Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane (8 January 1878 – 10 December 1937) was a British academic,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, specialist of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

and Japanologist.

Early years

Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby was born at

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

on the south bank of the Thames in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England to John Henry and Florence Ponsonby. His boyhood was spent in the family home in London and at the Somerset country home, Brympton d'Evercy, of his grandfather, Spencer Ponsonby-Fane."A Biographical sketch of Dr. R. Ponsonby-Fane," ''Studies in Shinto and Shrines,'' p. 517. Ponsonby was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

. He added "Fane" to his own name when he inherited Brympton d'Evercy in 1916 after the deaths of both his grandfather and father.

Career

In 1896, Ponsonby traveled to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to serve as Private Secretary to the Governor of the British Cape Colony.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 518. For the next two decades, his career in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

's colonial governments spanned the globe. He worked closely with a number of colonial leaders as private secretary to the

Governor of Natal This article lists the governors of British South African colonies, including the colonial prime ministers. It encompasses the period from 1797 to 1910, when present-day South Africa was divided into four British colonies namely: Cape Colony ...

(1896),Britton, to the

Governor of Trinidad and Tobago This article lists governors of Trinidad and Tobago. Governors of Trinidad and Tobago 1889–1962 See also * List of governors of Trinidad *List of governors of Tobago *List of heads of state of Trinidad and Tobago * List of prime ministe ...

(1898), to the

Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonial powers: Portuguese Ceylon * List of Captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551) * List of Captain-majors of Portuguese ...

(1900), and to the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kon ...

(1903). He was re-posted to Natal in 1907; and in 1910, he was private secretary to the

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

. Also in 1910 he played a single

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...

. In 1915–1919, he was re-posted as private secretary to the Governor of Hong Kong.Britton, In addition to his government duties in Hong Kong, he began lecturing at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...

in 1916; and his association with the faculty of the university continued until 1926. After 1919, Ponsonby-Fane became a permanent resident of Japan, traveling four months of the year to Hong Kong for lectures at the Crown colony's university.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 519. In 1921, when the Japanese

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...

visited Hong Kong en route to Europe, Ponsonby-Fane was introduced as his interpreter.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 520. When Emperor Shōwa was

enthroned Enthroned is a Belgian black metal band formed in Charleroi. It is one of the premier acts of the Belgian black metal scene. History The band was founded in 1993 by drummer Cernunnos. He soon recruited guitarist Tsebaoth and a vocalist from g ...

in 1928, he was the only non-Japanese guest who was invited to witness the ceremonies from in front of the palace's Kenreimon gate. In 1930, when HIH Prince Takamatsu and his wife traveled to Europe, Ponsonby-Fane sailed on the same ship; and he was invited to attend all the welcoming receptions for them in England. In 1932, Ponsonby-Fane built a Japanese-style home in one of the northern suburbs of Kyoto. In the last decades of his life, he was always photographed with a long woolen scarf draped around his shoulders. This unique scarf was said to be hand-knit by

Dowager Empress Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was al ...

Teimei, the widow of Emperor Taishō; and he highly valued this unique token of personal favour.Britton, Ponsonby-Fane died at home in Kyoto in December 1937.

Selected works

In an overview of writings by and about Richard Ponsonby-Fane,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

lists roughly 74 works in 136 publications in 2 languages and 1,443 library holdings. WorldCat IdentitiesPonsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon 1878-1937
retrieved 29 October 2012. :''This list is not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to it.'' * ''The Imperial Family of Japan,'' 1915 * ''The Capital and Palace of Heian (Heian-kio oyobi Daidairi),'' 1924 * ''The Vicissitudes of Shinto,'' 1931 * ''The Nomenclature of the N. Y. K. Fleet,'' 1931 * ''Kamo Mioya Shrine,'' 1934 * ''Kyoto: the Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869,'' 1956 * ''The Imperial House of Japan,'' 1959 * ''Sovereign and Subject,'' 1962 * ''Studies in Shinto and Shrines,'' 1962 * ''The Vicissitudes of Shinto,'' 1963 * ''Visiting Famous Shrines in Japan,'' 1964

Honours

* Order of the Rising Sun. * Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1921. *

, Honorary Doctor of Laws, 1926.

Notes

References

* Britton, Dorothy. (1997)
"Richard Ponsonby-Fane, A Modern William Adams," pp. 190-204
i
''Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits''
( Ian Nish, editor). London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

. * Fiévé, Nicolas. (2000)
''Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo.''

OCLC 45325157
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1962). "A Biographical sketch of Dr. R. Ponsonby-Fane,
''Studies in Shinto and Shrines.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 399449
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsonby-Fane, Richard 1878 births 1937 deaths British Japanologists British expatriates in Japan Historians of Japan People educated at Harrow School Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th class English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...