Schoolmaster to an Empire

Richard Henry Brunton in Meiji Japan, 1868-1876

R. Henry Brunton, Edward R. Beauchamp (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

200 Seiten

1991
Praeger Publishers Inc (Verlag)
978-0-313-27795-5 (ISBN)

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Brunton's memoir opens a window on life and times in Meiji Japan from 1868 to 1876, a crucial period in that country's transformation from a medieval backwater into an efficient modern society. Schoolmaster to an Empire, the premier volume in Greenwood's newly initiated Asian Studies Series, provides a rare first-hand account of a nineteenth century English engineer and his key role in the epic-making technical developments of the time. Hired by the Japanese at the age of 27 as engineer in charge of a lighthouse project that would light the coast of Japan, Brunton embarked on a series of varied and adventurous experiences whose record is an enlightening case study of one yatoi, or hired foreign servant, in Japan. Because of the archaic technical level of old world Japan, Brunton the lighthouse builder was also compelled to design, build, and launch ships; build bridges and railways; drain swamps; and pave, drain, and light new settlements. His pages describing his inventive solutions to each new challenge make absorbing and sometimes amusing reading. Brunton's major contribution was probably the training of Japan's first modern mechanics and his insistence on the necessity of scientific training and preparation in a country where technical labor was despised and the skilled trades barely existed. Brunton emerges as a singular teacher not only of technological skills but also of the attitudes and mind set necessary to accomplish ambitious new tasks.

This manuscript has been in the making for the last ninety years, according to editor/annotator Edward R. Beauchamp. Brunton completed his memoir shortly before his death in 1901, and it subsequently received the editorial attentions of three separate editors who were unsuccessful in publishing it. Beauchamp's conscientious efforts have restored the important but over-edited work as nearly as possible to Brunton's original language. The editor has retained and updated previous editors' useful annotations and incorporated additional notes to reflect new information and recently published materials bearing on the topics covered by Brunton. This final version is faithful both to Brunton's intent and the stylistic vagaries of the nineteenth century, while also containing updated materials. The 36-chapter volume is packed with fascinating details of the period, and it touches on subjects ranging from Building Iron Bridges and Women's Education in Japan to The Jealous Japanese. Here is an astounding portrait of Japan, the manufacturing giant, in its infancy. Schoolmaster to an Empire will appeal to general and specialist readers. It can also be used as a supplementary text in courses dealing with nineteenth century Japan and cross-cultural topics. Libraries, especially those with Asian interests, will find this a necessary addition.

EDWARD R. BEAUCHAMP is Professor of Historical and Comparative Studies in Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is the author of An American Teacher in Early Meiji Japan, Learning to Be Japanese, and Dissertations in the History of Education, as well as articles in the History of Education Quarterly. Dr. Beauchamp co-edited Educational Policies in Crisis: Japanese and American Perspectives (Praeger, 1986), Education in Japan: A Sourcebook, and Foreign Employees in 19th Century Japan.

Introduction
My Appointment to Japan
The First Telegraph in Japan
Laying Out a New Settlement
Water and Light
Building Iron Bridges
Osaka: An Interned City
Taming the Shinano River
The Gold Mines of Sado
The Pioneer Railway in the Far East
Maps, Surveys, and Engineering Education
The New Coinage
The Great Fire in Tokio
The Craze for Steamers
Location of the Lighthouses
In the Historic Port of Nagasaki
Buying a Lighthouse Tender
My Visit to Satsuma
The American Warship Oneida
The Purchase of the Thabor
The Jealous Japanese
The Dockyard at Yokosuka
The Expedition to Formosa
Vicissitudes
Necessity, the Mother of Invention
Building Lightships
Audience of the Emperor
The Great Embassy to the Treaty Powers
Home Again--With the Japanese in England
Japanese Petroleum
Women's Education in Japan
The Japanese in Bad Temper
The Yokohama Harbor Scheme
Maintaining Discipline
Keeping Up the Standards
The Riu Kiu [Ryukyu] Islands
Personal Judgements
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	17.7.1991
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 235 mm
Gewicht	907 g
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
	Reisen ► Reiseberichte ► Asien
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
ISBN-10	0-313-27795-8 / 0313277958
ISBN-13	978-0-313-27795-5 / 9780313277955
Zustand	Neuware