was a Japanese scholar and is known as the "father of Japanese studies" at Columbia University.Columbia University: "Founder of Japanese Studies and the Japanese Collection at Columbia University Honored With Event and Exhibition," 2008. He was directly responsible for developing the Japanese language and literature collection at Columbia's library.C.V. Star East Asian Library, About the Japanese Collection; retrieved 2012-11-5. Prominent among the former-students who credit his influence as formative is Donald Keene,Keene, Donald. (1999). World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era, 1600-1867, p. xi. who had himself become a later Dean of Japanese studies in the United States.
Biography Tsunoda was the youngest of seven children born to a family of peasants in Japan. He studied at Waseda University, and later developed interest in the United States. Dr. "Ryusaku Tsunoda, 87, Dies; Ex‐Columbia Japanese Scholar" New York Times, Dec. 1, 1964
Keene's own perspective on Tsunoda was expressed in a lecture given at Waseda University in 1994: "His vocation was teaching, not writing. His joy as a teacher lay in communicating knowledge directly and enthusiastically to his students. ... As one of his students, I feel it regrettable that Prof. Tsunoda is not known just because he did not publish anything."Keene, Donald. "My Mentor, Prof. Ryusaku Tsunoda," Yomiuri Daily Online (Waseda Online). July 8, 1994).
Selected works In an overview of writings by and about Tsunoda, OCLC/WorldCat lists roughly 50 works in 100+2 publications in 4 languages and 2,000+ library holdings. WorldCat Identities: Tsunoda, Ryūsaku 1877-1964; retrieved 2012-11-5. This list is not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to it.
Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, 1951 (with L. Carrington Goodrich) Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vols. I-II, 1958 (with William Theodore de Bary and Donald Keene)
Notes
References de Bary, William Theodore. "East Asian Studies at Columbia: The Early Years," Living Legacies: Great Moments and Leading Figures in the History of Columbia University, 2002. Shirai, Katsuhiko. "Take Pride in Waseda," Waseda Weekly, April 2006. Shinjuku, Tokyo: Waseda University. Profile at Waseda University
External links Waseda University: "Tsunoda Ryūsaku -- his life as a bridge between Japan and America," 2008.