Nishi Amane

Nishi Amane
Nishi Amane
Born	March 7, 1829(1829-03-07) Tsuwano, Shimane, Japan
Died	January 30, 1897(1897-01-30) (aged 67)
Occupation	Politician, Philosopher

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Nishi".

Nishi Amane (西 周^?, March 7, 1829 - January 30, 1897) was a philosopher in Meiji period Japan who helped introduce Western philosophy into mainstream Japanese education.

Early life

Nishi was born in Tsuwano Domain of Iwami Province (present day Tsuwano city, Shimane Prefecture) as the son of a samurai physician who practiced Chinese medicine. In 1853, after studying Confucianism at his domain school and in Osaka, Nishi was sent to Edo to study rangaku, with the goal of becoming an interpreter for conducting business with the outside world via Dutch traders based at Dejima in Nagasaki, his duties also included the translation of European books into Japanese for review by a select group of government officials within the Tokugawa bakufu. In 1854 Nishi relinquished his samurai status and was appointed by the government as a Yogakusha or specialist scholar of Western learning. In 1857, he was appointed a professor at the Bansho Shirabesho.

With increasing foreign pressure on Japan to end its national isolation policy, in 1862 the Shogunate decided to send Nishi and Tsuda Mamichi to the Netherlands to learn western concepts of political science, constitutional law, and economics. They departed in 1863 with a Dutch physician Dr. J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort, who had set up the first teaching hospital for western medicine in Nagasaki.

The two Japanese students were put in the care of Professor Simon Vissering, who taught Political Economy, Statistics and Diplomatic History at the University of Leyden. They developed a genuine friendship with Vissering who was conscious of the long-standing friendship between Japan and the Netherlands. He felt that the students' desire for knowledge would make them likely future participation in Japan's modernization. Vissering, a member of La Vertu Lodge No, 7, Leyden introduced them to Freemasonry, of which they became the first Japanese adherents on October 20, 1864.^[1]

Meiji philosopher

Nishi returned to Japan in 1865, and was an active participant in the Meiji Restoration. He brought back to Japan the philosophies of utilitarianism and empiricism, which he transmitted through his writing, lectures and participation in Mori Arinori's Meirokusha, and contributed numerous articles to its journal. Nishi became a leading figure in the Meiji Enlightenment (bummei kaika). In 1868, he translated and published "International Law". He also published an encyclopedia, The Hyakugaku Renkan, patterned after the French encyclopedia of Auguste Comte, and promoted the teachings of John Stuart Mill. He rejected the deductive method traditionally used by Confucian scholars in favor of inductive logic as a more scientific way of learning. In his Hyakuichi-Shinron, published in 1874, he went so far as to reject Confucian ethics altogether as no longer appropriate for Japan, but was careful not to reject Japanese heritage. In Jinsei Sampo Setsu (1875) he urged all Japanese to seek the goals of health, knowledge and wealth, in place of Confucian subservience and frugality.

Meiji bureaucrat

While working at the Ministry of Military Affairs, Nishi helped in drafting the Conscription Ordinance of 1873, which introduced universal conscription and laid the foundation for the Imperial Japanese Army. In his lectures to the military, he emphasized discipline and obedience over seniority and hierarchy. These ideals found their way into the subsequent Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors in 1882.

In 1879 Nishi was made the head of the Tokyo Academy, and by 1882 was a member of the Genrōin. He became a member of the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan after the Japanese general election, 1890.

He was ennobled with the title of danshaku (baron) in the kazoku peerage system. His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.

Legacy

Nishi Amane

Nishi was a tireless advocate of Western civilization as a role model for Japan's modernization, stressing the need to evolve without losing the 'Japanese character'. He was responsible for most of the philosophical words currently used in the Japanese language.^[2] He is considered the father of Western philosophy in Japan.

He was honored on a 10-yen commemorative postage stamp in Japan in 1952.

See also

• Japanese encyclopedias

Notes

1. ^ Australian National Library: MS 6681, Papers of Harold S. Williams (1898-1987) §42, Freemasonry
2. ^ Marra, Michael F. (2002). Japanese hermeneutics, pp. 89-96. at Google Books

References

• Gluck, Carol. (1985). Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the late Meiji Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 10-ISBN 0691054495/13-ISBN 9780691054490; 10-ISBN 0691008124/13-ISBN 9780691008127; OCLC 11676767
• Havens, Thomas R.H. (1970). Nishi Amane and modern Japanese thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03080-4
• Jansen, Marius B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0674003349/13-ISBN 9780674003347; OCLC 44090600
• Marra, Michael F. (2002). Japanese hermeneutics: Current Debates on Aesthetics and Interpretation. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 10-ISBN 0824824571/13-ISBN 9780824824570; OCLC 237578040

External links

• The First Japanese Freemason by James L. Johnston
• National Diet Library Bio
• Photograph of Nishi Amane's grave