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

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, specialist of

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

and

Japanologist , sometimes known as Japanology in Europe, is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese language, History of Japan, history, ...

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 Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

on the south bank of the Thames in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England to

John Henry John Henry most commonly refers to: *John Henry (folklore) John Henry may also refer to: People Artists and entertainers * John Henry (actor) (1738–1794), Irish and early American actor *Seán Ó hEinirí (1915–1998), known in English as John ...

and Florence Ponsonby. His boyhood was spent in the family home in London and at the Somerset country home,

Brympton d'Evercy Brympton d'Evercy (alternatively Brympton House) is a Listed building, Grade I listed manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England. The house has been called the most beautiful of its kind in England; in 1927, Christopher Hussey ( ...

, of his grandfather,

Spencer Ponsonby-Fane Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, (''né'' Ponsonby; 14 March 1824 – 1 December 1915) was an English diplomat, civil servant, courtier, and cricketer. Life and career He was born in 1824 in Mayfair, the sixth son of John Ponsonby ...

."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 boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

. 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 is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, 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 comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

'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 Empire, British colonies namely ...

(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 minister ...

(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 Portugue ...

(1900), and to the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

(1903). He was re-posted to

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

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 the functions of the crown were normally exercis ...

. 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

. 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) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

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 A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...

'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, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

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 who are 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 ...

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 HIH may refer to: * His or Her Imperial Highness, a title used for members of an imperial family * HIH Insurance, a former Australian insurance company * Harstad University College (Norwegian: ') * Heart in Hand (band), an English band * Pamosu lan ...

Prince Takamatsu was the third son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako) and a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). He became heir to the Takamatsu-no-miya (formerly Arisugawa-no-miya), one of the four ''shinnōke'' or branches ...

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 monarch, especially in regards to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese monarchs in the Chinese cul ...

Teimei, the widow of

Emperor Taishō , posthumously honored as , was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in ...

; 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. 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 was founded in 1967 as the ...

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 The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

. *

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

, 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 Ian Hill Nish CBE (3 June 1926 – 31 July 2022) was a British academic. A specialist in Japanese studies, he was Emeritus Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His scholarship relating ...

, editor). London:

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

. * 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 compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...