Dear Stanford Community,
Professor Emeritus Makoto Ueda passed away on August 19, 2020 in Sunnyvale, California, following complications from a fall.
Professor Ueda was born in Kashiyama (outside Kobe), Japan, on May 20, 1931. In 1954, he was awarded Fulbright and Smith-Mundt fellowships to study the works of Willa Cather in the United States and obtained a Masters degree in English from the University of Nebraska. Continuing his studies, he earned a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Washington in 1962. Makoto accepted a lecturer position at the University of Toronto and developed the Japanese program there from the ground up, eventually becoming a full professor.
In 1971, Professor Ueda joined Stanford University where he remained until his retirement in 1996. He taught many undergraduate courses there, including Modern Japanese Literature in Translation, Modern Intellectuals in Modern Japanese Literature, Images of Women in Japanese Literature, Haiku and Translation Workshop. He also supervised numerous graduate students who went on to successful careers in academia and beyond. Makoto also served several administrative roles at Stanford, including the chair of the Asian Languages Department, director of the East Asian program, and as director of Stanford's East Asia National Resource Center.
He authored ten books while at Stanford, including
Modern Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature (1976),
Modern Japanese Tanka (1996), and
Bashō and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku With Commentary (1992), which is commonly used as a college textbook. Makoto also edited a number of books, including
Mother of Dreams and Other Short Stories in 1986.
Makoto spent his retirement years in Los Altos and Sunnyvale, California, reading many Japanese detective novels, following his favorite sports teams (A’s, Giants, Niners, Sharks), watching Japanese TV programming and playing suduku in his free time. He married Etsuko Hori in July of 1962 while living in Seattle; after 44 years of marriage, she predeceased him in 2006. Professor Ueda is survived by his sisters Chihiro Ueda (Ono, Japan), Sanae Tomosada (Ono, Japan), Kahori Yutani (San Diego, CA), daughter Eunice Louie, (Los Altos, CA), son Edward Ueda (‘86, Santa Rosa, CA), and grandchildren Brandon, Cameron and Madison Louie, and Julien Ueda (‘21).
Memories, photos, and donations can be submitted through Gathering Us (
https://www.gatheringus.com/memorial/makoto-ueda/5046).
His family hopes to hold a proper memorial for him when people are able to travel again, perhaps in a year or so.
