Osman Edwards

Osman Edwards (18 February 1864 – 30 April 1936) was a British writer, translator, and critic, best known for his works introducing European and Japanese drama to English readers.

Early life

Osman Edwards was born in Liverpool, England, on 18 February 1864 and died in London on 30 April 1936. His father, Osman Frederick Adams Edwards, was a captain in the British army. Edwards studied classics at Christ's Hospital and became a master at Merton College, Oxford, from 1883 to 1887 and then at the Reading School from 1889 to 1891.

According to Frederic Sharf, "Edwards had a private income, enabling him to leave his teaching responsibilities and embark on a ten-year period of extensive travel to France, Germany, Norway, Russia, and Japan." He studied the national theatrical arts of the countries he visited, contributed articles to English magazines on dramatic subjects, and translated plays and other theatre-related writings from European languages into English, including Short Studies of Theatrical Life (from the French of Alphonse Daudet, 1892), and A Gauntlet (from the Norwegian of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, 1894).

Japan visit

Edwards arrived in Japan in 1898 for a six-month stay, during which he wrote articles on Japanese theatre for The Sketch and The Studio. From Tokyo, where he watched a sumo match on 1 July, Edwards traveled to Ikaho and Akabane, where he joined a traveller he had met three months earlier at a Kyoto curio shop; together they traveled to Karuizawa and Akakura, arriving in Osaka and Kobe in October, then traveled by rail to Onomichi, by steamer to Miyajima, and by ship to Matsuyama, Ehime, before returning by ship to Kobe. By November 1898, Edwards had left for England, traveling by way of Hawaii, the United States, and France. Lafcadio Hearn wrote Mary Fenollosa "I see Mr. Edwards has gone; and I am sorry to think that I may never see him again" in November 1898.