the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

collection at Columbia's library. Prominent among the former-students who credit his influence as formative is

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. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japan ...

, who had himself become a later Dean of Japanese studies in the United States.

Biography

Tsunoda was the youngest of seven children born to a family of peasants in Japan. He studied at Waseda University, and later developed interest in the United States. Keene's own perspective on Tsunoda was expressed in a lecture given at

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

in 1994: :"His vocation was

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely re ...

, not writing. His joy as a teacher lay in communicating knowledge directly and enthusiastically to his students. ... As one of his students, I feel it regrettable that Prof. Tsunoda is not known just because he did not publish anything."

Selected works

In an overview of writings by and about Tsunoda,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

lists roughly 50 works in 100+2 publications in 4 languages and 2,000+ library holdings. WorldCat IdentitiesTsunoda, Ryūsaku 1877-1964
retrieved 2012-11-5. :''This list is not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to it.'' * ''Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories,'' 1951 (with

L. Carrington Goodrich Luther Carrington Goodrich (September 21, 1894 – August 10, 1986) was an American sinologist and historian of China. A prolific author, he is perhaps best remembered for his work on the ''Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644''. Life Luthe ...

) * ''Sources of Japanese Tradition,'' Vols. I-II, 1958 (with

William Theodore de Bary William Theodore de Bary (; August 9, 1919 – July 14, 2017) was an American Sinologist and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at Columbia University for nearly 70 years. De Bary graduated from Columbia Coll ...

and Donald Keene)

Notes

References

* de Bary, William Theodore
"East Asian Studies at Columbia: The Early Years,"
''Living Legacies: Great Moments and Leading Figures in the History of Columbia University,'' 2002. * Shirai, Katsuhiko

''Waseda Weekly,'' April 2006.

Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

.
Profile at Waseda University

External links

* Waseda University
"Tsunoda Ryūsaku -- his life as a bridge between Japan and America,"
2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsunoda, Ryusaku 1877 births 1964 deaths Columbia University faculty 20th-century Japanese historians Japanese Japanologists Waseda University alumni