was a Japanese engineer and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

of the

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 ...

and a career officer in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

Biography

Sasō was born in

Kanazawa Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

(present day

Kanazawa, Ishikawa is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape ...

) as the fourth son of Horio Jirobei, a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

in the service of the Maeda clan, and was adopted at an early age by the Sasō family. In 1869, he entered the predecessor to the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and from 1871 to 1878 was sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for further studies. After his return to Japan in January 1879, he was made deputy general manager of the Shipbuilding Division within the Ministry of the Navy. He subsequently travelled to Europe to visit shipyards, and was eventually promoted to commandant of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and other posts within the Navy Ministry, rising to the position of Vice Admiral. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering in 1899.

Reference and further reading

* * * 1852 births 1905 deaths People from Ishikawa Prefecture Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom Japanese naval architects Imperial Japanese Navy admirals People of Meiji-period Japan {{japan-bio-stub