Background
Amane Nishi was born on 7 March 1829 in the domain of Tsuwano in the province of Iwami, the son of a samurai physician. His common name was Michitaro; he was later called Shusuke and, after the Meiji Restoration, Amane.
西 周
Amane Nishi was born on 7 March 1829 in the domain of Tsuwano in the province of Iwami, the son of a samurai physician. His common name was Michitaro; he was later called Shusuke and, after the Meiji Restoration, Amane.
He was ordered by his domain to specialize in Chinese studies, but when he was sent to Edo for that purpose, he determined to devote himself to Western studies instead, removing himself from the authority of his domain in 1854. In 1857, on completion of his studies, he was assigned a position in the Bansho Shirabesho, an institute for Western studies set up in Edo by the shogunate. In 1862 he was ordered by the shogunate to go to Holland for further study. Along with Tsuda Masamichi, he studied political science, law, economics, and philosophy under a professor named Vissering of the University of Leyden.
Upon his return to Japan in 1865, he became a retainer of the shogunate and was made a professor of the Kaiseijo, a school for Western studies that grew out of the Bansho Shirabesho.
In 1867 he accompanied the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to Kyoto, where the power of government was formally restored to the court. The following year, when the shogunate had been abolished and Yoshinobu assigned to a domain in Shizuoka, he accompanied him there, becoming a senior teacher of the Numazu Naval Academy and introducing Western style teaching methods.
In 1870 he was invited to take a position in the Mciji government, being assigned to the Ministry of Military Affairs, where he worked under the direction of Yamagata Aritomo to reorganize Japan’s military system. In 1873 he joined Mori Arinori, Nishimura Shigeki, Tsuda Masamichi, and others in forming an association of scholars and intellectuals known as the Meirokusha; they published a magazine, Meiroku Zasshi, to make known their views and worked to promote the Westernization of Japan.
In 1879 he became head of the Tokyo Academy, in 1882 a member of the Genroin, and in 1890 a member of the Upper House of the Diet.
He devoted his life to introducing European and American civilization to Japan.