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. October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... 1850 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Yasuda Auditorium on the University of Tokyos Hongo Campus. ... Japanology is the study of Japanese language, culture, history etc. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Right Honourable Sir Ernest Mason Satow GCMG, (June 30, 1843 - August 26, 1929) was a British scholar-diplomat born to an ethnically German father (Hans David Christoph Satow, born in Wismar, then under Swedish rule, naturalised British in 1846) and an English mother (Margaret, nee Mason) in Clapton, North... William George Aston (1841-1911) was a British consular official in Japan. ... Haiku ) is a mode of Japanese poetry, the late 19th century revision by Masaoka Shiki of the older hokku ), the opening verse of a linked verse form, haikai no renga. ... English Script English is a widely distributed language originating in England that is currently the primary language of several countries. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...

Early life

Chamberlain was born in Southsea (next to Portsmouth), the son of a Admiral William Charles Chamberlain and his wife Eliza Hall, the daughter 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. Location within the British Isles Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern tip of Portsea Island in the County of Hampshire in the United Kingdom. ... Portsmouth is a city of about 189,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ... William Charles Chamberlain (1818-1878) was an Admiral in the Royal Navy. ... Basil Hall (1788 - September 11, 1844) was a naval officer, traveller, and author. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... , Versailles (pronounced , roughly vair-sye’, in French), formerly the de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important administrative and judicial center. ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The University of Oxford (often called Oxford University), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Barings Bank, previously known as Baring Brothers & Co. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Japan

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 chronic weak health, he cowrote (with W. B. Mason) the 1891 edition of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan, of which revisions appeared later. May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the capital and one of the forty-seven prefectures of Japan. ... 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... The Yasuda Auditorium on the University of Tokyos Hongo Campus. ... 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... The Ainu language (Ainu: , aynu itak; Japanese: ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. ... The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu islands and make up a subfamily of the Japonic family. ... Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記) is the oldest surviving historical book dealing with the ancient history of Japan. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Chamberlain was a friend of Lafcadio Hearn, but the two became somewhat estranged. His youngest brother was Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Lafcadio Hearn, aka Koizumi Yakumo. ... Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (September 9, 1855 - January 9, 1927) was a British author noted for his works concerning the Aryan race. ...

See also

• Anglo-Japanese relations
• o-yatoi gaikokujin

This page describes the history of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Japan. ... The o-yatoi gaikokujin (Japanese: お雇い外国人 — hired foreigners, foreign employees) were foreign specialists, engineers, teachers, mercenaries and more, hired to assist in the modernization of Japan. ...

Works by Chamberlain

• The Classical Poetry of the Japanese. 1880.
• A Translation of the 'Ko-Ji-Ki'. 1883.
• The Language, Mythology, and Geographical Nomenclature of Japan Viewed in the Light of Aino Studies. 1887.
• Aino Folk-Tales. 1888.
• A Handbook of Colloquial Japanese. 1887.
• Things Japanese. Six editions, 1890–1936. (A later paperback reprint of the fifth, 1905 edition — with the short bibliographies appended to many of its articles replaced by mentions of other books put out by the new publisher — was issued as Japanese Things.)
• A Handbook for Travellers in Japan. 3rd ed. 1891. Cowritten with W. B. Mason. (Earlier editions were not by Chamberlain.)
• Essay in aid of a grammar and dictionary of the Luchuan language. 1895.
• "Bashō and the Japanese Poetical Epigram." Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. 2, no. 30, 1902 (some of his translations are included in Faubion Bowers' "The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology", Dover Publications, 1996, 78pp. ISBN 0-486-29274-6)
• Japanese Poetry. 1910.
• The Invention of a New Religion. 1912. web page, plain text Incorporated within Things Japanese from 1927.
• Huit Siècles de poesie française. 1927.
• . . . encore est vive la Souris. 1933.

External links

• Works by Basil Hall Chamberlain at Project Gutenberg
• Chamberlains translation of the Kojiki
• Chamberlains collection of Ainu folktales