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 London. He was educated at Mill Hill School and University College London (UCL).
Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) - originally scanned from a photocopy of the frontispiece of B.M. Allens memoir of Satow first published in 1933. ... The Right Honourable (abbreviated The Rt Hon. ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... On the Orders insignia, St Michael is often depicted subduing Satan. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining, and the last day of June. ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... -1... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline. ... This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ... Wismar Coat of Arms Wismar is a smaller port and Hanseatic League city in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. ... Upper Clapton is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Mill Hill School is a boarding and day school for pupils aged 13 - 18, located in Mill Hill, London, England. ... University College London, commonly known as UCL, is one of the colleges that make up the University of London. ...

Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain. He was a key figure in East Asia and Anglo-Japanese relations, particularly in Bakumatsu (1853-1867) and Meiji Era (1868-1912) Japan, and in China after the Boxer Rebellion, 1900-06. He also served in Siam, Uruguay and Morocco, and represented Britain at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. In his retirement he wrote A Guide to Diplomatic Practice which is still widely used in an updated version today. Geographic scope of East Asia East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ... This page describes the history of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Japan. ... The late Tokugawa shogunate or last shogun (幕末; Bakumatsu) is the period between 1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy called sakoku and modernized from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji government. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei The Meiji period (Japanese: Meiji Jidai 明治時代 ) (1868–1912... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Boxer forces, 1900 photograph The Boxer Uprising (Traditional: 義和團起義; Simplified: 义和团起义; Hanyu Pinyin: ; The Righteous and Harmonious Fists) was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century, from November 1899 to September 7, 1901. ... For the country formerly called Siam see Thailand SIAM is an acronym for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ... The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of international law. ...

Satow's career

Japan (1862-1883)

Ernest Satow is probably best known as the author of the fascinating A Diplomat in Japan which describes the years 1862-1869 when Japan was changing from rule by the Tokugawa shogunate to the restoration of Imperial rule. Within a week of his arrival as a young student interpreter aged 19, the Namamugi Incident (Namamugi Jiken) in which a British merchant was killed on the Tokaido took place on September 14, 1862. Satow was on board one of the British ships which bombarded Kagoshima in 1863 to punish the Satsuma clan's daimyo (Shimazu Hisamitsu) for the slaying of Charles Lennox Richardson and the refusal to pay an indemnity demanded as compensation. 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family until 1868. ... The Meiji Restoration (Japanese: 明治維新, Meiji-ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to a change in Japans political and social structure. ... The Namamugi Incident, as depicted in a 19th century Japanese woodcut print. ... Tōkaidō (東海道) (literally, East Sea Route) is the name of several things: National Route 1, which links Tokyo and Osaka; The Tokaido Main Line, which links Tokyo and Kobe; One of the Edo Five Routes, which linked Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto along the shore (see below); and An ancient... September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... Kagoshima (鹿児島市; -shi) the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwest tip of the Kyushu island of Japan. ... 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori visits the residence of a retainer. ... Shimazu Hisamitsu (島津久光) (1817-87) was the daimyo and de facto ruler or regent of the Satsuma domain (now Kagoshima prefecture) in the years immediately preceding the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ... Charles Lennox Richardson was the English merchant from Shanghai who was in Japan and was murdered by the Satsuma retainers of Shimazu Hisamitsu on September 14, 1862. ...

In 1864 Satow was with the allied force (Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States) which attacked Shimonoseki to enforce the right of passage of foreign ships through the narrow Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu. Satow met Ito Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru of Choshu for the first time just before the bombardment of Shimonoseki. He also had links with many other Japanese leaders, including Saigo Takamori of Satsuma, and toured the hinterland of Japan with A.B. Mitford and the cartoonist and illustrator Charles Wirgman. 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Shimonoseki (下関市; -shi) is a city located in Yamaguchi, Japan. ... Kanmonkyo bridge from the Moji side The Kanmon Straits (関門海峡 Kanmon Kaikyo) or Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating two of Japans four main islands. ... Born in Hagi, Yamaguchi, Prince Itō Hirobumi (伊藤 博文 Itō Hirobumi 16 October 1841–26 October 1909, also called Hirofumi/Hakubun and Shunsuke in his youth) was a Japanese politician and the countrys first Prime Minister (and the 5th, 7th and 10th). ... 1880 (Meiji 13) Inoue Kaoru (井上 馨 Inoue Kaoru, January 16, 1836 - September 1, 1915;) was a Japanese statesman. ... Captured battery at Shimonoseki, 1864. ... Saigō Takamoris statue in Ueno park Saigō Takamori (西郷 隆盛 Saigō Takamori, 23 January 1827/28 - 24 September 1877), one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, lived during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. ... Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford (1837 - 1916) of Batsford Park, Gloucestershire, and Birdhope Craig, Northumberland, was an English diplomat, collector and writer. ... Charles Wirgman is a cartoonist, creator of the Japan Punch and illustrator in Japan for the Illustrated London News. ...

Satow's Japanese language skills quickly became indispensable in the British Minister Sir Harry Parkes's negotiations with the failing Tokugawa shogunate and the powerful Satsuma and Choshu clans, and the gathering of intelligence. He was promoted to full Interpreter and then Japanese Secretary to the British legation, and he started to write translations and newspaper articles on subjects relating to Japan as early as 1864. In 1869 he went home to England on leave, returning to Japan in 1870. Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828 - 1885) was a 19th century British diplomat who worked mainly in China and Japan. ... Satsuma (薩摩国; -no Kuni) was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima prefecture on the island of Kyushu. ... Nagato (Ja. ...

Satow was one of the founder members at Yokohama in 1872 of the Asiatic Society of Japan whose purpose was to study the Japanese culture, history and language (i.e. Japanology) in detail. He lectured to the Society on several occasions in the 1870s, and the Transactions of the Asiatic Society contain several of his published papers. The Society is still thriving today. [1] Japans tallest building, the Landmark Tower, is in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama. ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Asiatic Society of Japan (Nihon Ajia Kyoukai, 日本アジア協会） The Asiatic Society of Japan was founded in 1872 at Yokohama by British and American residents - in particular missionaries, diplomats, businessmen etc. ... Japanology is the study of Japanese language, culture, history etc. ...

Siam, Uruguay, Morocco (1884-1895)

Satow served in Siam (1884 - 1887), during which time he was promoted from the Consular to the Diplomatic service, Uruguay (1889-93) and Morocco (1893-95). For the country formerly called Siam see Thailand SIAM is an acronym for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... The United States Foreign Service is a personnel system established under the Foreign Service Act. ...

Japan (1895-1900)

Satow returned to Japan as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on July 28, 1895, and stayed in Tokyo for five years (though he was on leave in London for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and met her in August at Osborne House, Isle of Wight). On April 17, 1895 the Treaty of Shimonoseki (text here) had been signed, and Satow was able to observe at first hand the steady build-up of the Japanese army and navy to avenge the humiliation by Russia, Germany and France in the Triple Intervention of April 23, 1895. He was also in a position to oversee the transition to the ending of extraterritoriality in Japan which finally ended in 1899, as agreed by the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed in London on July 17, 1894. Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and Empress of India from 1 January 1877 until her death. ... Osborne House and its grounds are now open to the public Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. // History The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. ... The Shunpanrō hall where the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed The Treaty of Shimonoseki (Japanese: 下関条約, Shimonoseki Jōyaku), known as the Treaty of Maguan (T. Chinese: 馬關條約, S. Chinese: 马关条约;) in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895 between the Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire. ... After the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan and China on April 17, 1895 to conclude the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) three European Powers (Russia, Germany and France) intervened on April 23 with so-called friendly advice to Japan to retrocede the Liaotung peninsula including Lushun (Port... Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. ... The Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (Nichi-Ei Tsuushou Koukai Jouyaku) signed between Britain and Japan on July 16, 1894 was a major landmark treaty which heralded the end of the system of extraterritoriality in Japan exactly five years later. ...

Satow was unlucky not to be named the first British Ambassador to Japan, an honour which was bestowed on his successor Sir Claude Maxwell Macdonald in 1905. For other uses, see Ambassador (disambiguation). ... Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, KBE, PC (1852-1915) was a British diplomat. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

China (1900-06)

Satow served as British Minister in Peking from 1900-1906. He was active in the negotiations to conclude the Final Protocol which settled the compensation claims of the Powers after the Boxer Rebellion, and he signed the protocol for Britain on September 7, 1901. Satow also observed the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) from his Peking post. Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking), is the capital city of the Peoples Republic of China. ... 1900 (MCM) is a common year starting on Monday. ... The Final Protocol (or Boxer Protocol) was an international agreement signed on September 7, 1901 to settle the Boxer Rebellion. ... Boxer forces, 1900 photograph The Boxer Uprising (Traditional: 義和團起義; Simplified: 义和团起义; Hanyu Pinyin: ; The Righteous and Harmonious Fists) was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century, from November 1899 to September 7, 1901. ... Combatants Imperial Russia Empire of Japan Commanders Strength 500,000 Soldiers 400,000 Soldiers Casualties 125,000 Killed or Wounded 85,000 Killed or Wounded Greater Manchuria, Russian (outer) Manchuria is region to upper right in lighter Red; Liaodong Peninsula is the wedge extending into the Yellow Sea The Russo... 1904 (MCMIV) is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Retirement (1906-29)

In 1906 Satow was made a Privy Councillor and is listed on the Historic list of members of the Privy Council. In 1907 he was Britain's second plenipotentiary at the Second Hague Peace Conference. Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... These are lists of Privy Counsellors of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the reorganisation of the Privy Council in 1679 to the present day. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of international law. ...

In retirement (1906-1929) at Ottery St Mary in Devon, England he wrote mainly on subjects connected with diplomacy and international law. In Britain he is less well known than in Japan, where he is recognised as perhaps the most important foreign observer in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods. 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... -1... Map sources for Ottery St Mary at grid reference SY099955 Ottery St Mary is a town in Devon, England, on the River Otter, about ten miles east of Exeter, with a population of around 8,000 people. ... The United Nations, with its headquarters in New York City, is the largest international diplomatic organization. ...

Satow's extensive diaries and letters (the Satow Papers, PRO 30/33 1-23) are kept at the Public Record Office at Kew, West London in accordance with his last will and testament. Many of his rare Japanese books are now part of the collection of Cambridge University Library. The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the two organisations that make up the National Archives (the other is the Historical Manuscripts Commission). ... Cambridge University Library The squat 12-storey tower is used as storage and has no reader access Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of the University of Cambridge in England. ...

Pronunciation of 'Satow': long a or short a?

The 'a' in Satow is long, thus the name rhymes with the British pronunciation of 'tomato'. Many people mispronounce it as a short 'a,' which sounds similar to the Japanese surname 'Satō' and thus causes confusion. Indeed the Japanese almost universally pronounce the name with the short 'a' and this pronunciation has cemented over time in the Japanese language.

It is probable that Japanese friends or language teachers encouraged Satow to use kanji characters for his name in the 1860s, as is quite common among foreigners resident in Japan even today. This would have ensured the short 'a' pronunciation, there being no native words with a long 'a' in Japanese. The two obvious combinations were 薩道 and 佐藤, both read 'Satoh' with a short 'a'. Of these the former uses the 薩 (Sa) of Satsuma, and Satow himself may have preferred this one, as the Satsuma han was allied with Britain after 1865. The Japanese wikipedia states that Satow's Japanese name was 佐藤愛之助 (Satō Ainosuke). The Satsuma domain (Satsuma Han è–©æ‘©è—©) of Kagoshima, led by the daimyo of the Shimazu family was a major factor in the Meiji Restoration and in the Meiji period government. ...

Family

Satow was never able as a diplomat serving in Japan to marry his Japanese common-law wife, Takeda Kane, by whom he had two sons, Eitaro and Hisayoshi. The Takeda family letters, including many from Satow to and from his family, have been deposited at the Yokohama Archives of History (formerly the British consulate in Yokohama) at the request of Satow's granddaughters. Japans tallest building, the Landmark Tower, is in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama. ...

Satow's second son, Takeda Hisayoshi became a noted botanist and founder of the Japan Alpine Club. He studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and at Birmingham University. A memorial hall to him is in Oze in Hinoemata, Fukushima prefecture. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond upon Thames and Kew in southwest London, England. ... The University of Birmingham is the oldest of three universities in the English city of Birmingham. ... Hinoemata (檜枝岐村; -mura) is a village located in Minamiaizu District, Fukushima, Japan. ... Fukushima Prefecture (福島県 Fukushima-ken) is located in the Tohoku region on Honshu island, Japan. ...

Select Bibliography

Books & Articles published by Satow

• A Guide to Diplomatic Practice by Sir E. Satow, (Longmans, Green & Co. London & New York, 1917). A standard reference work used in many embassies across the world (though not British ones!). Now in its fifth edition (1998, ISBN 0582501091).

• A Diplomat in Japan by Sir E. Satow, first published by Seeley, Service & Co., London, 1921, reprinted in paperback by Tuttle, 2002. (Page numbers are slightly different in the two editions.) ISBN 4925080288

• The Voyage of John Saris, ed. by Sir E. M. Satow (Hakluyt Society, 1900) mentioned on the William Adams page.

• The Family Chronicle of the English Satows, by Ernest Satow, privately printed, Oxford 1925.

• Collected Works of Ernest Mason Satow Part One : Major Works 1998 (includes two works not published by Satow)

• Collected Works Of Ernest Mason Satow Part Two: Collected Papers 2001

• 'British Policy', a series of three untitled articles written by Satow (anonymously) in the Japan Times (ed. Charles Rickerby), dated March 16, May 4(? date uncertain) and May 19, 1866 which apparently influenced many Japanese once it was translated and widely distributed under the title 'Eikoku sakuron' (British policy), and probably helped to hasten the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Satow pointed out that the British and other treaties with foreign countries had been made by the Shogun on behalf of Japan, but that the Emperor's existence had not even been mentioned, thus calling into question their validity. Satow accused the Shogun of fraud, and demanded to know who was the 'real head' of Japan and further a revision of the treaties to reflect the political reality. He later admitted in A Diplomat in Japan (p.155 of the Tuttle reprint edition, p.159 of the first edition) that writing the articles had been 'altogether contrary to the rules of the service' (i.e. it is inappropriate for a diplomat or consular agent to interfere in the politics of a country in which he/she is serving). [The first and third articles are reproduced on pp. 566-75 of Grace Fox, Britain and Japan 1858-1883, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1969, but the second one has only been located in the Japanese translation. A retranslation from the Japanese back into English has been attempted in I. Ruxton, Bulletin of the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Humanities, Social Sciences), No. 45, March 1997, pp. 33-41]

William Adams (1564–1620). ... The Meiji Restoration (Japanese: 明治維新, Meiji-ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to a change in Japans political and social structure. ...

Books & Articles not published by Satow

• The Diaries and Letters of Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929), a Scholar-Diplomat in East Asia, edited by Ian C. Ruxton (Edwin Mellen Press, 1998) ISBN 0773482482. (Translated into Japanese ISBN 484190316X )

• The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, British Minister in Tokyo (1895-1900): A Diplomat Returns to Japan on the website of Edition Synapse ISBN 4901481061 (2003)

• The Correspondence of Sir Ernest Satow, British Minister in Japan (1895-1900), Volume One, from the Satow Papers held at The National Archives, Kew, London. published in full for researchers with notes by Ian Ruxton, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Lulu Press Inc., July 2005. ISBN 1411638573

• Diplomacy and Statecraft, Volume 13, Number 2 (including a section on Satow) (June, 2002)

• Early Japanese books in Cambridge University Library : a catalogue of the Aston, Satow, and von Siebold collections, Nozomu Hayashi & Peter Kornicki -- Cambridge University Press, 1991. -- (University of Cambridge Oriental publications ; 40) ISBN 0521364965

• Korea and Manchuria between Russia and Japan 1895-1904 : the observations of Sir Ernest Satow, British Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan (1895-1900) and China (1900-1906), Selected and edited with a historical introduction, by George Alexander Lensen. -- Sophia University in cooperation with Diplomatic Press, 1966 [No ISBN]

• A Diplomat in Siam by Ernest Satow C.M.G., Introduced and edited by Nigel Brailey (Orchid Press, Bangkok, reprinted 2002) ISBN 9748364736

• The Satow Siam Papers: The Private Diaries and Correspondence of Ernest Satow, edited by Nigel Brailey (Volume 1, 1884-85), Bangkok: The Historical Society, 1997

• The Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Mason Satow G.C.M.G.: A Memoir, by Bernard M. Allen (1933)

KIT Tobata campus front gate (Seimon) on a national holiday Kyushu Institute of Technology (九州工業大学 Kyushu Kougyou Daigaku) is one of the 89 national universities in Japan. ...

See also

• Heads of the United Kingdom Mission in Japan
• Anglo-Japanese relations
• Anglo-Chinese relations
• Choshu Five

• William George Aston
• Basil Hall Chamberlain
• Frederick Victor Dickins
• John Harington Gubbins
• Harry Smith Parkes
• William Willis
• Charles Wirgman

The following is a chronological list of British heads of mission (ministers and ambassadors) in Japan, 1859–2004. ... This page describes the history of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Japan. ... // Chronology 1839-42 First Opium War 1856-60 Second Opium War 1858 - The Treaty of Tientsin signed by Lord Elgin. ... The Choshu five (長州五傑 Chōshū Goketsu) were members of the Choshu han of western Japan who studied in England at University College London under the guidance of Professor Alexander William Williamson. ... William George Aston (1841-1911) was a British consular official in Japan. ... 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. ... Frederick Victor Dickins (1838-1915) was a British surgeon, barrister, orientalist and university administrator. ... John Harington Gubbins (1852-1929) was a British linguist and diplomat. ... Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828 - 1885) was a 19th century British diplomat who worked mainly in China and Japan. ... William Willis (1847-94). ... Charles Wirgman is a cartoonist, creator of the Japan Punch and illustrator in Japan for the Illustrated London News. ...

External links

• Asiatic Society of Japan

• Report of a lecture on Satow in Tokyo 1895-1900 given to the Asiatic Society of Japan

• Ian Ruxton's Ernest Satow page