Born in Portland, Maine, USA.
Passionate about shells, he became assistant to the Harvard scientist Louis Agassiz and studied zoology.
Coming to Japan to study shellfish and similar creatures, he spotted the Ōmori shell mound from a train window, and became a professor at the University of Tokyo.
He published his report on the Ōmori excavation, regarded as the beginning of modern archaeology in Japan. He also introduced the theory of evolution.
Back in America, he became director of a museum in Salem.
Returning to Japan, he collected pottery and everyday objects, still treasured in American museums.
He published Japan Day by Day, an account of his experiences in Japan.
He died in Salem.
Tani TatekiSanjō SanetomiŌkuma ShigenobuYamagata AritomoGoto ShojiroShibusawa EiichiKuroda KiyotakaItō Hirobumi
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.