Ernest Mason Satow

The Right Honourable Sir Ernest Mason Satow GCMGPC
The young Ernest Mason Satow. Photograph taken in Paris, December 1869.
British Minister to Japan
In office 1895–1900
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	Power Henry Le Poer Trench
Succeeded by	Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald
Personal details
Born	(1843-06-30)30 June 1843 London,England
Died	26 August 1929(1929-08-26)(aged 86) Ottery St Mary,Devon, England
Resting place	Ottery St Mary Parish Churchyard, England
Spouse(s)	Takeda Kane (1853–1932)
Children	1 daughter (1872–1872) Takeda Eitaro Takeda Hisayoshi(1883–1972)
Parents	Hans David Christoph Satow (father) Margaret Mason (mother)
Education	Mill Hill School University College London
Occupation	Diplomat

Sir Ernest Mason Satow,GCMG,PC(30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British diplomat, scholar andJapanologist.He is better known inJapan,where he was known asSatō Ainosuke(Japanese:Tá đằng ái chi trợ / tát đạo ái chi trợ),than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was a key figure in late 19th-centuryAnglo-Japanese relations.

Satow was influential inEast Asiaand Japan, particularly in theBakumatsu(1853–1867) andMeiji(1868–1912) eras. He also served in China after theBoxer Rebellion(1900–1906), inSiam,Uruguay,andMorocco,and represented Britain at the SecondHague Peace Conferencein 1907. In his retirement, he wroteA Guide to Diplomatic Practice.Now known as 'Satow's Guide to Diplomatic Practice', this manual is still widely used today, and has been updated several times by distinguished diplomats, notablyLord Gore-Booth.The sixth edition, edited by SirIvor Roberts,was published byOxford University Pressin 2009, and is over 700 pages long.

Background

Satow was born inClapton, London,the son of Hans David Christoph Satow (born inWismar,then underSwedishrule, naturalised British in 1846) and his English wife Margaret (néeMason). He was educated atMill Hill SchoolandUniversity College London(UCL).

Satow was an exceptional linguist, an energetic traveller, a writer of travel guidebooks, a dictionary compiler, a mountaineer, a keenbotanist(chiefly withFrederick Dickins) and a major collector of Japanese books and manuscripts on all kinds of subjects. Satow kept a diary for most of his adult life which amounts to 47 mostly handwritten volumes.

Portrait inVanity FairbyLeslie Ward,1903

Diplomatic career

Japan (1862–1883)

The British LegationYamate,Yokohama,1865 painting

Ernest Satow is probably best known as the author of the bookA Diplomat in Japan(based mainly on his diaries) which describes the years 1862–1869 when Japan was changing from rule by theTokugawa shogunateto therestorationof Imperial rule. He was recruited by the Foreign Office straight out of university in London. Within a week of his arrival by way of China as a young student interpreter in theBritish Japan Consular Service,at age 19, theNamamugi Incident(Namamugi Jiken), in which a British merchant was killed on theTōkaidō,took place on 21 August 1862. Satow was on board one of the British ships that sailed toKagoshimain August 1863 to obtain the compensation demanded from the Satsuma clan'sdaimyō,Shimazu Hisamitsu,for the slaying ofCharles Lennox Richardson.They were fired on by the Satsuma shore batteries and retaliated bybombarding Kagoshima.

In 1864, Satow was with the allied force (Britain,France,theNetherlandsand theUnited States) that attackedShimonosekito enforce the right of passage of foreign ships through the narrowKanmon Straitsbetween Honshū and Kyūshū. Satow metItō HirobumiandInoue Kaoruof Chōshū for the first time just before thebombardment of Shimonoseki.He also had links with many other Japanese leaders, includingSaigō Takamoriof Satsuma (who became a friend), and toured the hinterland of Japan withA. B. Mitfordand, the cartoonist and illustrator,Charles Wirgman.

Satow's rise in the consular service was due at first to his competence and zeal as an interpreter at a time when English was virtually unknown in Japan, the Japanese government still communicated with the West inDutchand available study aids were exceptionally few. Employed as a consular interpreter alongside Russell Robertson, Satow became a student of Rev.Samuel Robbins Brown,and an associate of Dr.James Curtis Hepburn,two noted pioneers in the study of the Japanese language.His Japanese language skills quickly became indispensable in the British Minister SirHarry Parkes's negotiations with the failing Tokugawa shogunate and the powerfulSatsumaandChōshūclans, and the gathering of intelligence. He was promoted to full Interpreter and then Japanese Secretary to theBritishlegation, and, as early as 1864, he started to write translations and newspaper articles on subjects relating to Japan. In 1869, he went home to England on leave,returning to Japan in 1870.

Satow was one of the founding members atYokohama,in 1872, of theAsiatic Society of Japanwhose 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. His 1874 article onJapancovering various aspects includingJapanese Literaturethat appeared in theNew American Cyclopædiawas one of the first such authentic pieces written in any European language.The Society is still thriving today.

During his time in Japan, Satow devoted much effort to studying Chinese calligraphy under Kōsai Tanzan cao trai 単 sơn (1818–1890), who gave him the artist's name Seizan tĩnh sơn in 1873. An example of Satow's calligraphy, signed as Seizan, was acquired by the British Library in 2004.

Poem by theTangpoetWang BoVương bột (650–676) in Satow's calligraphy (British LibraryOr. 16054)

Siam, Uruguay, Morocco (1884–1895)

Satow served inSiam(1884–1887), during which time he was accorded the rare honour of promotion from the Consular to theDiplomatic service,Uruguay(1889–93) andMorocco(1893–95). (Such promotion was extraordinary because the British Consular and Diplomatic Services were segregated until the mid-20th century, and Satow did not come from the aristocratic class to which the Diplomatic Service was restricted.)

Japan (1895–1900)

Satow returned to Japan asEnvoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiaryon 28 July 1895.He stayed in Tokyo for five years (though he was on leave in London forQueen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and met her in August atOsborne House,Isle of Wight). On 17 April 1895 theTreaty of Shimonoseki(texthere) had been signed, and Satow was able to observe firsthand the steady build-up of the Japanese army and navy to avenge the humiliation suffered by Russia, Germany and France in theTriple Interventionof 23 April 1895. He was also in a position to oversee the transition to the ending ofextraterritorialityin Japan which finally ended in 1899, as agreed by theAnglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigationsigned in London on 16 July 1894.

On Satow's personal recommendation,Hiram Shaw Wilkinson,who had been a student interpreter in Japan 2 years after Satow, was appointed first, Judge of theBritish Court for Japanin 1897 and in 1900 Chief Justice of theBritish Supreme Court for China and Corea.

Satow built ahouseatLake Chūzenjiin 1896 and went there frequently to relax and escape from the pressures of his work in Tokyo.

Satow did not have the good fortune to be named the first BritishAmbassadorto Japan - the honour was instead bestowed on his successor SirClaude Maxwell MacDonaldin 1905.

China (1900–1906)

Satow served as the British High Commissioner (September 1900 – January 1902) and then Minister inPekingfrom 1902 to 1906. He was active as plenipotentiary in the negotiations to conclude theBoxer Protocolwhich settled the compensation claims of the Powers after theBoxer Rebellion,and hesigned the protocol for Britain on 7 September 1901.He received the Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of St Michael and St George(GCMG) in the1902 Coronation Honourslist.From December 1902 until summer 1903 he was on leave back home in England,during which he received the Grand Cross in person from KingEdward VIIon 18 January 1903 during a visit toSandringham House.

Satow signed theConvention Between Great Britain and Chinain 1904. He also observed the defeat of Russia in theRusso-Japanese War(1904–1905) from his Peking post.

Retirement (1906–1929)

In 1906 Satow was made aPrivy Councillor.In 1907 he was Britain's second plenipotentiary at theSecond Hague Peace Conference.

In retirement (1906–1929) atOttery St Maryin Devon, England, he wrote mainly on subjects connected withdiplomacyand 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. He gave theRede lectureat Cambridge University in 1908 on the career ofCount Joseph Alexander Hübner.It was titledAn Austrian Diplomat in the Fifties.Satow chose this subject with discretion to avoid censure from the British Foreign Office for discussing his own career.

As the years passed, Satow's understanding and appreciation of the Japanese evolved and deepened. For example, one of his diary entries from the early 1860s asserts that the submissive character of the Japanese will make it easy for foreigners togovern themafter the "samuraiproblem "could be resolved; but in retirement, he wrote:"... looking back now in 1919, it seems perfectly ludicrous that such a notion should have been entertained, even as a joke, for a single moment, by anyone who understood the Japanese spirit. "

Satow's extensive diaries and letters (the Satow Papers, PRO 30/33 1-23) are kept at thePublic Record Officeat Kew, West London in accordance with his last will and testament. His letters toGeoffrey Drage,sometime MP, are held in the Library and Archives ofChrist Church, Oxford.Many of his rare Japanese books are now part of the Oriental collection of theCambridge University Libraryand his collection of Japanese prints are in theBritish Museum.

He died on 26 August 1929 at Ottery St Mary, and is buried in the graveyard ofSt Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary.

The grave of Sir Ernest Mason Satow in the churchyard of Ottery St Mary

Japanese family

The Japanese wife of Ernest Mason Satow, Takeda Kane, 1870

Satow was never able, as a diplomat serving in Japan, to marry his Japanese common-law wife, Takeda Kane võ điền kiêm (1853–1932) whom he met at an unknown date. They had an unnamed daughter who was born and died in infancy in 1872, and later two sons in 1880 and 1883, Eitaro and Hisayoshi. "Eitaro was diagnosed with TB in London in 1900, and was advised to go and live in the United States, where he died some time before his father. (1925-29)."

Satow's second son,Takeda Hisayoshi,became a noted botanist, founder of the Japan Natural History Society and from 1948 to 1951 was President of the Japan Alpine Club. He studied at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kewand atBirmingham University.A memorial hall for him is in theOze marshlandsinHinoemata,Fukushima Prefecture.

The Takeda family letters, including many of Satow's to and from his family, have been deposited at theYokohama Archives of History(formerly the British consulate inYokohama) at the request of Satow's granddaughters.

Selected works

This is adynamic listand may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help byadding missing itemswithreliable sources.

• A Handbook for Travellers in Central and Northern Japan,by Ernest Mason Satow and A G S [Albert George Sidney] Hawes
  • A Handbook for Travellers in Central and Northern Japan: Being a guide to Tōkiō, Kiōto, Ōzaka and other cities; the most interesting parts of the main island between Kōbe and Awomori, with ascents of the principal mountains, and descriptions of temples, historical notes and legends with maps and plans.Yokohama: Kelly & Co.; Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh; Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1881.
  • A Handbook for Travellers in Central and Northern Japan: Being a guide to Tōkiō, Kiōto, Ōzaka, Hakodate, Nagasaki, and other cities; the most interesting parts of the main island; ascents of the principal mountains; descriptions of temples; and historical notes and legends.London: John Murray, 1884.
• The Voyage of John Saris,ed. by Sir E. M. Satow (Hakluyt Society, 1900).
• The Silesian Loan and Frederick the Greatby Sir Ernest Satow (Oxford University Press, 1915).
• A Guide to Diplomatic Practiceby Sir E. Satow, (Longmans, Green & Co. London & New York, 1917). A standard reference work used in many embassies across the world, and described bySir Harold Nicolsonin his bookDiplomacyas "The standard work on diplomatic practice", and "admirable".Sixth edition, edited bySir Ivor Roberts(2009,ISBN978-0-19-955927-5).
• A Diplomat in Japanby 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.)ISBN4-925080-28-8
• The Family Chronicle of the English Satows,by Ernest Satow, privately printed, Oxford 1925.
• Collected Works of Ernest Mason Satow Part One: Major Works1998 (includes two works not published by Satow)
• Collected Works of Ernest Mason Satow Part Two: Collected Papers2001
• 'British Policy', a series of three untitled articles written by Satow (anonymously) in theJapan Times(ed. Charles Rickerby), dated 16 March, 4 May (? date uncertain) and 19 May 1866 which apparently influenced many Japanese once it was translated and widely distributed under the titleEikoku sakuron(British policy), and probably helped to hasten theMeiji Restorationof 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 inA 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 Kyūshū Institute of Technology (Humanities, Social Sciences),No. 45, March 1997, pp. 33–41]

Books and articles based on the Satow Papers

• 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,1998ISBN0-7734-8248-2.(Translated into JapaneseArchived12 July 2009 at theWayback MachineISBN4-8419-0316-X)
• 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 Siamby Ernest Satow C.M.G., Introduced and edited by Nigel Brailey (Orchid Press, Bangkok, reprinted 2002)ISBN974-8304-73-6
• 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)
• Satow,by T.G. Otte inDiplomatic Theory from Machievelli to Kissinger(Palgrave, Basingstoke and New York, 2001)
• "Not Proficient in Table-Thumping": Sir Ernest Satow at Peking, 1900–1906by T.G. Otte inDiplomacy & Statecraftvol.13 no.2 (June 2002) pp. 161–200
• "A Manual of Diplomacy": The Genesis of Satow's Guide to Diplomatic Practiceby T.G. Otte inDiplomacy & Statecraftvol.13 no.2 (June 2002) pp. 229–243

Other

• 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)ISBN0-521-36496-5
• Diplomacy and Statecraft,Volume 13, Number 2includes a special section on Satow by various contributors (June, 2002)
• Entry on Satow in the newDictionary of National Biographyby Dr. Nigel Brailey of Bristol University

In popular culture

In September 1992,BBC TwoscreenedA Diplomat in Japanin theTimewatchdocumentary strand. Written and directed by Christopher Railing, it starredAlan Parnabyas Satow, Hitomi Tanabe as Takeda Kane, Ken Teraizumi as Ito Hirobumi, Takeshi Iba as Inoue Kaoru, and Christian Burgess as Charles Wirgman.

• A Clash of Cultures(23 September 1992)
• Witness to a Revolution(30 September 1992)

Satow served as inspiration for the characters of both Nathan Algren and Simon Graham in the 2003 filmThe Last Samurai.He also features in the 2023 remake ofRyū ga Gotoku Ishin!where he tasks the main character Saito Hajime with collecting memoirs about Japan so he can better understand Japan's history and prevent war with the United Kingdom.

See also

• List of Ambassadors from the United Kingdom to Japan
• Anglo-Japanese relations
• Anglo-Chinese relations
• Asiatic Society of Japan
• Yokohama Archives of History(has copies of Satow's diaries and his private letters to his Japanese family)
• Sakoku
• List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868
• Empress Dowager Cixi
• Chōshū Five

Further reading

• Cullen, Louis M. (2003).A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521821551;ISBN9780521529181;OCLC 50694793
• Nish, Ian.(2004).British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972.Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental.ISBN9781901903515;OCLC 249167170
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005).Japan Encyclopedia.Cambridge:Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-01753-5;OCLC 48943301
• SATOW, Rt Hon. Sir Ernest Mason,Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 11 Sept 2012

External links

• Portraits of Ernest Mason Satowat theNational Portrait Gallery, London
• Works by or about Ernest Mason Satowat theInternet Archive
• 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
• UK in Japan,Chronology of Heads of MissionArchived13 February 2013 at theWayback Machine
• Works by Ernest Mason SatowatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Ernest Mason Satowat theInternet Archive