{"id":1826,"date":"2020-05-07T19:05:55","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T19:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/?page_id=1826"},"modified":"2020-05-14T04:33:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T04:33:07","slug":"fukui","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/our-exhibition\/fukui\/","title":{"rendered":"Fukui"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Izzy Bonvini<\/h6>\n
<\/h5>\n
Fukui<\/strong> is a prefecture that holds a significant place in the relationship between Rutgers University and Japan.\u00a0 This is where, in 1867, Rutgers’ first foreign student from Japan, Kusakabe Taro, came from.\u00a0 In 1870, the Prince of Echizen invited William E. Griffis to travel to Japan to teach in Fukui.\u00a0 He was charged with the responsibility of developing a natural sciences program there that would hopefully translate to a larger-scale standard for learning and a national department of education.\u00a0 He agreed to the job and embarked on a journey that would change Griffis\u2019 life and the lives of those in Fukui forever.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0On March 4, 1871, Griffis arrived in Fukui and was less than impressed.\u00a0 He found it to be much less grandiose than he was anticipating, and was disappointed by what was in front of him.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
“There were no spires, golden-vaned; no massive pediments, facades, or grand buildings such as strike the eye on beholding a city in the Western world.\u00a0 [He] had formed some conception of Fukui while in America: something vaguely grand, mistily imposing – I knew not what.\u00a0 I now saw simply a dark, vast array of low-roofed houses, colossal temples, gables, castle-towers, tufts of bamboo, and groves of trees.\u00a0 This was Fukui” (Griffis, The Mikado’s Empire<\/em>, 423-424).<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Yet by the time he left on January 22, 1872, Fukui and its residents held a special place in Griffis\u2019 life.\u00a0 He found his students to be voracious learners, got along well with the officials of the domain, and was treated with the utmost respect by the people he encountered there.\u00a0 As he later moved to Tokyo and taught at the newly found university there, his contributions made a profound impact\u00a0to the modernization of education for Japan as a whole.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Today, Griffis\u2019 experiences in Fukui are memorialized in the relationship between Rutgers University and the University of Fukui.\u00a0 Together, the two university libraries have compiled their collections of documents from his time there, and continue to honor his work through their efforts.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image Gallery:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\"\"
(\u201cGriffis\u2019 Fukui Journal\u201d, William E. Griffis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Notes on Echizen, (Fukui)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above are a few excerpts from Griffis\u2019 Fukui Journal.\u00a0 Through these entries we get a glimpse into Griffis\u2019 daily life in Japan in June 1872.\u00a0 He notes the weather, what he taught at which schools on any given day, and the more intimate details of his conversations and whereabouts.\u00a0 In the entry from Friday, June 16, Griffis mentions making a doll for the daughter of a visitor he had at his home, and taking an evening walk with a colleague to discuss the United States Constitution and Civil War.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
(Fukui Scrapbook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This is a copy of Griffis\u2019 schedule of classes. After teaching Kusakabe Taro (a student from Fukui) in New Brunswick, he was invited by the Prince of Echizen to organize a scientific school in Fukui. In return, they would pay his salary, build him a European-style house there, and return him safely to Yokohama after three years. Once there, he taught physical sciences under the American principle to Japanese students. This schedule provides us with a look at how his teaching was organized on a daily basis, and what exactly he taught.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
(Fukui students studying with lights on at night)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This is a photo of a student in Fukui studying into the late hours of the night. It is captioned \u201cstudent in Fukui burning midnight oil.\u201d While we might not be able to know much about the identity of this student in particular, we can use this image to deduce the impact that education had on his Japanese students, and have a better understanding of Griffis’ appreciation for their passion.\u00a0 In\u00a0The Mikado’s Empire<\/em> he writes about how he arrived to find students already hard at work, and in many of their own essays, his students included that they worked late into the night.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
(Published works by W. E. Griffis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In this article, Griffis explains how he was offered a job teaching in Japan, and what his life was like once he got to Fukui. He mentions that there was no national department of education, and how he went there to help modernize their knowledge of physical sciences and provide a Western insight to students there. Griffis also explains how the school that he taught in was located in a palace that was formerly occupied by the Baron of Echizen. The purpose of this article was to provide context of life as an American teaching overseas, but it also translates to the audience the greater purpose of his work in Fukui.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
(Family of Matsaidura)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Griffis was invited to Fukui by Matsudaira Yoshinaga, former daimyo of Fukui.\u00a0 They had a dinner in Tokyo, detailed in The Mikado’s Empire<\/em>, where the ex-prince of Echizen invited Griffis to his yashiki, or daimyo estate.\u00a0 Above is a picture of the family of Matsudaira Yoshitami, taken in 1915. Yoshitami was the son of Matsudaira Shungaku Yoshinaga.\u00a0 Yoshitami is described by Griffis as a “sprightly, laughing little fellow, four or five years old, with snapping eyes full of fun, and as lively as an American boy” (Griffis, The Mikado’s Empire<\/em> 429).\u00a0 The pair got along very well, and they continued to meet up in Fukui, and later, in Tokyo.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
(Published works by W. E. Griffis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This article was written by Griffis to depict the kind treatment he was given in Fukui, as well as to take note of the small quirks and societal differences between Japan and America. He uses personal anecdotes to paint a real picture of a Japanese landscape and people, and promotes the idea of community in the foreign land, despite the extreme differences. In one story, he mentions how he had been in Fukui for a week when he started hearing local boys singing \u201cShoo Fly,\u201d thinking it was the American national anthem. These stories provided a more humanizing look at the Japanese for American audiences.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.wikiwand.com\/en\/William_Elliot_Griffis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In this image, Griffis is pictured with the members of class in Fukui with whom he traveled to Tokyo at the end of his residency. In The Mikado\u2019s Empire<\/em>, he noted how impressed he was with his students. They were all very eager to learn, and most nights he even hosted students, officials, and regular citizens at his house to have further lectures on a variety of subjects. These subjects included but were not limited to physical and descriptive geography, chemistry, physiology, the science of government, the history of European countries, and for a few students, the Christian religion.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Griffis’ House, (Fukui)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
https:\/\/media-cdn.tripadvisor.com\/media\/photo-s\/10\/af\/22\/03\/caption.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Griffis’ home in Fukui was built for him as part of his deal to teach there.\u00a0 It was built in the European style so he was comfortable, and though the original structure (seen on the left) no longer stands, a replica was rebuilt (seen to the right) that is still used today as a way for visitors to Fukui to get a look at the way Griffis lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Izzy Bonvini Fukui is a prefecture that holds a significant place in the relationship between Rutgers University and Japan.\u00a0 This is where, in 1867, Rutgers’ first foreign student from … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":0,"parent":1480,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-custom.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1826","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFukui - Rutgers Meets Japan: Early Encounters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/our-exhibition\/fukui\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fukui - Rutgers Meets Japan: Early Encounters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Izzy Bonvini Fukui is a prefecture that holds a significant place in the relationship between Rutgers University and Japan.\u00a0 This is where, in 1867, Rutgers’ first foreign student from … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/our-exhibition\/fukui\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rutgers Meets Japan: Early Encounters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-14T04:33:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/267\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-06-at-10.04.15-PM-300x234.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/our-exhibition\/fukui\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rutgers-meets-japan\/our-exhibition\/fukui\/\",\"name\":\"Fukui - 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