was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

, politician,

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, academic administrator, and author of several histories of the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

. He served as president of

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

Kyushu Imperial University , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu. It was the 4th Imperial University in Japan, ranked as 4th in 2020 Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings, one of the top 10 Desig ...

, and Kyoto Imperial University. He also served as a

Privy Councilor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and a member of the House of Peers. Though his name is commonly written "Yamakawa," he himself wrote it as "Yamagawa" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Biography

Yamakawa was born as the third son to Yamakawa Naoe, a senior ''samurai'' of the

Aizu Domain was a Han (Japan), domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871.Ravina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 The Aizu Domain was based at Aizuwakamatsu Castle, Tsuruga Castle in ...

(present day

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi ...

). He became a member of the '' Byakkotai,'' a unit of the newly reorganized Aizu domain army composed mostly of boys aged 15 to 17 years, who fought in defense of Aizu during the Boshin War. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, through the mediation of the

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

monk Kawai Zenjun, Yamakawa was placed in the care of Chōshū retainer Okudaira Kensuke. Yamakawa was sent by the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

to study physics at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, where he was the first student from Japan to graduate. On his return to Japan, he was posted to

working as an assistant and interpreter, and became Japan’s first Japanese professor of physics in 1879. (There had already been several foreign professors, such as

Thomas Corwin Mendenhall Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (October 4, 1841 – March 23, 1924) was an American autodidact physicist and meteorologist. He was the first professor hired at Ohio State University in 1873 and the superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Surv ...

and

William Edward Ayrton William Edward Ayrton, FRS (14 September 18478 November 1908) was an English physicist and electrical engineer. Life Early life and education Ayrton was born in London, the son of Edward Nugent Ayrton, a barrister, and educated at Universit ...

.) During the Meiji and Taishō periods he helped found the

Kyushu Institute of Technology is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology. It is earlier abbreviated to KIT and is now officially ab ...

in 1907 and served as president of Tokyo Imperial University (1901-1905 and 1913-1920),

(1911-1913), and Kyoto Imperial University (1914-1915). He was later ennobled with the title of ''danshaku'' (

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

) under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' peerage system. Later in his life he was also a

(appointed in February 1923) and a member of the House of Peers. He and his brother

Yamakawa Hiroshi Baron was a Bakumatsu period Aizu ''samurai'' who subsequently became a general in the early Meiji period Imperial Japanese Army, and a noted politician and educator. He was also one of the first persons (together with his brother Yamakawa Kenji ...

are known amongst historians of the late

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

as authors of two monumental texts—Kenjirō's being "Aizu Boshin Senshi," which catalogues the actions of his home domain during the war. He also authored several other history texts, including "Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai Jūkyūshi-den," which he wrote with fellow Aizu native Munekawa Toraji. Yamakawa's sisters,

Yamakawa Futaba (1844 – November 14, 1909) was a Japanese educator of the early Meiji era. Born in Aizu, she was the sister of the ''karō'', Yamakawa Hiroshi; her other siblings included physicist Yamakawa Kenjirō and Meiji-era social figure Ōyama Su ...

(1844 – 1909) and

Yamakawa Sutematsu Yamakawa (characters for "mountain" and "river") may refer to: * Yamakawa, Tokushima, town in Oe District, Tokushima * Yamakawa, Fukuoka, town in Yamato District, Fukuoka * 8923 Yamakawa, asteroid People with the surname *Erika Yamakawa (born 1982 ...

(1860-1919), later Princess Ōyama Sutematsu (大山捨松), are also well-known. Futaba, who fought in the

Battle of Aizu The Battle of Aizu (Japanese: 会津戦争, "War of Aizu") was fought in northern Japan from October to November in autumn 1868, and was part of the Boshin War. History Aizu was known for its martial skill, and maintained at any given time a st ...

during the

, later worked at the Tokyo Women's Normal School (東京女子高等師範学校, Tōkyō Joshi Kōtō Shihan Gakkō), the forerunner of

Ochanomizu University is a women's university in the Ōtsuka neighborhood of Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Ochanomizu University is one of the top national universities in Japan. Ochanomizu is the name of a Tokyo neighborhood where the university was founded. ...

. Sutematsu was one of five Japanese girls sent to the United States as part of the

Iwakura Mission The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (, ''Iwakura Shisetsudan'') was a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesmen and scholars of the Meiji period. It was not the only such m ...

; she was the first Japanese graduate of Vassar University, and later became the wife of Imperial Japanese Army general

Ōyama Iwao was a Japanese field marshal, and one of the founders of the Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Early life Ōyama was born in Kagoshima to a ''samurai'' family of the Satsuma Domain. as a younger paternal cousin to Saigo Takamori. A prot ...

Honours

''From the Japanese Wikipedia article''

Titles

*Baron (1 December 1915)

Decorations

*Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest tw ...

(25 June 1920; Second Class: 27 June 1912; Third Class: 27 December 1899; Fourth Class: 25 December 1896; Fifth Class: 21 June 1895; Sixth Class: 27 June 1891) *Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

(21 April 1928; Second Class: 1 April 1916; Third Class: 1 April 1906) *Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Paulownia Flowers The is an order presented by the Japanese government. Established in 1888 during the Meiji Restoration as the highest award in the Order of the Rising Sun; however, since 2003 it has been an Order in its own right. The only grade of the order i ...

(26 June 1931, posthumous)

References and further reading

* * Marshall, Byron K. ''The Tradition of Conflict in the Governance of Japan's Imperial Universities.'' History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Winter, 1977), pp. 385–406 *

External links

Kenjiro Yamakawa and Meisenkai

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamakawa, Kenjiro Samurai 1854 births 1931 deaths Meiji Restoration Presidents of the University of Tokyo Presidents of Kyoto University People of Meiji-period Japan Japanese physicists Kazoku Yale University alumni People from Aizu 20th-century Japanese historians Aizu-Matsudaira retainers Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Kyushu University