Basil Hall Chamberlain

Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850–15 February 1935), was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. (Others included E. M. Satow and W. G. Aston.) He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his informal and popular one-volume encyclopedia Things Japanese, which first appeared in 1890 and which he revised several times thereafter. His interests were diverse, and his works included a volume of poetry in French.

Related Topics:
18 October - 1850 - 15 February - 1935 - Tokyo Imperial University - British - Japanologists - Japan - 19th century - E. M. Satow - W. G. Aston - Haiku - English - 1890 - French

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Chamberlain was born in Southsea (next to Portsmouth), the son of an admiral and the grandson of the travel writer Basil Hall. He was brought up in French as well as English, even before moving to Versailles to live with his maternal grandmother in 1856 upon his mother's death. Once in France he acquired German as well. Chamberlain had hoped to study at Oxford, but instead started work at Barings Bank in London. He was unsuited to the work and soon had a nervous breakdown. It was in the hope of a full recovery that he sailed out of Britain, with no clear destination in mind.

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Southsea - Portsmouth - Basil Hall - Versailles - 1856 - German - Oxford - Barings Bank - London - Britain

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Chamberlain landed in Japan on 29 May 1873. He taught at the Imperial Naval School in Tokyo from 1874 to 1882. His most important position, however, was as professor of Japanese at Tokyo Imperial University beginning in 1886. It was here that he gained his reputation as a student of Japanese language and literature. (He was also a pioneering scholar of the Ainu and Ryukyuan languages.) His many works include the first translation of the Kojiki into English (1906), A Handbook of Colloquial Japanese (1888), Things Japanese (1890), and A Practical Guide to the Study of Japanese Writing (1905). A keen traveller despite his chronic weak health, he cowrote (with W. B. Mason) the 1891 edition of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1891), of which revised editions appeared later.

Related Topics:
29 May - 1873 - Imperial Naval School - Tokyo - 1874 - 1882 - Japanese - Tokyo Imperial University - 1886 - Ainu - Ryukyuan - Kojiki - 1906 - 1888 - 1890 - 1905 - 1891

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Chamberlain was a friend of Lafcadio Hearn, but the two became somewhat estranged. His youngest brother was Houston Stewart Chamberlain.

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Lafcadio Hearn - Houston Stewart Chamberlain

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