James Curtis Hepburn | |
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| Born | (1815-03-13)March 13, 1815 Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | September 21, 1911(1911-09-21) (aged 96) East Orange, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Princeton University University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Medical missions in China and Japan Hepburn romanization system |
James Curtis Hepburn (/ˈhɛpbərn/; March 13, 1815 – September 21, 1911) was an American physician, educator, translator and lay Christianmissionary. He is known for theHepburn romanization system fortransliteration of the Japanese language into theLatin alphabet, which he popularized in his Japanese–Englishdictionary.
Hepburn was born inMilton,Pennsylvania, on March 13, 1815. He attendedPrinceton University, earned a master's degree, after which he attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he received hisM.D. degree in 1836,[1] and became a physician. He decided to go to China as a medical missionary, but had to stay in Singapore for two years because theFirst Opium War was underway and Chinese ports were closed to foreigners. After five years as a missionary, he returned to the United States in 1845 and opened a medical practice in New York City.[2]
In 1859, Hepburn went to Japan as a medical missionary with theAmerican Presbyterian Mission.[1] After first arriving inNagasaki in October 1859, Hepburn swiftly relocated to the newly openedtreaty port ofYokohama, opening his first clinic in April 1861 at the Sōkōji Temple. Initially residing at Jōbutsuji inKanagawa, a dilapidated temple formerly occupied by the Dutch consulate, Hepburn was the first Christian missionary to take up residence close to the newly opened treaty port. Hepburn's family shared accommodation at Jobutsuji with Dutch Reformed minister Rev.Samuel Robbins Brown and all were quickly absorbed into the local foreign community, Hepburn being appointed honorary physician to the US Consul,Townsend Harris.
Hepburn's first clinic failed as theBakumatsu authorities, wanting the missionaries to relocate to Yokohama, put pressure on patients to stop going to it.[3] In the spring of 1862, Hepburn and his family relocated to the house and compound at Kyoryūchi No. 39, in the heart of the foreigners residential district in the treaty port of Yokohama. There, in addition to his clinic, he and his wife Clara founded the Hepburn School, which eventually developed intoMeiji Gakuin University. Hepburn's Japanese pupils includedFuruya Sakuzaemon,Takahashi Korekiyo,Okakura Kakuzō, andNuma Morikazu.
For his medical contributions to the city of Yokohama, Hepburn Hall was named in his honor on the campus ofYokohama City University School of Medicine.
In May 1867, with the collaboration of his long-time assistant Kishida Ginkō, Hepburn published a Japanese–English dictionary which rapidly became the standard reference work for prospective students of Japanese.[4] In the dictionary's third edition,[5] published in 1886, Hepburn adopted a new system forromanization of the Japanese language developed by theSociety for the Romanization of the Japanese Alphabet (Rōmajikai).[citation needed] This system is widely known as theHepburn romanization because Hepburn's dictionary popularized it. Hepburn also contributed to the translation of the Bible into Japanese.[6]
Hepburn returned to the United States in 1892. On March 14, 1905, a day after Hepburn's 90th birthday, he was awarded the decoration of theOrder of the Rising Sun, third class. Hepburn was the second foreigner to receive this honor.[7]
He died on September 21, 1911, inEast Orange,New Jersey, at the age of 96. He is interred in Orange'sRosedale Cemetery.[8]
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