Difference between revisions of "Satsuma students"

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*[[Godai Tomoatsu]] (31)
 
*[[Godai Tomoatsu]] (31)
 
*[[Hatakeyama Yoshinari]] - first president of [[University of Tokyo]]
 
*[[Hatakeyama Yoshinari]] - first president of [[University of Tokyo]]
 +
*[[Ichiki Kazuhiko]] (24) - first Japanese to graduate from Annapolis
 
*[[Machida Hisanari]] (28) - first director of [[Tokyo National Museum]]
 
*[[Machida Hisanari]] (28) - first director of [[Tokyo National Museum]]
 
*[[Matsuki Koan|Matsuki Kôan]] (34)(aka Terashima Munenori)
 
*[[Matsuki Koan|Matsuki Kôan]] (34)(aka Terashima Munenori)
 
*[[Mori Arinori]] - first [[Ministry of Education|Minister of Education]]
 
*[[Mori Arinori]] - first [[Ministry of Education|Minister of Education]]
 +
*[[Murahashi Naoe]] (23)
 
*[[Nagasawa Kanae]] (13) - settled in US, started a vineyard
 
*[[Nagasawa Kanae]] (13) - settled in US, started a vineyard
 
*[[Nagoe Tokinari]] (21)
 
*[[Nagoe Tokinari]] (21)
 +
*[[Nakamura Hironari]] (25) - ambassador to the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark
 +
*[[Yoshida Kiyonari]] (21) - ambassador to the United States
  
 
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Revision as of 02:22, 25 October 2015

Monument to the Satsuma students, outside Kagoshima Chûô train station

Nineteen young men from Satsuma han were among the first Japanese to study overseas in the West, departing Japan in 1865, a year before the Tokugawa shogunate lifted bans on overseas travel. A number of these students went on to become prominent figures in the Meiji government, or in Meiji period society otherwise.

The students, aided by the Scotsman Thomas Glover, claimed to be merely traveling to the Koshiki Islands just off the coast of Kyushu, when they departed from Hashima (an area in Kushikino city, on the Kyushu mainland). In fact, they left Japan entirely, arriving in Singapore twenty days later; 46 days after that, they arrived in London. All adopted new names while overseas, but most are known today by their "real" names.

The students returned to Japan with examples of numerous new technologies, including spinning machines, and also made arrangements for Satsuma to show a pavilion, separate from that of the shogunate, at the 1867 Paris World's Fair. Members of the mission also arranged to gain Britain's support for Satsuma in the upcoming rebellion against the shogunate.

Members of the Mission

References

  • Plaque at Kagoshima-Chûô train station, Kagoshima City.[1]