Heinrich von Siebold

The Siebolds were a family of renowned scholars from Würzburg, Germany. Heinrich was the second son of the famous German physician and pioneer of Japanese studies Philipp Franz von Siebold, who died in 1866. He was born in Boppard at the Rhine river and spent his youth in Bonn and Würzburg. In 1869, just 17, without finishing his Abitur (high-school degree) or any higher education, he arrived in Japan, a year after the political and cultural opening up of the country in the Meiji Era. After his arrival, Heinrich entered the diplomatic service of the Austrian-Hungarian embassy in Tokyo as dragoman. Like his father before him, he became one of the most distinguished German researchers on Japan. His antiquarian interest made him a vivid collector of Japanese ethnological items, art, and coins. Heinrich is credited with creating the Japanese-term for archaeology, "kōkogaku", via his 1879 book Kōko setsuryaku.

Heinrich married Hana Iwamoto (1851-1936) in Japan and had a son, Otto (1877-1902), and a daughter, Len (1879-1965). Len had four children from two marriages, and her descendants continue.^[2]

In 1899, he asked for early retirement due to his health. In the year before, he had married Euphemia Carpenter, the widow of a British officer. She bought Castle Freudenstein close to Bozen in South Tyrol, where they spent comfortably their last years surrounded by his rich collections. He was a well-recognized adviser in Far Eastern affairs, and a guide and translator for important visitors from Japan and China. Siebold served many of the European state visitors to whom he attended as a purchasing advisor, including the heir to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand when the latter visited Japan in 1893 during his world voyage.

On 11 August 1908 he died on Freudenstein Castle; his widow died shortly afterwards. In March 1909, his collections were sold in Vienna Au Mikado and dispersed in trade.