Edwin O. Reischauer
| Edwin O. Reischauer | |
|---|---|
Reischauer in 1961
|
|
| Born | Edwin Oldfather Reischauer October 15, 1910 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | September 1, 1990 (aged 79) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Other names | エドウィン・O・ライシャワー |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Japanology East Asian studies |
| Institutions |
United States Ambassador to Japan (1961–1966) Harvard University |
| Alma mater |
Oberlin College (A.B.) Harvard University (Ph.D.) |
| Thesis | Nittō guhō junrei gyōki: Ennin's Diary of His Travels in T'ang China, 838–847 (1939) |
| Doctoral advisor | Serge Elisséeff |
| Doctoral students |
Gail Lee Bernstein John W. Dower John Curtis Perry |
| Other notable students | Sen. Jay Rockefeller |
| Spouse | Elinor Adrienne Danton (widowed in 1956) Haru Matsukata |
Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (October 15, 1910 – September 1, 1990) was an American educator and professor at Harvard University. He was a leading scholar of the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. An article Reischauer wrote in 1960 analyzing current tensions between the U.S. and Japan caught the attention of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who appointed him as the United States Ambassador to Japan (1961–1966).
Reischauer was born in Tokyo, Japan, the son of Presbyterian educational missionaries Helen Sidwell Oldfather and August Karl Reischauer. He attended the American School in Japan and graduated with a B.A. from Oberlin in 1931. On his 75th birthday, he recalled publicly that his life aim in 1931 was to draw attention to Asia.
He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1939. He was a student of the Russian-French Japanologist Serge Elisséeff, who had been the first Western graduate of the University of Tokyo. His doctoral dissertation was "Nittō guhō junrei gyōki: Ennin's Diary of His Travels in T'ang China, 838–847", a study and translation of the Japanese monk Ennin's travelogues on his journeys in China during the Tang dynasty. Ennin's work, Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law (入唐求法巡礼行記; Middle Chinese: Nyip-Dang gjuw-pjop zwin-léi hæng-kì), is written in Classical Chinese, and Reischauer's work demonstrates the high level of sinological scholarship a student of Japanese was expected to demonstrate at that time.
...
Wikipedia