A Japanese biography by Koyama Noboru and the Library of Congress catalogue identify him as Frederik Eduard Marie Martinus Blekman (1839-1894).

[1][2] Blekman was a Dutchman who worked as a Japanese interpreter, set up a troupe of performers in San Francisco, and died in London in 1888.

[3] In a 2020 biography, Paul Budden identifies Buhicrosan as being born c. 1840, the son of surgeon William Bellingham Neville who emigrated to Australia in 1843 and his wife Hannah.

[4][5] Buhicrosan first appears in the public record as the manager of a troupe of Japanese acrobats and conjurors touring Australia and New Zealand in 1867 and 1868.

[7] In 1891 their youngest daughter, Chiyo, died aged three from an accidental overdose of morphine, after taking the drug from an unlocked cupboard.

[3] In December 1883 Buhicrosan and a number of associates set up The Japanese Native Village Exhibition and Trading Company Limited.

An an advertising poster described the exhibition, to which entry cost one shilling:[9] The Japanese Village, erected and peopled exclusively by natives of Japan (males and females).

Amongst whome are skilled artificers and workers who will illustrate the manners, customs, and art industries of their country, clad in their national and picturesque costumes.

A military band at intervals.After a private viewing on 9 January 1885, the exhibition was officially opened by Sir Rutherford Alcock, former British Minister to Japan.

[9] In 1885, when the Japanese Village opened, Buhicrosan and his family had been living in a large house, Yeddo Grange, in Ladywell.

[3] Sir Hugh Cortazzi, who devoted a chapter to Buhicrosan in his book about the Japanese Village, summed him up:[3] The impression we get of Tannaker is of a highly energetic, indeed seemingly tireless entrepreneur, a man who had some chameleon-like qualities, and who always had an eye for the 'main chance'; and who was willing to got to some lengths to protect and expand his business.