The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Donald Keene shared joys, sorrows of nation he loved
Renowned scholar Donald Keene, who died on Feb. 24, loved this nation’s people and culture and shared the splendor of its history and many other things Japanese with people both here and abroad.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, Keene decided to live permanently in Japan, saying he “wanted to work together with the Japanese people,” and obtained Japanese nationality at age 89. Overcoming the tragedy of World War II, he was an icon symbolizing the ties between Japan and the United States as one of the first researchers of Japanese literature in the United States in the postwar years.
According to informed sources, Keene had been prone to ill health since around the summer of 2017. In July 2018, a photo exhibition introducing Keene’s daily life was held in Kita Ward, Tokyo. At a preview for the exhibition, Keene told reporters he was impressed by the human feeling that was abundant in the photos.
Keene was admitted to a hospital in Tokyo in September. His heart and kidneys weakened gradually, the sources said, and in mid-October, his doctor told his family, “Anything could happen at any time.”
Bearing in mind the tragedy of the war, Keene continued introducing Japanese literature to the rest of the world. His love of Japan deepened after the 2011 earthquake — Keene is said to have been greatly shocked by tsunami footage he saw on TV while in the United States.
He had often visited the disaster-hit Tohoku region for his research on Japanese poet Matsuo Basho’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.” Following the earthquake, Keene decided to live permanently in Japan.
He often said the Tohoku region was certain to be reconstructed, a belief prompted by the fact that when he viewed Tokyo from a plane in December 1945 it had been completely destroyed by fire, but it eventually regained its vitality.
In March 2012, Keene acquired Japanese nationality. He held a press conference where he expressed his happiness at going from Donald Keene to his Japanese name of Kiin Donarudo. Keene announced he had chosen the kanji characters of “kinu” from the Kinu river and “naruto” from Naruto in the Shikoku region. This unique sensibility surprised people around him.
Regarding Japan’s progress toward reconstruction, Keene spoke bluntly, inspired by his deep love for the nation. “Frankly speaking, I’m disappointed,” he said. “Tokyo is filled with lights and there are many unnecessary signs. I think there still are many things to be done.”
In his last years, Keene adopted shamisen three-stringed lute player Seiki, now 68. Keene lived together with Seiki, writing articles and giving lectures.