Richard Ponsonby-Fane

Richard Ponsonby-Fane, shortly before his death in 1937. The scarf around his neck is a constant feature of photos taken in his later years. It was said to have been hand-made by Empress Teimei, and offered to him as a token of friendship.

Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane (8 January 1878 – 10 December 1937) was a British academic, author, specialist of Shinto and Japanologist.

Early years A view of the Ponsonby-Fane family home, Brympton d'Evercy, in Somerset. Richard Arthur Brabazon Ponsonby was born at Gravesend on the south bank of the Thames in Kent, 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. Ponsonby was educated at Harrow School.

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 to serve as Private Secretary to the Governor of the British Cape Colony. For the next two decades, his career in the British Empire's colonial governments spanned the globe. He worked closely with a number of colonial leaders as private secretary to the Governor of Natal (1896), to the Governor of Trinidad and Tobago (1898), In 1915–1919, he was re-posted as private secretary to the Governor of Hong Kong.

In addition to his government duties in Hong Kong, he began lecturing at the University of Hong Kong 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.

In 1921, when the Japanese Crown Prince visited Hong Kong en route to Europe, Ponsonby-Fane was introduced as his interpreter.

When Emperor Shōwa was enthroned 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.

Ponsonby-Fane died at home in Kyoto in December 1937.

Selected works In an overview of writings by and about Richard Ponsonby-Fane, OCLC/WorldCat lists roughly 74 works in 136 publications in 2 languages and 1,443 library holdings. 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. University of Hong Kong, Honorary Doctor of Laws, 1926.