was a Japanese ''

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

'' of the late

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

period. Prominent as Navy Minister of the

Republic of Ezo The was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the ''Bakumatsu'' period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt t ...

, he later became famous as the first head of the

Japan Meteorological Agency The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA; ''気象庁, Kishō-chō'') is a division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism dedicated to the Scientific, scientific observation and research of natural phenomena. Headquartered ...

. Also known as or .

Early life

Arai Ikunosuke was born in the Tedai-cho district of

, near the

Yushima Seidō , is a Confucian temple () in Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was established in end of the 17th century during the Genroku era of the Edo period. Towards the late Edo period, one of the most important educational institutions of the sh ...

shrine as the son of the Tokugawa ''

gokenin A was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods.Iwanami Kōjien, "Gokenin" In exchange for protection and the right to become '' jitō'' (manor's lord), a ''gokenin'' had in times of peace the duty to protect ...

'' Arai Kiyobei. His father donated his money to aid villagers from the flood of Fujigawa, which in turn angered the Tokugawa Shōgun. He began learning the

Chinese classics The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian traditi ...

at age 7, and on the recommendation of his uncle, starting at age 12 he studied swordsmanship ''( Jikishinkage ryū'' and ''

Shingyōtō-ryū is a Japanese koryū swordsmanship style that was founded in 1682 by . The name roughly translates as "mind shape/form sword school". The style places a high emphasis on swordsmanship philosophy, mainly ''to-ho-no-sho-shin'' or "the heart of the ...

),''

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

, and horse riding. At age 14, he entered the Shogunate's academy at '' Shoheizaka,'' and at age 18, he began to study Western-style gunnery. He began his career in the Shogunate at age 20, entering into Dutch studies (''

rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: , ), and by extension , is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the countr ...

),'' and was posted as an instructor at the

Nagasaki Naval Training Center The was a naval training institute, between 1855 when it was established by the government of the Tokugawa shogunate, until 1859, when it was transferred to Tsukiji in Edo. During the Bakumatsu period, the Japanese government faced increasing ...

Life in the 1860s

After studying mathematics, sailing, and navigation, Arai was appointed a director of the Naval Training Center in 1862. However, he was reassigned to the Shogunate's ''

Kōbusho The was a Japanese military academy. It was set up in the final decades of the Edo period as part of Japan's defensive preparations in response to Western Gunboat diplomacy, military coercion, and taught Western-style battlefield tactics such as ...

'' military academy in 1864, and it was there that he worked with

Ōtori Keisuke Baron was a Japanese military leader and diplomat.Perez, Louis G. (2013)"Ōtori Keisuke"in ''Japan at War: An Encyclopedia,'' p. 304. Biography Early life and education Ōtori Keisuke was born in Akamatsu Village, in the Akō domain of Harim ...

, learning French-style infantry tactics in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

in 1865.

Boshin War

In 1868 during 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 coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

of 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, Arai was assigned as a captain to the Shogunal Navy, and together with

Enomoto Takeaki Viscount was a Japanese samurai and admiral of the Tokugawa navy of Bakumatsu period Japan, who remained faithful to the Tokugawa shogunate and fought against the new Meiji government until the end of the Boshin War. He later served in the ...

departed

Shinagawa is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per ...

Harbor when Edo was surrendered to the Imperial Army. Traveling to

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, he became Navy Minister of the new

, and while he took part in the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay and the

Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay The was fought from 4 to 10 May 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy. It was one of the last stages of Battle of H ...

, the Ezo forces were defeated, and Arai was placed in prison, where he remained pending a

sentence of death ''Sentence of Death'' is an EP and the debut release by German thrash metal band Destruction, released on 10 November 1984 by Steamhammer Records. The album is cited as an influential thrash metal album with black metal influences, which has ...

. During this time, he wrote the first English-Japanese dictionary.

Meiji Era

With his sentence of death commuted, Arai worked with Enomoto in

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

for a time, before working in the Agricultural School, as well as becoming head of a women's school. He was later put in charge of the Central Meteorological Agency during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, became the first person to photograph the

corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

of the sun in Japan, during a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

in 1887, introduced the meter system, founded Hokkaido University, and established standard time. Later in life, together with his old colleague

, he contributed to the magazine ''Kyū Bakufu'', writing articles about his experiences in the 1860s, as well as about the navy of the former Shogunate. Arai died of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

in 1909, at the age of 74.

References and further reading

*Fukunaga Kyōsuke. ''Kaishō Arai Ikunosuke''. Tokyo: Morikita Shoten, 1943. *Harada Akira. ''Arai Ikunosuke''. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1994. *Hillsborough, Romulus. ''Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps''. Tuttle Publishing (2005).

External links

Information on the Shogunate navy, including Arai's command
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arai, Ikunosuke 1836 births 1909 deaths Samurai Nobility from Tokyo People from Bunkyō People of the Boshin War People of the Meiji era Deaths from diabetes in Japan Government ministers of Japan Japan Meteorological Agency