Donald Keene

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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 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. This was also his poetic and occasional nickname, spelled in the ''ateji'' form . or ''kīn do narudo''; is usually pronounced ''kinu'', as in Kinugawa River, and as ''naruto'', as in the Naruto Strait, which are both well-known place names, yielding the reading ''kinu naruto''. A further twist is that can also be read as ''do'', corresponding to the ''Do-'' in ''Donald''.}}