Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1850–1935)

Abstract

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935), professor of Japanese and philology at Tokyo University, was among the first Westerners to do serious advanced research on Japanese language and linguistics. Chamberlain also studied Japanese language variants used in the Ryukyu Islands, the Ainu language, and Korean. He investigated possible affinities among northeast Asian languages, initiating comparative research continued by Japanese linguists two generations later. He completed an annotated English translation of the Kojiki, the oldest history text in Japanese, and also wrote popular books on Japanese language and culture. Many of his books remain in print and are still read today. While his friend Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904) popularized folkloric and artistic aspects of Japanese culture, Chamberlain was the first Westerner to publish serious scholarly studies of Japanese language and history.