A Brill Calendar: February 16

Hoffmann's Passion

Few illustrious scholars discover the object of their fascination, passion and devotion late in life; particularly mathematicians and linguists.

One of these exceptions is Johann Joseph Hoffmann. Born in Würzburg, Bavaria, February 16 1805, the bright boy dabbled a few years in classical languages and legal studies, then decided to try something entirely different: he became an opera-singer travelling through Europe. When the summer of 1830 found him in Antwerp, he met in-between theatre performances Philipp Franz Balthazar von Siebold, also born in Würzburg and Hoffmann’s senior by some nine years. Von Siebold had been banished from Japan the previous year as a spy; employed by the Kingdom of The Netherlands and acting as medical doctor, he collected information on Japan, greatly benefiting Dutch collections on that mysterious civilization.

It is seldom that a coincidental meeting had such rich rewards. Hoffmann ended his vocal career as abruptly as he started it and joined Von Siebold in Leyden to assist with translating Japanese works into European languages. Hoffmann’s first struggles with the linguistic enigma were greatly facilitated by another assistant of Von Siebold, Guo Ghengzhang, who hailed from China; and Johann surpassed his master quite soon in speaking and writing Japanese. Hoffmann’s share in Von Siebold’s ‘Nippon, Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan’ became well-known among European sinologists, such as the Frenchman Stanislas Julien.

To cut a sensational story short: Hoffmann was appointed Professor in Chinese & Japanese languages by King Willem III in 1855, making his kingdom the first European national state to officially acknowledge academic interest in Japan; France following the example set by the Dutch in 1868, and the German Reich in 1877.