Tejima Seiichi

Japanese: 手島精一 - てじま・せいいち

Year of death: January 23, 1918
Year of birth: November 28, 1850 (January 11, 1850)
A leader in industrial education during the Meiji period. Born the second son of a samurai of the Numazu Domain (Shizuoka Prefecture). He studied Western studies at the domain school Meishinkan, and traveled to the United States in 1870 (Meiji 3). He studied architecture and physics. He served as an interpreter when the Iwakura Mission visited the United States, and also accompanied them to Britain. He returned to Japan at the end of 1872. The following year he was appointed auditor of the Tokyo Kaisei School (the precursor to the University of Tokyo). He visited the Philadelphia and Paris World Expositions and realized the importance of industrial education. In 1811 he was appointed director of the Tokyo Museum of Education. He contributed to the enlightenment and education of the people. In 1816 he published "Theory of Practical Education," which provided a theoretical basis for Inoue Tsuyoshi's legal system of vocational education during the Bunsei period (1826-1827). He also contributed to the establishment (1881) of the Tokyo Vocational School (which was renamed Tokyo Technical School in 1890 and Tokyo Higher Technical School in 1901, now Tokyo Institute of Technology), and became its principal in 1890. Apart from serving as Director of the Ministry of Education's General Education Bureau in 1957 and Director of the Ministry's Business Education Bureau in 1958, he contributed to the development of industrial education in Japan as the principal of the Tokyo Technical School until he retired in 1916.

(Masami Yamamoto)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：大正7.1.23(1918)
生年：嘉永2.11.28(1850.1.11)
明治期の工業教育指導者。沼津藩(静岡県)藩士の次男に生まれる。藩校明親館で洋学を学び,明治3(1870)年に渡米。建築学および物理学を学ぶ。岩倉遣外使節団の訪米時に通訳を務め,さらにイギリスに随行。7年末に帰国。翌年東京開成学校(東大の前身)監事に就任。フィラデルフィアおよびパリ万国博を視察し,工業教育の重要性を認識する。14年東京教育博物館長に就任。民衆の啓蒙教育に貢献。19年に「実業教育論」を発表,井上毅の文政期(26～27)の実業教育法制に理論的根拠を与えた。また,東京職工学校(23年に東京工業学校,34年に東京高等工業学校と改称,現東工大)の創設(1881)にも尽力し,23年に同校校長に就任。30年文部省の普通学務局長,31年同実業学務局長を務めた以外は,大正5(1916)年にその職を辞するまで東京職工学校校長としてわが国工業教育の発展に貢献した。<参考文献>三好信浩『明治期のエンジニア教育』

(山本正身)

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