Ernest Mason Satow

The Right Honourable Sir Ernest Mason Satow GCMG PC
The young Ernest Mason Satow. Photograph taken in Paris, December 1869.
British Minister to Japan
In office 1895–1900
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	Power Henry Le Poer Trench
Succeeded by	Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald
Personal details
Born	(1843-06-30)30 June 1843 London, England
Died	26 August 1929(1929-08-26) (aged 86) Ottery St Mary, Devon, England
Resting place	Ottery St Mary Parish Churchyard, England
Spouse(s)	Takeda Kane (1853–1932)
Children	1 daughter (1872–1872) Takeda Eitaro Takeda Hisayoshi (1883–1972)
Parents	Hans David Christoph Satow (father) Margaret Mason (mother)
Education	Mill Hill School University College London
Occupation	Diplomat

Sir Ernest Mason Satow, GCMG, PC (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British diplomat, scholar and Japanologist. He is better known in Japan, where he was known as Satō Ainosuke (Japanese: 佐藤 愛之助/薩道 愛之助),^[1] than in Britain or the other countries in which he served as a diplomat. He was a key figure in late 19th-century Anglo-Japanese relations.

Satow was influential in East Asia and Japan, particularly in the Bakumatsu (1853–1867) and Meiji (1868–1912) eras. He also served in China after the Boxer Rebellion (1900–1906), in Siam, Uruguay, and Morocco, and represented Britain at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. In his retirement, he wrote A Guide to Diplomatic Practice. Now known as 'Satow's Guide to Diplomatic Practice', this manual is still widely used today, and has been updated several times by distinguished diplomats, notably Lord Gore-Booth. The sixth edition, edited by Sir Ivor Roberts, was published by Oxford University Press in 2009, and is over 700 pages long.