Yosihiko H. Sinoto

Yosihiko H. Sinoto (born 3 September 1924) is a Japanese-born American anthropologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[1] He is known for his anthropological expeditions throughout the Pacific, particularly Hawaii and French Polynesia.^[2]

Biography

He graduated as BA at the University of Hawaii in 1958 and he acquired his DSc at the University of Hokkaido in Japan in 1962.

In 1954 he moved to Hawaii where he began his archaeological dig work at South Point on Hawaii. In 1960 he accompanied anthropologist Kenneth Emory to Tahiti, in French Polynesia.

In 1964-5 he excavated Hane in the Marquesas Islands, during which he discovered more than 12,000 bird bones of which nearly 10,000 are reported to belong to about seven species of shearwaters and petrels.^{[3] [4]} On the island of Huahine, where he worked for 40 years, he helped to restore and preserve the prehistoric village of Maeva with its temple ruins, or marae. In 1977 he discovered the remnants of a deep-sea voyaging canoe. Sinoto's further expeditions led him to the Society Islands, Marquesas, Tuamotus and others, where he studied the settlements, artifacts, migration patterns and Polynesian cultural ties.^[2][5]

Yosihiko Sinoto's wife, Kazuko Sinoto, who died in 2013, was a historian of Japanese immigration.^[6] His son Aki is archaeologist at the Bishop Museum.

Honors

Hibiscus Sir Yosihiko Sinoto, a hybrid created by Jill Coryell to honor Sinoto. The hibiscus was unveiled in 2007.

Sinoto is honored as a Tahitian chevalier (knight) of the Order of Tahiti Nui in 2000^[7] and the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun.^[2]

Sinoto's lorikeet (Vini sinotoi), an extinct lorikeet species in the Marquesas Islands, and Sir Yosihiko Sinoto, a hybrid variety of hibiscus, are both named for him.^[8]

Bibliography

• Emory, Kenneth P.; Sinoto, Yosihiko H. (1969). "Age of the sites in the South Point area, Ka'u, Hawaii". Pacific anthropological records. Honolulu, HI: Dept. of Anthropology, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (8). ISSN 0078-740X. LCCN 71029054. OCLC 659366796.

References

1. "Anthropology Department Staff - Yosihiko Sinoto". The Bishop Museum. Honolulu, HI, USA: Bishop Museum. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012. External link in |work= (help)
2. Ritz, Mary Kaye (April 9, 2006). "Devoted to making discoveries". Honolulu, HI, USA: Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
3. Reaka-Kudla, Marjorie L.; Wilson, Don E.; Wilson, Edward O. (30 September 1996). Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources. Joseph Henry Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-309-52075-1.
4. David W. Steadman (15 October 2006). Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-226-77142-7.
5. Ferrar, Derek (October–November 2003), photo by Linny Morris Cunningham, "Marae Mysteries", Hana Hou!, Honolulu, HI, USA: Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., 6 (5), retrieved September 24, 2012
6. "Kazuko Sinoto obituary". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
7. "Arrêté n° 862 PR du 13/06/2000" [Decree No. 862 of 13.06.2000 PR] (in French). Retrieved September 22, 2012.
8. Altonn, Helen (June 3, 2007), "Museum anthropologist's latest honor is a hibiscus - Yosihiko Sinoto has studied ancient Pacific cultures for decades", The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, HI, USA: Oahu Publications, 12 (154), retrieved September 24, 2012

• Robert D. Craig, Russell T. Clement: Who's who in Oceania, 1980-1981. Institute for Polynesian Studies, Brigham Young University—Hawaii Campus, 1980 ISBN 978-0-939154-13-5