Difference between revisions of "Satsuma students"
| Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
==Members of the Mission== | ==Members of the Mission== | ||
| + | (listed along with age at the time of the mission, and later historical significance) | ||
*[[Niiro Hisanobu]] (34) - leader of the mission | *[[Niiro Hisanobu]] (34) - leader of the mission | ||
*[[Godai Tomoatsu]] (31) | *[[Godai Tomoatsu]] (31) | ||
| Line 20: | Line 21: | ||
*[[Nagoe Tokinari]] (21) | *[[Nagoe Tokinari]] (21) | ||
*[[Nakamura Hironari]] (25) - ambassador to the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark | *[[Nakamura Hironari]] (25) - ambassador to the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark | ||
| − | *[[Samejima Hisanobu]] (21) | + | *[[Samejima Hisanobu]] (21) - ambassador to France |
| + | *[[Tanaka Moriaki]] (23) | ||
*[[Yoshida Kiyonari]] (21) - ambassador to the United States | *[[Yoshida Kiyonari]] (21) - ambassador to the United States | ||
Revision as of 14:20, 25 October 2015
- Traveled: 1865
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
(listed along with age at the time of the mission, and later historical significance)
- Niiro Hisanobu (34) - leader of the mission
- Godai Tomoatsu (31)
- Hatakeyama Yoshinari (23) - first president of University of Tokyo
- Ichiki Kazuhiko (24) - first Japanese to graduate from Annapolis
- Machida Hisanari (28) - first director of Tokyo National Museum
- Matsuki Kôan (34)(aka Terashima Munenori)
- Mori Arinori (19) - first Minister of Education
- Murahashi Naoe (23)
- Nagasawa Kanae (13) - settled in US, started a vineyard
- Nagoe Tokinari (21)
- Nakamura Hironari (25) - ambassador to the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark
- Samejima Hisanobu (21) - ambassador to France
- Tanaka Moriaki (23)
- Yoshida Kiyonari (21) - ambassador to the United States
References
- Plaque at Kagoshima-Chûô train station, Kagoshima City.[1]
