Osman Edwards (18 February 1864 – 30 April 1936) was a British writer, translator, and critic, best known for his works introducing European and Japanese drama to English readers.

Early life

Osman Edwards was born in

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, c ...

, on 18 February 1864 and died in London on 30 April 1936. His father, Osman Frederick Adams Edwards, was a captain in the British army. Edwards studied classics at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

and became a master at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, from 1883 to 1887 and then at the

Reading School Reading School is a state grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England, alth ...

from 1889 to 1891. According to Frederic Sharf, "Edwards had a private income, enabling him to leave his teaching responsibilities and embark on a ten-year period of extensive travel to France, Germany, Norway, Russia, and Japan." He studied the national theatrical arts of the countries he visited, contributed articles to English magazines on dramatic subjects, and translated plays and other theatre-related writings from European languages into English, including ''Short Studies of Theatrical Life'' (from the French of

Alphonse Daudet Alphonse Daudet (; 13 May 184016 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet. Early life Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the ' ...

, 1892), and ''A Gauntlet'' (from the Norwegian of

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

, 1894).

Japan visit

Edwards arrived in Japan in 1898 for a six-month stay, during which he wrote articles on Japanese theatre for ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News, Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine wit ...

'' and '' The Studio''. From

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, where he watched a

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

match on 1 July, Edwards traveled to

Ikaho was a town located in Kitagunma District, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 3,920 and a density of 175.63 persons per km2. The total area was 22.32 km2. On February 20, 2006, Ikaho, along with the vill ...

and Akabane, where he joined a traveller he had met three months earlier at a Kyoto curio shop; together they traveled to

Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Originally, there was a stage station ( ...

and Akakura, arriving in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

in October, then traveled by rail to

Onomichi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 129,314 in 64055 households and a population density of 450 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Onomichi is loca ...

, by steamer to Miyajima, and by ship to

Matsuyama, Ehime 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...

, before returning by ship to

. By November 1898, Edwards had left for England, traveling by way of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, the United States, and France.

Lafcadio Hearn was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legend ...

wrote Mary Fenollosa "I see Mr. Edwards has gone; and I am sorry to think that I may never see him again" in November 1898. Japanese Calendar with Verses by Osman Edwards 1900 February

Japanese Calendar with Verses by Osman Edwards 1900 February

While in Japan, Edwards authored three small books for

Hasegawa Takejirō was an innovative Japanese publisher specializing in books in European languages on Japanese subjects. He employed leading foreign residents as translators and noted Japanese artists as illustrators, and became a leading purveyor of export books ...

. According to Scharf, it was

Basil Hall Chamberlain Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 – 15 February 1935) was a British academic and Japanologist. He was a professor of the Japanese language at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during ...

who introduced Edwards to Hasegawa, and "this introduction led to a collaboration that resulted in three publications in a very short period of time. Edwards translated the French text of Jules Adam's book on Japanese storytellers, enabling Hasegawa to issue it in English under the title ''Japanese Story-Tellers''. At the same time, Edwards was writing the text for ''Residential Rhymes'', a humorous yet accurate depiction of Japan's foreign residents during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

," which Sharf calls "arguably Hasegawa's finest publication." And "Edwards also prepared twelve poems for the ''Calendar with Verses'' that Hasegawa wanted to issue for the year 1900." All three books were published in autumn 1899, in the hope of sales at the Japanese exhibit in Paris at the

Exposition Universelle of 1900 The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

Plays and Playfellows

Edwards sent

Émile Verhaeren Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren (; 21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Lit ...

book from Paris in 1899 and continued to correspond with Hearn for several years. Shortly after his return to London, he lectured to the

Japan Society of London The Japan Society of the United Kingdom, founded in 1891, is an organisation that fosters relations between Britain and Japan. It is the oldest organisation dedicated to intercultural understanding and positive relations between a European countr ...

on "Japanese Theatres." In the fall of 1899, he was instrumental in arranging performances of the Kawakami Theatre Company in London. In 1901 London publisher

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, William Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, Englan ...

published Edwards' best-known work, a combined Japan travelogue and study of Japanese entertainment entitled ''Japanese Plays and Playfellows''.

Later life

Although Edwards published relatively little in his later years,His translation of Emile Verhaeren's ''The Cloister: A Play in Four Acts'' (London: Constable, 1915) had been "made in close collaboration with the author some fourteen years ago," he noted in the introduction. he remained an active member of the Playgoers Club (serving as vice-president in 1903), and the

for many years. He died in London on 30 April 1936.

References

External links

* ''Residential Rhymes'' at BaxleyStamps.co

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Osman British translators British travel writers 1864 births 1936 deaths Norwegian–English translators French–English translators Literary translators