was a Dutch

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

and

foreign advisor Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

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 ...

Japan.

Biography

Cornelis Johannes van Doorn was born on 5 January 1837 in Hall (Gelderland), Netherlands, the son of the Reverend PW van Doorn. Van Doorn studied at the Technical School of Dr. Grothe in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

and then at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

. He received his degree in 1860 as a civil engineer. In his early career, he went to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, returning home in 1863 to work for the

Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen The Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (; "Company for the Exploitation of the State Railways") or SS was a private rail transport, railroad founded to use the government funded railways. The company existed until 1938, when it fo ...

railway company in

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. From March 1865 he worked as an engineer in designing the locks, pumping station and dam on the

IJ (Amsterdam) The IJ (; sometimes shown on old maps as ''Y'' or ''Ye'') is a body of water, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront. Etymology The name ''IJ'' is derived from the West Frisian w ...

. In 1871 Van Doorn was invited by the Japanese government to act as an expert in

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

, arriving in Japan on 24 March 1872, and staying to 22 July 1880. During his time in Japan, he was involved in port development and river improvement projects on the

Edo River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The E ...

, Osaka, Yokohama, and Nobiru in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

Bay. He designed Japan's first western-style waterway, the Asaka Canal, which

reclaimed land 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 land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

for 52 kilometers around

Lake Inawashiro is the fourth-largest lake in Japan, located in central Fukushima Prefecture, south of Mount Bandai. It is also known as the . The lake is located within the borders of Bandai-Asahi National Park. It is a surface area of , circumference of , de ...

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

and made the development of the city of

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 321,938 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 425 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a core city and ...

possible. A memorial

bronze statue Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (su ...

was erected to him beside the

sluice gate A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

on the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

in 1931. He also designed Japan's first western-style

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

, the Ishii lock in

Ishinomaki is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 138,538, and a population density of 250 persons per km2 in 61,919 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Ishinomaki is in northeastern Miya ...

, designated an Important Cultural Property in 2002. Returning to the Netherlands after eight years, Van Doorn died in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1906. In the Netherlands, not much is known about his efforts in Japan. In Japan, on the other hand his name is found in schoolbooks, there are museums dedicated to him and streets and squares named after them. Even Van Doorn's grave in Amsterdam is maintained at the expense of the Japanese city of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doorn, Cornelis Johannes van 1837 births 1906 deaths Dutch civil engineers Dutch expatriates in Japan Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan People from Brummen Delft University of Technology alumni

Biography

See also

References