Ivan Morris
Ivan Morris was a notable scholar, translator, and writer, recognized for his contributions to the understanding of Japanese culture and history. Born to writer parents, he cultivated a deep intellectual curiosity, earning a magna cum laude degree from Harvard University and later obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of London. Morris began his professional career as a news editor for the BBC before transitioning to a research position in the British Foreign Office. He moved to Japan in the mid-1950s, where he lived for several years and became a prominent figure in academia, eventually chairing the East Asian languages and cultures department at Columbia University.
Morris was also actively engaged in human rights advocacy, cofounding the American branch of Amnesty International and serving as its general secretary. His literary work included both original writing and translations of influential Japanese authors, which helped bridge cultural gaps between Japan and the West. He explored complex themes in Japanese society, particularly the concept of honor in relation to death, as seen in his book *The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan*. Through his thematic approach to Japanese history, Morris illustrated how ideas of heroism and failure are perceived differently in Eastern and Western cultures, offering valuable insights into the philosophical underpinnings of Japanese identity.
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Subject Terms
Ivan Morris
Writer
- Born: November 29, 1925
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: July 19, 1976
- Place of death: Bologna, Italy
Biography
Both of Ivan Ira Esme Morris’s parents, Ira Victor and Edita deToll Morris, were writers. Young Morris had a burning curiosity and a constant need to learn as much as he could. He was graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1946 and in 1951 he received a Ph.D. from the University of London. He immediately became a news editor for the British Broadcasting Corporation, though he held the job for only a year.
He joined the British Foreign Office in 1953 as a senior research assistant, remaining in that position until 1956, when he went to Japan, where he lived from 1956 until 1959. From 1960 until 1966 he was an associate professor of Japanese history, and in 1966 he was advanced to full professor. He chaired the department of East Asian languages and cultures at Columbia University from 1966 until 1969. He had been active in Amnesty International in London, and in 1966 he cofounded the American branch section of that organization. He was named its general secretary in the United States, and in 1973 he became chairman; he held the position until 1976.
Morris was a prolific writer on topics concerning Japanese culture and history. He was also a translator of such Japanese authors as Saikaku Ihara, Ooka Shohei, and Yukio Mishima. He translated into both English and French. Both in his own writing and in his translations, he rendered a great service in helping people in the West come to a better understanding of Asian people and their societies.
One of the conventions of Japanese life that Westerners have difficulty understanding is the desire and willingness of many Japanese people to die. Such a desire seems in contradiction to the will to survive that is quintessential to most Westerners. In such studies as Morris’s The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan, the author points out that many Japanese think that they are preserving the purity of their nation by dying, often by their own hands. Such people often write farewell haiku and then kill themselves in what to them is the most honorable way, called hara-kiri. Morris points out that by ending their lives in this way or, in wartime, by embarking on kamikaze missions, people in Japan are regarded as heroic by those who survive them. An interesting parallel exists in the suicidebombers in al-Qaeda who sacrifice themselves, but do so because of the promise of a wonderful afterlife in return for their acts.
Morris developed a method of bringing Japanese history to life for Westerners by introducing them to it through thematic presentations of the details of the lives of Japanese heroes over seventeen centuries. The consist outlook of these heroic types through the ages demonstrates the cogency of their philosophy, at least in their own eyes. As Morris showed, these Japanese truly believe that victory is found in failure, a concept quite foreign to Westerners.