Vice admiral Shōzō Arisaka was a Japanese naval engineer and amateur archaeologist.

Life

Arisaka was born as the second son of Senkichi Arisaka (有坂銓吉), one of 25 samurai responsible for rivers in the

Kanto region Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokém ...

(四川用水方普請役) under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. He entered the preparatory division of the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

in 1884. Although he aspired to become an engineer, he had a lifelong interest in archaeology. During his studies, he excavated what became known as the first example of

Yayoi pottery Yayoi pottery (弥生土器 Yayoi doki) is earthenware pottery produced during the Yayoi period, an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to AD 300. The pottery allowed for the identification of the Yayoi period and ...

at the Yayoi 2-chome Site, after which the

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

was named. He won a scholarship from the Imperial Navy and matriculated at the University of Tokyo in 1887 to study engineering, graduating in July 1890. Shortly after, he was sent to France, where he interned at

Hotchkiss et Cie Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Compagnie was a French arms and, in the 20th century, automobile manufacturer first established by American gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. He moved to France and set up a factory, first ...

. Returning to Japan in December 1893, he began working as a naval engineer specialised in cannons and guns. In 1898, he was posted to England for two years as Japan and Britain were strengthening ties, culminating in the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The was an alliance between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan which was effective from 1902 to 1923. The treaty creating the alliance was signed at Lansdowne House in London on 30 January 1902 by British foreign secretary Lord Lans ...

of 1902. In 1902, he earned a PhD from his alma mater and began a dual role as a naval engineer and a professor at the University of Tokyo, a position he held until 1925. He died on 19 January 1941. His archaeological collection and the first known example of Yayoi pottery, excavated by Arisaka in 1884, are preserved at the University of Tokyo Museum. His son,

Hideyo Arisaka was a Japanese linguist. Biography Born in Kure, Hiroshima, he received his education in Tokyo. He graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University, now University of Tokyo in 1931. He specialized in Historical Japanese phonology and Historical Chi ...

, became a linguist specialising in historical Japanese phonology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arisaka, Shōzō 1868 births 1941 deaths Japanese naval architects Imperial Japanese Navy admirals University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tokyo