Ivan Morris

Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies.

Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris and Ira Victor Morris (son of diplomat Ira Nelson Morris and grandson of meat-packer Nelson Morris).

He studied at Gordonstoun, before graduating from Phillips Academy.

He graduated with magna cum laude at Harvard University and received a doctorate at the SOAS University of London, specializing in Oriental languages.

As an intelligence officer for the U.S. Navy, Morris was one of the first interpreters sent into Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Morris wrote widely on modern and ancient Japan and translated numerous classical and modern literary works.

He personally knew writer Yukio Mishima and translated some of his writings.

Morris' book The Nobility of Failure is dedicated to Mishima's memory.

His translation of The Pillow Book Sei Shonagon was probably his most significant translation from Classical Japanese, and his The World of the Shining Prince, a description of the Heian court culture at the time of The Tale of Genji, is probably his most important single scholarly work.

Morris joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1960 and was chairman of the department of East Asian languages and cultures from 1966 to 1969.

In 1966 he was elected a Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.

He helped founding Amnesty International USA and was the first chair of its board of directors from 1973 to 1976.

Ivan Morris died of heart failure in Bologna, Italy, on 19 July 1976.

Morris was married three times.

His second wife was Japanese ballet dancer Ayako Ogawa, his third wife Japanese writer Nobuko Uenishi.