- Ludwig Riess
Infobox Person
name = Ludwig Riess
caption = Ludwig Riess
birth_date =1 December 1861
birth_place = Deutsch-Krone, Prussia
death_date =27 December 1928
death_place =Springfield, Ohio ,USA
other_names =
known_for = Foreign advisor to MeijiJapan
occupation = historian, educator, foreign advisor to Japan
nationality =Germany Ludwig Riess (
December 1 ,1861 -December 27 ,1928 ) was a German-bornhistorian and educator, noted for his work in late 19th century Japan.Biography
Riess was born in Deutsch-Krone, Prussia, in what is now part of
Poland , as the youngest of five children in aGerman Jew ish family. He was proficient inmathematics andphysics as a child, and encouraged by his family to become an engineer or architect. However, he was more interested in world history, and chose to pursue an academic career over their wishes and studied at the University of Berlin under the renowned historian,Leopold von Ranke .In 1884 Riess traveled to
Great Britain andIreland for the purpose of collecting materials for hisdoctoral dissertation "The vote of the British Parliament in the medieval ages", and received his doctorate at the age of 24. He returned to theBritish Isles again in 1885 and 1886 to collect additional materials pertaining toGerman history and theHanseatic League .Riess was recruited as a foreign advisor by the
Meiji government of theEmpire of Japan in 1887 to establish western methods ofhistoriography into the Japanese university curriculum. These methods included a reliance onprimary source s, an emphasis onnarrative history and a commitment to writing history from aneutral point of view , without moral judgements on past events. Riess was initially hired on a three year contract, which was renewed several times. He taught atTokyo Imperial University , where he introduced Ranke's research methods of historical research, and introduced European archival materials, especially Dutch sources preserved atThe Hague relevant to the study ofJapanese history . Riess himself made a personal search for documents when he visitedEurope on leave in 1893, visiting The Hague,London , andRome , and sending back handwritten copies and excerpts from Dutch manuscripts.Riess lectured on a wide variety of topics, including
Taiwan history, modernEuropean history , British Constitutional history,German history , theFranco-Prussian War , theFrench Revolution , William Adams and the role of the Portuguese and Dutch merchants in theEdo period . He was also a constant contributor of essays and reports to German newspapers and magazines on topics or events in Japan.In 1888, Riess married a Japanese woman, Fuku Ōtsuka, the daughter of his cook, with whom he had one son and four daughters.
Riess was replaced as head of the history department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1901 by
Genpachi Mitsukuri , and was given an annual pension of 500yen . His contract was not renewed, as the Japanese government was cutting back on the number of "o-yatoi gaikokujin " , as their salaries were much higher than that of native Japanese, and many Japanese who had trained overseas were now returning and looking for work. Riess returned to theGerman Empire in 1902, and taught as anassistant professor at the University of Berlin.In 1904, during the
Russo-Japanese War , there was tremendous interest in Germany about all things Japanese, and Riess was in constant demand for articles about Japan and Japanese people for the German newspapers. During this period he published an autobiography the "Allerlei aus Japan" about his 15 years experiences in Japan.In 1926, Reiss visited
Springfield, Ohio in theUnited States as an exchange teacher. Soon after arrival, he developed a fever, possibly due toallergic reaction after being stung by an insect, and died at the age of 67.Literary works
* "Geschichte des Wahlrechts zum englischen Parliament", 1885
* "Lectures in English constitutional history", 1891
* "Allerei aus Japan", 2 Vols., 1904-1908
* "Historik", 1912
* "Die Entwicklung des modernen Japans", 1914
* "Englische Geschichte, hauptsächlich in neuester Zeit", 1926
* "Die Ursachen der Vertreibung der Portugiesen aus Japan, 1614-1639"References
* Muramatsu, Teijirô. "Westerners in the Modernization of Japan." Translated by Lynne E. Riggs and Manabu Takechi. Tokyo: Hitachi, 1995.
See also
*
Shigaku zasshi External links
* [http://www.lib.u-tokyo.ac.jp/tenjikai/tenjikai97/riess.html Ludwig Riess ] at www.lib.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Japanese)
* [http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dwoolf/Historiography.pdf University of Alberta on Historiography] (PDF )
* [http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~matu-emk/Riess.html Unforgettable people of Japan]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.