Age, Biography and Wiki

Burton Watson was born on 13 June, 1925 in New Rochelle, New York, United States, is an American sinologist, translator, and writer (1925–2017). Discover Burton Watson's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 91 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation Sinologist translator writer
Age 91 years old
Zodiac Sign Gemini
Born 13 June, 1925
Birthday 13 June
Birthplace New Rochelle, New York, United States
Date of death 1 April, 2017
Died Place Kamagaya, Japan
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 13 June. He is a member of famous writer with the age 91 years old group.

Burton Watson Height, Weight & Measurements

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Burton Watson Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Burton Watson worth at the age of 91 years old? Burton Watson’s income source is mostly from being a successful writer. He is from United States. We have estimated Burton Watson's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
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Source of Income writer

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Timeline

1925

Burton Dewitt Watson (June 13, 1925 – April 1, 2017) was an American sinologist, translator, and writer known for his English translations of Chinese and Japanese literature.

Burton Watson was born on June 13, 1925, in New Rochelle, New York, where his father was a hotel manager.

1943

In 1943, at age 17, Watson dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy, and was stationed on repair vessels in the South Pacific during the final years of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

1945

His ship was in the Marshall Islands when the war ended in August 1945, and on September 20, 1945 it sailed to Japan to anchor at the Yokosuka Naval Base, where Watson had his first direct experiences with Japan and East Asia.

As he recounts in Rainbow World, on his first shore leave, he and his shipmates encountered a stone in Tokyo with musical notation on it; they sang the melody, as best they could.

Some months later, Watson realized that he had been in Hibiya Park and that the song was "Kimigayo".

1946

Watson left Japan in February 1946, was discharged from the Navy, and was accepted into Columbia University on the G.I. Bill, where he majored in Chinese.

His main Chinese teachers were the American Sinologist L. Carrington Goodrich and the Chinese scholar Wang Chi-chen.

At that time, most of the Chinese curriculum focused on learning to read Chinese characters and Chinese literature, as it was assumed that any "serious students" could later learn to actually speak Chinese by going to China.

He also took one year of Japanese.

1949

Watson spent five years studying at Columbia, earning a B.A. in 1949 and an M.A. in 1951.

After receiving his master's degree, Watson hoped to move to China for further study, but the Communist Party of China—who had taken control of China in 1949 with their victory in the Chinese Civil War—had closed the country to Americans.

He was unable to find any positions in Taiwan or Hong Kong, and so moved to Japan using the last of his GI savings.

Once there, he secured three positions in Kyoto: as an English teacher at Doshisha University, as a graduate student and research assistant to Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Kyoto University, and as a tutor in English, giving private lessons.

His combined salary was about $50 per month, and he lived much like other Japanese graduate students.

1950

In subsequent years, Watson became friends with Gary Snyder, who lived in Kyoto in the 1950s, and through him Cid Corman and Allen Ginsberg.

1952

In 1952, he was able to resign his position at Doshisha, thanks to payment from Columbia University for his work on Sources in Chinese Tradition, and later in the year, a position as a Ford Foundation Overseas Fellow.

Watson had long been interested in translating verse.

1954

His first significant translations were of kanshi (poems in Chinese written by Japanese), made in 1954 for Donald Keene, who was compiling an anthology of Japanese literature.

A few years later, Watson sent some translations of early Chinese poems from the Yutai Xinyong to Ezra Pound for comment; Pound replied but did not critique the translations.

1956

In 1956, Watson received a PhD from Columbia for his dissertation "Ssu-ma Ch'ien: The Historian and His Work", a study of Sima Qian.

1961

He then worked as a member of Ruth Fuller Sasaki's team translating Buddhist texts into English under the auspices of Columbia University's Committee on Oriental Studies, returning to Columbia in August 1961.

He subsequently taught at Columbia and Stanford as a professor of Chinese.

He and Donald Keene frequently participated in the seminars that William Theodore de Bary conducted at Columbia.

1973

Watson moved to Japan in 1973.

He remained there for the rest of his life.

He devoted much of his time to translation, both of literary works, and of more routine texts such as advertisements and instruction manuals.

He never married, but was in a long-term relationship with his partner Norio Hayashi.

He stated in an interview with John Balcom that his translations of Chinese poems were greatly influenced by the translations of Pound and Arthur Waley, particularly Waley.

He also took up Zen meditation and kōan study.

Although he worked as a translator for the Soka Gakkai, a Japanese Buddhist organization, he was not a follower of the Nichiren school of Buddhism or a member of the Soka Gakkai.

1979

Watson's translations received many awards, including the Gold Medal Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1982 for his translation with Hiroaki Sato of From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry, and again in 1995 for Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o.

1983

Despite his extensive activity in translating ancient Chinese texts, he did not visit China until he spent three weeks there in the summer of 1983, with expenses paid by the Soka Gakkai.

2015

In 2015, at age 88, Watson was awarded the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation for his long and prolific translation career.

2017

Watson died on April 1, 2017, aged 91, at the Hatsutomi Hospital in Kamagaya, Japan.

Translations from Chinese include:

Translations from Japanese include:

Many of Watson's translations were published by Columbia University Press.