author
Yoshisaburo Okakura
1868–1936
A leading Japanese scholar of English and a gifted popularizer, he helped generations of readers and students engage with both English literature and Japanese culture. His writing often aimed to explain Japan clearly and sympathetically to an international audience.
1 Audiobook
The Japanese Spirit
by Yoshisaburo Okakura
About the author
Born in 1868 and active from the late Meiji period into the early Shōwa era, Yoshisaburo Okakura was known in Japan as an English scholar, educator, and writer. Japanese reference sources describe him as a prominent teacher of English who served at institutions including Tokyo Higher Normal School and Rikkyo University, and who also worked on influential English-language study materials and dictionaries.
He wrote in English as well as Japanese, and his books introduced aspects of Japanese life, thought, and culture to readers abroad. That role makes him especially interesting to modern readers: he was not only an academic, but also an interpreter between cultures, trying to make Japan legible to the wider world.
Okakura died in 1936. He is still remembered for his contribution to English education in Japan and for books that present Japan with clarity, warmth, and a teacher’s instinct for explanation.