Iosif Antonovich Goshkevich was an Imperial Russian diplomat and Orientalist of Belarusian descent. He was the first Russian consul in Japan. Iosif Antonovich was the first foreigner to be allowed to travel outside the Japanese capital.
Background
Iosif Goshkevich was born on April 16, 1814 at Yakimava Slabada of the Rechitsa district in the Minsk Province (now in the Homel Region, Belarus). Father - the priest of the St. Michael Church in the village of Strelicheva of Rechitsa district (modern Khoiniki district) Anthony Ivanovich Goshkevich, mother - Glikeria Yakovlevna Goshkevich, brother - Ivan Antonovich Goshkevich (became archpriest of Kiev-Podolsky Konstantinovsky church), nephew - historian V.I. Goshkevich.
The family is referred to the priestly family of the Goshkeviches (in the Belarusian tradition - Gashkevich), to which, in particular, the Holy Righteous John Kormyansky belongs.
Education
Iosif Antonovich graduated from Minsk Theological Seminary and in 1839 from St.Petersburg Theological Academy. He studied the Orient at the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing where he stayed during ten years together with future well-known orientalists like P.I. Kafarov, V.P. Vasiliev, I. Zakharov, and A.A.Tatarinov, K.I. Korsalin, an artist from Belarus, who painted many pictures and drew sketches on Oriental themes was there, too. When in China, he studied several oriental languages, including Chinese, Manchurian, Korean and Mongolian.
Career
Iosif Goshkevich explored actively China’s nature and the style of life of the Chinese people, took photos of the country’s landscapes. His astronomical and meteorological observations made in China were of great scientific value. He was one of the first Russian natural scientists who formed a large collection of flora and fauna of China, Japan, Indochina, the Philippines and Korea.
In 1852-55 Iosif Goshkevich took part as translator in the diplomatic mission of Admiral Putyatin to Japan aboard the frigate Pallada. He participated in preparing and signing in 1855 the first Russian-Japanese treaty. After that, he was offered to become the first Russian consul in Japan.
Upon his return from Japan in 1865-1866 Iosif Goshkevich served in the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the rank of collegiate adviser (who corresponded in the table of ranks to the high sixth class).
During his stay in Japan (1858-1865) he devoted himself not only to diplomacy but also to science. Thanks to a thorough language practice he obtained while working on the Russian-Japanese treaty he was able to compile in 1857 the "Japanese-Russian Dictionary" jointly with the Japanese scholar Tatsibano Kasai. The dictionary was awarded a prestigious Demidov Prize and the gold medal of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
His observations and articles written about Japan and the Japanese language were published in collected papers of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Main Physical Observatory in Petersburg. Apart from the knowledge of 13 European and Oriental languages, he was familiar with the legislation, administrative and political systems of China and Japan, customs and traditions of the peoples in the Far East.
In 1867, Iosif Goshkevich resigned and settled in his estate Mali in the Vilna Province (now in the Astravets district of the Hrodna Region). He died and was buried in Vilna (Vilnius).
Achievements
Iosif Antonovich wrote his fundamental paper "On the Roots of the Japanese Language". His library including 420 books in Japanese, Manchurian and Chinese evidenced the versatility and profoundness of his studies of Far E. The written monuments collected by him deal with geography, ethnography, history, languages of the counties of East Asia.
Monuments to Iosif Antonovichwere erected in Hakodate, Japan, and in Astravets, Belarus.
(Russian Edition
The dictionary by Iosif Goshkevich was h...)
Connections
In 1821-1864, Iosif Antonovich was married to Elizaveta Stepanovna Goshkevich. She died at the age of 43 (September 5, 1864). He married for the second time to Ekaterina Semyonovna Goshkevich. They had a son, Joseph, who later became an honorary world judge of the Vilna district, the author of the book "Statistical information on the peasant land management of the Vilnius province."
Father:
Anthony Ivanovich Goshkevich
Mother:
Glikeria Yakovlevna Goshkevich
Spouse:
Elizaveta Stepanovna Goshkevich
Elizaveta Stepanovna Goshkevich died at the age of 43 (September 5, 1864).
Spouse:
Ekaterina Semyonovna Goshkevich
Son:
Joseph Iosifovich Goshkevich
Joseph Iosifovich Goshkevich was an honorary magistrate of the Vilna district, the author of the book "Statistical information on the peasant land management of the Vilnius province."
