- Sano Tsunetami
Count nihongo|Sano Tsunetami|佐野常民|Sano Tsunetami; (
28 December 1822 -12 December 1902 ) was a Japanese statesman and founder of theJapanese Red Cross Society.Born in
Saga Domain (present-daySaga Prefecture ), Sano studied "rangaku" (western learning) underOgata Kōan ,Ito Gemboku , and others. He played a leading role in the creation of a modern navy for the Saga domain.After the
Meiji Restoration , he was called upon to assist in the formation of theImperial Japanese Navy . He accompanied the Japanese delegation to the Paris Exposition of 1867, and while inParis learned of theInternational Red Cross . He traveled on to theNetherlands to supervise the construction of new warships and to learn of western shipbuilding techniques, but the image of the Red Cross remained in his memory.In 1877, he created the "Hakuaisha", a relief organization to provide medical assistance to soldiers wounded in the
Satsuma Rebellion . This organization became the Japanese Red Cross Society in 1887, with Sano as its first president.Sano also served in the "
Genroin " , as a member of the Privy Council, and in various government posts. During the 1st Matsukata administration, he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.Before his death, he was awarded with the
Order of the Rising Sun (1st class with Paulownia Blossoms). His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.In 1939, the Japanese government issued a series of four
commemorative postage stamp s honoring the 75th anniversary of the Red Cross Treaty. A portait of Sano Tsunetami appears on two of the stamps.References
* Brunton, Richard. "Building Japan 1868-1876". RoutledgeCurzon (1995). ISBN 1-873410-05-0
* Checkland, Olive. "Japan and Britain after 1859: Creating Cultural Bridges". RoutledgeCurzon (2002). ISBN 0-7007-1747-1
* Cobbing, Andrew. "The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain". RoutledgeCurzon (1989). ISBN 1-873410-81-6.
* Yoshikawa, Ryuko. "Nisseki no soshisha Sano Tsunetami". Yoshikawa Kobunkan (2001). ISBN 4-642-05518-5 (Japanese)External links
* [http://www.saganet.ne.jp/tunetami/ Sano Tsunetami Memorial Museum in Saga (Japanese site)]
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