Alexander George Gustav von Siebold (August 16, 1846 – January 1911) was a German translator and interpreter active in Japan during the
Bakumatsu period
was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...
and early
Meiji period
The is 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 colonization ...
. He was the eldest son of
Japanologist
Japanese studies ( Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes 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 Japanes ...
Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold
Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora and fauna and the introduction of Western medicine in Japan. He was ...
.
Biography
After his father was deported from Japan in 1829, he settled in
Leyden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. He eventually married in Germany and had three sons and two daughters. After the signing of the Japan-Netherlands Commercial Agreement, one of the
unequal treaties
Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
ending Japan’s
national isolation policy in 1858, von Siebold returned to Japan in 1859, bringing the young Alexander with him. Living in
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...
, Alexander rapidly became fluent in the Japanese language. When his father obtained a position as a foreign advisor to the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
, father and son travelled to
Edo (modern-day Tokyo). As father Von Siebold acted against the wishes of the Dutch government he was told to return to Java in 1861. Before his father left Japan, Alexander was engaged by the British representative Harry Parkes as a
student interpreter because of his fluency in Japanese.
Alexander assisted British consul
Edward St. John Neale
Edward St. John Neale (1812–1866) was a British Lieutenant-Colonel and Diplomat who was active in Asia in the 1860s. He was the Chargé d'affaires of Great Britain in Japan in 1862–1863. Neale, who had been stationed in Beijing from 186 ...
during the
Anglo-Satsuma War and was based on the
flagship during the conflict. He later accompanied the European task force during the
Bombardment of Shimonoseki
The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...
and the negotiations for opening the port of
Hyogo to foreign settlement and trade in 1864.
When
Tokugawa Akitake
was a younger half-brother of the Japanese Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu and final daimyō of Mito Domain. He represented the Tokugawa shogunate at the courts of several European powers during the final days of Bakumatsu period Japan.
Biography ...
was sent to visit the
1867 World Fair in Paris, France, Alexander accompanied him. With the
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, Tokugawa Akitake was ordered back to Japan, but Alexander stayed on in Europe and returned to Japan a year later in 1869 as an advisor to the Empire of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. He was subsequently ennobled with the title of
baron by
Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...
In August 1870, he resigned from the British Consulate. However, the new Meiji government found use for his talents, and he was sent to London and subsequently to Frankfurt to make arrangements for Japanese students in those countries and to hire
foreign advisors in all areas of expertise to come to Japan. He also arranged for Japan’s participation in the
Vienna World Expo of 1873. He returned to Japan in November 1872, but was sent back to Europe again in February 1873 to late 1874 to render assistance to
Sano Tsunetami
Count was a Japanese statesman and founder of the Japanese Red Cross Society. His son, Admiral Sano Tsuneha, was a leading figure in the establishment of the Scout Association of Japan.
Biography
Sano was born in Hayatsue, Saga Domain (p ...
.
In May 1875, he became official interpreter for the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
. On the death of his mother in 1877, he returned to the Netherlands on six months leave, but was ordered to visit the
Exposition Universelle and to assist in commercial negotiations in Berlin. He returned to Japan in October 1881, but was sent back to Germany to assist
Inoue Kaoru
Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上 馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen ('' Genrō'') in J ...
in Berlin in negotiations with the German government over treaty revisions in October 1881. The negotiations were protracted and ultimately unsuccessful; he left Berlin in 1882, moved to Rome in 1884, returned to Japan in 1885, and moved to London in 1892 to assist
Aoki Shūzō
Viscount was a diplomat and Foreign Minister in Meiji period Japan.
Biography
Viscount Aoki was born to a '' samurai'' family as son of the Chōshū domain's physician in what is now part of Sanyō Onoda in Yamaguchi Prefecture). He studi ...
in the successful conclusion of the 1894
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation
The signed by Britain and Japan, on 16 July 1894, was a breakthrough agreement; it heralded the end of the unequal treaties and the system of extraterritoriality in Japan. The treaty came into force on 17 July 1899.
From that date British subje ...
. In August 1910, he was awarded the
Order of the Sacred Treasures
The is a Japanese 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 classes, the lowest tw ...
(2nd class).
He died at Pegli on the
French Riviera in January 1911.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siebold, Alexander von
German expatriates in Japan
Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan
1846 births
1911 deaths
Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure