Masauji Hachisuka
蜂須賀 正氏
Hachisuka in 1929
Born	(1903-02-15)February 15, 1903 Tokyo,Japan
Died	May 14, 1953(1953-05-14) (aged 50) Atami,Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology,Ornithology
Author abbrev. (zoology)	Hachisuka

Masauji Hachisuka (蜂須賀 正氏,Hachisuka Masauji, February 15, 1903Tokyo – May 14, 1953Atami), 18th Marquess Hachisuka, was aJapanese nobleman,ornithologist andaviculturist.^[1][2]

Hachisuka was born in Tokyo, the great grandson of the 11th shōgunTokugawa Ienari and also nephew of the last shōgunPrince Tokugawa,^[3] He moved toEngland at the age of nineteen to complete his education. He was supported by his father's friend BaronHayashi in England and studied zoology for five years atMagdalene College, Cambridge, where his interest in birds grew considerably with encouragement from Dr.Francis Guillemard andA. H. Evans, culminating in his inclusion at theBritish Ornithologists' Union.^[4]

Hachisuka went on expeditions inIceland (1925),North Africa (1927) and theBelgian Congo. After graduating in Cambridge in 1927, he returned to Japan, travelling via theUnited States alongJean Delacour, with whom he visitedChina andKorea later. In 1928–9, he went to thePhilippine Islands to study the distribution of the local avifauna. The study was published in 1932–3 in the two-volume set "Birds of the Philippine Islands" after returning toLondon and working his collection at theBritish Museum and atTring.^[4] He also wrote extensively on the birds ofEgypt, Iceland,Hainan andFormosa.^[5]

Although he intended to return to Japan after his father's death, as he was needed to take up his position as head of the family, an illness forced him to remain inCalifornia until 1938. There, he married Chiyeko Nagamine fromLos Angeles, on March 7, 1939; the couple had a daughter.^[1][2][4]

After the war he worked on an account of the birds of theMascarene Islands. He died after a brief illness in 1953 inAtami, Japan, and his work was published posthumously (The Dodo and Kindred Birds).^[1][2][4] He was also working on a book about the birds of China when he died from a heart ailment.^[5][6]

Hachisuka's uncle Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the last shogun of Tokugawa.^[7][6]

• 1903 births
• 1953 deaths
• Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
• Hachisuka clan
• 20th-century Japanese zoologists
• Japanese ornithologists
• Scientists from Tokyo
• Aviculturists

• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Zoologists with author abbreviations
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