O-yatoi gaikokujin
Encyclopedia
The Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese
as oyatoi gaikokujin (Kyūjitai
: , Shinjitai
: , "hired foreigners"), were those foreign advisors hired by the Japanese government for their specialized knowledge to assist in the modernization
of Japan
at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji era. The term is sometimes rendered o-yatoi gaikokujin in romaji. The total number is uncertain, but is estimated to have reached more than 3,000 (with thousands more in the private sector).
The goal in hiring the foreign advisors was to obtain transfers of technology
. The foreign advisors were highly paid; in 1874, they numbered 520 men, during which time their salaries came to ¥2.272 million, or 33.7 percent of the annual budget. Despite the value they provided in the modernization of Japan, the Japanese government did not consider it prudent for them to settle in Japan permanently. After training Japanese replacements to take over their places, many found that their contracts (typically for three years) were not renewed.
Some foreign advisors supplemented their activities as government employees by undertaking Christian
missionary
activities.
The system was officially terminated in 1899 when extraterritoriality
came to an end in Japan. Nevertheless similar employment of foreigners persists in Japan, particularly within the national education
system and professional sports
. Until 1899, more than 800 hired foreign experts continued to be employed by the government, and many others were employed privately.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
as oyatoi gaikokujin (Kyūjitai
Kyujitai
Kyūjitai, literally "old character forms" , are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are shinjitai, "new character forms". Some of the simplified characters arose centuries ago and were in everyday use in both China and Japan,...
: , Shinjitai
Shinjitai
Shinjitai are the forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in shinjitai are also found in simplified Chinese, but shinjitai is generally not as extensive in the scope of its modification...
: , "hired foreigners"), were those foreign advisors hired by the Japanese government for their specialized knowledge to assist in the modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji era. The term is sometimes rendered o-yatoi gaikokujin in romaji. The total number is uncertain, but is estimated to have reached more than 3,000 (with thousands more in the private sector).
The goal in hiring the foreign advisors was to obtain transfers of technology
Technology transfer
Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
. The foreign advisors were highly paid; in 1874, they numbered 520 men, during which time their salaries came to ¥2.272 million, or 33.7 percent of the annual budget. Despite the value they provided in the modernization of Japan, the Japanese government did not consider it prudent for them to settle in Japan permanently. After training Japanese replacements to take over their places, many found that their contracts (typically for three years) were not renewed.
Some foreign advisors supplemented their activities as government employees by undertaking Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
activities.
The system was officially terminated in 1899 when extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...
came to an end in Japan. Nevertheless similar employment of foreigners persists in Japan, particularly within the national education
Education in Japan
In Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Approximately 98% of all students progress to the upper secondary level, which is voluntary . Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper...
system and professional sports
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
. Until 1899, more than 800 hired foreign experts continued to be employed by the government, and many others were employed privately.
Agriculture
- William Smith Clark
- Edwin DunEdwin DunEdwin Dun was a rancher from Ohio who was employed as an o-yatoi gaikokujin in Hokkaidō by the Hokkaidō Development Commission and advised the Japanese government on modernizing agricultural techniques during the Meiji modernization period.Dun was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio and had studied at...
- Max Fesca
- Oskar KellnerOskar KellnerOskar Johann Kellner was a German agricultural scientist .-Biography:...
- Oskar LöwOscar LoewOscar Loew was a German agricultural chemist, active in Germany, the United States, and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Biography:...
, agronomist - William Penn BrooksWilliam Penn BrooksWilliam Penn Brooks was an American agricultural scientist, who worked as a foreign advisor in Meiji period Japan in the colonization project for Hokkaidō, and the eighth president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College....
, agronomist
Medical science
- Erwin von BälzErwin BälzErwin Bälz was a German internist, anthropologist, personal physician to the Japanese Imperial Family and cofounder of modern medicine in Japan.- Biography :...
- Leopold MüllerLeopold MüllerLeopold Müller was one of the pioneers of rock mechanics and one of the main contributors to the development of the New Austrian Tunnelling method....
- Johannes Ludwig JansonJohannes Ludwig JansonJohannes Ludwig Janson was a German specialist in veterinary science. He is noted for having introduced western veterinary science to Meiji period Japan in the late 19th century.-Biography:...
- Theodor Eduard Hoffmann
- Ferdinand Adalbert Junker von Langegg
- Johannes Ludwig JansonJohannes Ludwig JansonJohannes Ludwig Janson was a German specialist in veterinary science. He is noted for having introduced western veterinary science to Meiji period Japan in the late 19th century.-Biography:...
Law, administration, and economics
- Gustave Emile BoissonadeGustave Emile BoissonadeGustave Emile Boissonade de Fontarabie was a French legal scholar, responsible for drafting much of Japan's civil code during the Meiji Era, and honored as one of the founders of modern Japan's legal system.-Biography:...
, legal scholar - Hermann RoeslerHermann RoeslerKarl Friedrich Hermann Roesler was a German legal scholar, economist, and foreign advisor to the Meiji period Empire of Japan.-Life in Japan:...
, jurist and economist - Georg MichaelisGeorg MichaelisGeorg Michaelis became the first Chancellor of Germany with a non-noble background.-Biography :Michaelis, born in Haynau in the Prussian Province of Silesia, grew up in Frankfurt...
, jurist - Ottmar von MohlOttmar von MohlOttmar von Mohl was a German diplomat and government advisor in Meiji period Japan.Ottmar von Mohl, born in Tübingen, Germany was the son of famous jurist Robert von Mohl. He studied law at the University of Tübingen, passed the first Baden State Examination in 1868 and earned a doctorate in law...
, master of ceremonies - Albert MosseAlbert MosseIsaac Albert Mosse was a German judge and legal scholar. Mosse's importance lies in the working out of Japan's Meiji Constitution and his continuation of Litthauer's Comments on the German Commercial Code.-Biography:...
, jurist - Otfried Nippold, jurist
- Heinrich WaentigHeinrich WaentigHeinrich Eugen Waentig was a German economist and politician.Waentig was born in Zwickau, Saxony. From 1888 to 1893, he studied at University of Munich, University of Berlin, University of Leipzig, and University of Vienna, eventually earning his doctoral degree at the University of Leipzig...
, economist and jurist - Ludwig Loenholm, jurist
- Georges Hilaire BousquetGeorges Hilaire BousquetGeorges Hilaire Bousquet was a French legal scholar who contributed to the development of the legal codes of the Empire of Japan.-Biography:Bousquet was born in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, legal scholar - Horatio Nelson LayHoratio Nelson LayHoratio Nelson Lay , was a British diplomat, noted for his role in the ill-fated "Lay-Osborn Flotilla" during the Taiping Rebellion.-Early life:...
, diplomat - Henry Willard DenisonHenry Willard DenisonHenry Willard Denison was an American diplomat and lawyer, active in Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Denison was born in Guildhall, Vermont, and spent his early years at Lancaster, New Hampshire...
, diplomat - Karl RathgenKarl RathgenKarl Rathgen was a German Economist. He was the first Chancellor of the University of Hamburg....
, economist
Military
- Jules BrunetJules BrunetJules Brunet was a French officer who played an active role in Mexico and Japan, and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898...
, artillery officer - Léonce VernyLéonce VernyFrançois Léonce Verny, was a French officer and naval engineer who directed the construction of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Japan, as well as many related modern infrastructure projects from 1865 to 1876, thus helping jump-start Japan's modernization.-Early life:Léonce Verny was born in Aubenas,...
, constructor of the Yokosuka Naval ArsenalYokosuka Naval Arsenalwas one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama... - Klemens Wilhelm Jakob MeckelJakob MeckelKlemens Wilhelm Jacob Meckel was a general in the Prussian army and foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan.-Biography:...
, Army instructor - Jeremiah Richard Wasson
- Henry Walton GrinnellHenry Walton GrinnellHenry Walton Grinnell , known as Walton Grinnell, was a naval veteran of the American Civil War and the Spanish-American war. He became a rear admiral and Inspector-General in the Imperial Japanese Navy and served at the battle of the Yalu River in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95...
, Navy instructor - Charles Dickinson WestCharles Dickinson WestCharles Dickinson West was an Anglo-Irish mechanical engineer and naval architect, who worked for many years at the Imperial College of Engineering, in Meiji era Japan.-Biography:...
, naval architect - Henry Spencer PalmerHenry Spencer PalmerMajor General Henry Spencer Palmer was a British army military engineer and surveyor, noted for his work in developing Yokohama harbor in the Empire of Japan as a foreign advisor to the Japanese government-Biography:...
, military engineer - Archibald Lucius DouglasArchibald Lucius DouglasAdmiral Sir Archibald Lucius Douglas, GCB, GCVO was a Royal Navy officer of the 19th century.-Naval career:Douglas was born in Quebec City in pre-Confederation Canada in 1842...
, Naval instructor
Natural science and mathematics
- William Edward AyrtonWilliam Edward Ayrton-See also:*Henry Dyer*John Milne*Anglo-Japanese relations...
, physicist - Thomas Corwin MendenhallThomas Corwin MendenhallThomas Corwin Mendenhall was an autodidact US physicist and meteorologist.-Biography:Mendenhall was born in Hanoverton, Ohio to Stephen Mendenhall, a farmer and carriage-maker,...
, physicist - Edward S. MorseEdward S. MorseEdward Sylvester Morse was an American zoologist and orientalist.-Early life:Morse was born in Portland, Maine as the son of a Congregationalist preacher. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences...
, zoologist - Charles Otis WhitmanCharles Otis Whitman-External links:***-Notes:...
, zoologist, successor of Edward S. MorseEdward S. MorseEdward Sylvester Morse was an American zoologist and orientalist.-Early life:Morse was born in Portland, Maine as the son of a Congregationalist preacher. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences... - Heinrich Edmund NaumannHeinrich Edmund NaumannHeinrich Edmund Naumann was a German geologist, regarded as the “father of Japanese geology” in Meiji period Japan.-Biography:...
, geologist - Curt NettoCurt NettoCurt Netto was a German metallurgist and educator. He is regarded as a precursor for the industrial utilization of aluminium. He was active in early Meiji period Japan.-Biography:...
, metallurgist - Gottfried Wagener
- Sir James Alfred EwingJames Alfred EwingSir James Alfred Ewing KCB FRS FRSE MInstitCE was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic properties of metals and, in particular, for his discovery of, and coinage of the word, hysteresis.It was said of Ewing that he was 'Careful at all times of his appearance,...
, physicist and engineer who founded Japanese seismologySeismologySeismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic,... - Cargill Gilston KnottCargill Gilston KnottCargill Gilston Knott was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan...
, succeeding J.A. Ewing - Benjamin Smith LymanBenjamin Smith LymanBenjamin Smith Lyman was an American mining engineer, surveyor and amateur linguist and anthropologist.-Biography:Benjamin Smith Lyman was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1855...
, mining engineer
Engineering
- William BrooksWilliam BrooksWilliam Brooks may refer to:* William Brooks of Blackburn , cotton supplier* Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, 1st Baronet , British lawyer and politician* William Edwin Brooks , Irish civil engineer and ornithologist...
, agriculture - Richard Henry BruntonRichard Henry BruntonRichard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE was the so-called "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland...
- builder of lighthouses - Josiah ConderJosiah Conder (architect)Josiah Conder was a British architect who worked as a foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan...
, architect - William Kinnimond Burton, engineering, architecture, photography
- Horace CapronHorace CapronHorace Capron was an American businessman and agriculturalist, a founder of Laurel, Maryland, a Union officer in the American Civil War, the United States Commissioner of Agriculture under U.S. Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S...
, agriculture, road construction - Henry DyerHenry DyerHenry Dyer was a Scottish engineer who contributed much to founding Western-style technical education in Japan and Anglo-Japanese relations.- Early life :...
, engineering education - Hermann Ende, architect
- George Arnold EscherGeorge Arnold EscherGeorge Arnold Escher was a Dutch civil engineer and a foreign advisor to the Japanese government during the Meiji period.He was the father of the graphic artist M. C...
, civil engineer - John MilneJohn MilneFor other uses, see John Milne .John Milne was the British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph.-Biography:...
, geologist, seismologist - Edmund MorelEdmund Morel (railway engineer)Edmund Morel was a British civil engineer who was engaged in railway construction in many countries, including New Zealand, Australia, and Japan...
, railway engineer - Johannis de RijkeJohannis de RijkeJohannis de Rijke was a Dutch civil engineer and a foreign advisor to the Japanese government in Meiji period Japan.-Early life:...
, flood control, river projects - John Alexander Low WaddellJohn Alexander Low WaddellJohn Alexander Low Waddell was an American civil engineer and prolific bridge designer, with more than a thousand structures to his credit in the United States, Canada, as well as Mexico, Russia, China, Japan, and New Zealand...
, bridge engineer - Thomas James Waters, civil engineer, architect
- William GowlandWilliam GowlandWilliam Gowland was an English mining engineer most famous for his archaeological work at Stonehenge and in Japan. He is known in Japan as the "Father of Japanese Archaeology", which is an exaggeration. He was a major founding figure....
, mining engineer, archaeologist - Jean Francisque CoignetJean Francisque CoignetJean Francisque Coignet was a French mining engineer and government advisor in Bakumatsu and Meiji period Japan noted for his modernization of the Ikuno Silver Mine at Ikuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, near Kobe.-Biography:...
, mining engineer - Johannis de RijkeJohannis de RijkeJohannis de Rijke was a Dutch civil engineer and a foreign advisor to the Japanese government in Meiji period Japan.-Early life:...
, civil engineer - Wilhelm BöckmannWilhelm BöckmannWilhelm Böckmann was a German architect who worked briefly as a foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan.-Early career:...
, architect
Art and music
- Edoardo ChiossoneEdoardo ChiossoneEdoardo Chiossone was an Italian engraver and painter, noted for his work as a foreign advisor to Meiji period Japan, and for his collection of Japanese art.-Biography:...
- engraver - Luther Whiting MasonLuther Whiting MasonLuther Whiting Mason was an American music educator who was hired by the Meiji period government of Japan as a foreign advisor to introduce Western classical music into the Japanese educational curriculum.-Biography:...
, musician - Ernest FenollosaErnest FenollosaErnest Francisco Fenollosa was an American professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University...
, art critic - Franz Eckert, musician
- Rudolf DittrichRudolf DittrichRudolf Dittrich was an Austrian musician. He is noted for his role in bringing western music to Japan during the late 19th century.-Biography:...
, musician - Antonio Fontanesi, oil painter
- Vincenzo RagusaVincenzo RagusaVincenzo Ragusa was an Italian sculptor who lived in Meiji period Japan from 1876-1882. He introduced European techniques in bronze casting, and new methods of modeling in wood, clay, plaster and wire armatures which exerted a significant role in the development of the modern Japanese sculptural...
, sculptor - John William FentonJohn William FentonJohn William Fenton was an Irish musician, the leader of a military band in Japan at the start of the Meiji period...
, musician
Liberal arts, humanities and education
- Alice Mabel BaconAlice Mabel BaconAlice Mabel Bacon American writer, women's educator and a foreign advisor to the Japanese government in Meiji period Japan.-Early life:...
, pedagoge - Basil Hall ChamberlainBasil Hall ChamberlainBasil Hall Chamberlain was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English...
, Japanologist and Professor of Japanese - James SummersJames Summers-External links:*-Notes:...
, English literature - Emil Hausknecht, pedagogue
- Lafcadio HearnLafcadio HearnPatrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
, Japanologist - Viktor HoltzViktor HoltzViktor Holtz was a German educator and a pioneer of German-Japanese academic and cultural relations.Holtz as born in Stolberg, Kingdom of Prussia, and studied, from 1865 to 1867, at the Royal Catholic Teacher's Academy in Kempen...
, educator - Raphael von KoeberRaphael von KoeberRaphael von Koeber was a notable German-Russian teacher of philosophy at the Tokyo Imperial University in Japan.-Early life:...
, philosopher and musician - Ludwig RiessLudwig RiessLudwig Riess was a German-born historian and educator, noted for his work in late 19th century Japan.-Biography:...
, historian - Leroy Lansing JanesLeroy Lansing JanesLeroy Lansing Janes was an American educator, hired by Kumamoto Domain in early Meiji period Japan.A native of Ohio, Janes was a veteran of the Civil War, where he served in the artillery with the rank of captain after graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point...
, educator, missionary - Marion McCarrell ScottMarion McCarrell ScottMarion McCarrell Scott was an American educator and government advisor in Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Scott was born in Virginia, and graduated from the University of Virginia during the American Civil War...
, educator - Edward Bramwell ClarkeEdward Bramwell ClarkeEdward Bramwell Clarke was an educator in Meiji period Japan, who is credited with introducing the sport of rugby to Japan.-Biography:...
, educator
Missionary activities
- William Elliot GriffisWilliam Elliot GriffisWilliam Elliot Griffis was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author....
, clergyman, author - Guido VerbeckGuido VerbeckGuido Herman Fridolin Verbeck was a Dutch political advisor, educator, and missionary active in Bakumatsu and Meiji period Japan...
, missionary, pedagoge - Horace WilsonHorace Wilson (professor)Horace Wilson was an American expatriate educator in late 19th century Empire of Japan. He is one of the persons credited with introducing the sport of baseball to Japan.-Biography:Wilson was born in Gorham, Maine...
, missionary and teacher credited with introducing baseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
to Japan.
Others
- Francis BrinkleyFrancis BrinkleyFrancis Brinkley was an Irish newspaper owner, editor and scholar who resided in Meiji period Japan for over 40 years, where he was the author of numerous books on Japanese culture, art and architecture, and an English-Japanese Dictionary...
, journalist - Charles Edouard Gabriel Leroux
- Ottmar von MohlOttmar von MohlOttmar von Mohl was a German diplomat and government advisor in Meiji period Japan.Ottmar von Mohl, born in Tübingen, Germany was the son of famous jurist Robert von Mohl. He studied law at the University of Tübingen, passed the first Baden State Examination in 1868 and earned a doctorate in law...
, court protocol
See also
- Anglo-Japanese relationsAnglo-Japanese relationsThe history of the relationship between Britain and Japan began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams on the shores of Kyūshū at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture...
- Foreign cemeteries in JapanForeign cemeteries in JapanThe foreign cemeteries in Japan are chiefly located in Tokyo and at the former treaty ports of Nagasaki, Kobe, Yokohama, and Hakodate. They contain the mortal remains of long-term Japan residents, and are separate from any of the military cemeteries.-Tokyo:The Tokyo foreign cemetery is a section...
- Franco-Japanese relationsFranco-Japanese relationsFrance-Japan relations refers to bilateral relations between France and Japan. The history of goes back to the early 17th century, when a Japanese samurai and ambassador on his way to Rome landed for a few days in Southern France, creating a sensation...
- German-Japanese relationsGerman-Japanese relationsFrom the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, Japan isolated itself from the outside world until the Meiji Restoration of 1867, when it began to accept contact with Western nations. German–Japanese relations were established in 1860 with the first ambassadorial visit to Japan from Prussia...
- Russian people in Japan
- Meiji periodMeiji periodThe , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...