Richard Henry Pitt Mason (3 March 1934 – 27 June 2009), also known as R.H.P. Mason, was an Australian

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

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 ...

, and professor at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

in Canberra, before retiring in 1993. Mason was born and raised in England, following a year of military service, he began studying Japanese history under

Carmen Blacker Carmen Blacker OBE FBA (13 July 1924 – 13 July 2009) was a British Japonologist. She was a lecturer in Japanese at the University of Cambridge. Life Blacker was born in Kensington in 1924. Her parents were Carlos Paton Blacker and Helen Maud ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, which he attended from 1954 to 1958. His PhD dissertation, completed at

Australia National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, and published as a book in 1969, was entitled "Japan's First General Election, 1890." As a scholar, he specialized in

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 ...

politics, but maintained a strong interest in classical Japanese poetry as well.

Selected works

In an overview of writings by and about Mason, OCLC/

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 10+ works in 50+ publications in 5 languages and 1,900+ library holdings. WorldCat IdentitiesMason, R. H. P.
retrieved 2012-11-5. :''This list is not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to it.'' * ''A history of Japan,'' 1972 (with J.G. Caiger) * ''Japan's first general election, 1890,'' 1962 * ''Saigyō,'' 1979 * 日本の第一回総選挙, 1973 * 日本の歴史, 1997 * ''A map guide to Japan,'' 1968

References

*Ellen Nakamura, "In Memoriam: Dr R.H.P. Mason (1934-2009)," ''Japanese Studies'' 29:3 (2009), 431–432.

Other websites

Mason, R.H.P at Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Richard (historian) 1934 births Australian Japanologists Historians of Japan 2009 deaths 20th-century Australian historians