UCL-Japan history

UCL-Japan relations at a glance

Long-lasting relations between UCL & Japan

Over 160 years ago, two groups of Japanese students came to UCL from Choshu (Chōshū-han, the Choshu Domain, current Yamaguchi Prefecture) in 1863 and Satsuma (Satsuma-han, the Satsuma Domain, current Kagoshima Prefecture and part of the southwest Miyazaki Prefecture) in 1865.

They are known as the Choshu Five and the Satsuma 19. The Choshu Five included Hirobumi Itō (First Prime Minister of Japan) and Kaoru Inoue (First Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Empire of Japan), and the Satsuma 19 comprised Arinori Mori (First Minister of Education of Japan) and Tomoatsu Godai (Founder of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce).

Upon return, they played leading roles in modernising Japan.

Choshu Five

Members of the Choshu Domain (Chōshū-han, current Yamaguchi Prefecture) travelled to England in order to study at UCL in 1863.

While it was still illegal to leave Japan due to Sakoku, the seclusion policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, those five promising students, aged between 20 and 27, left Japan from the port of Yokohama, disguised themselves as English sailors.

Satsuma 19

The Satsuma 19 was a group of students from Satsuma (current Kagoshima Prefecture and part of the Yamaguchi Prefecture), yet in fact 17 students were from Satsuma, one was from Tosa (current Kochi Prefecture) and another was from Nagasaki (current Nagasaki Prefecture).

15 were students, mostly from Kaiseijo, Satsuma’s new college of Western Studies established in 1864, and four were supervisors.

Upon arrival in 1865, 14 of the Satsuma students were admitted to UCL to study chemistry under the tutelage of Professor Alexander Williamson, hence the group are also referred to the Satsuma 14.

The youngest member of the group Kanae Nagasawa, pictured below, was too young for university, therefore he was sent to Aberdeen, Scotland to attend a grammar school for two years. He, along with five other Satsuma students, moved to New York, US to study winemaking, then to California where he was the first former Japanese national to settle in the United States. Nagasawa became known as the ‘Grape King’.

Back row (from left to right):

Yoshinari Hatakeyama (畠山義成)

Yaichi Takami (高見弥一)

Hisanari Murahashi (村橋久成)

Ainoshin Tōgō (東郷愛之進)

Tokinari Nagoya (名越時成)

Front row (from left to right):

Arinori Mori (森有礼)
Japan’s First Minister of Education
Established Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo

Junzō Matsumura (松村淳蔵)

Hironari/Hiroyasu Nakamura (中村博愛)

UCL celebrates the historical legacy

UCL symbolises its significant history in the Japanese Garden.

The university’s Japanese Garden connects the South Cloisters in the Wilkins Building (UCL Main Building) and the new state-of-the-art Student Centre, which opened its doors to its students in February 2019. The name originates from the UCL Japan Monument, pictured blow, paying a tribute to UCL’s earliest students from Japan; the Choshu Five and the Satsuma 19.

There is a public artwork ‘Fragments of Memory’ by Dutch artist Bouke de Vries in the garden, in front of the Student Centre.

A total of 12 cherry trees were donated to UCL by the Sakura Cherry Project in 2019, and several of those donated trees can be found in the space, complementing the courtyard even more Japanese, as cherry blossom (sakura) is the national tree of Japan.

Inside the South Cloisters, the Japanese poster named ‘UCL and the Pioneers of Modern Japan’ is hung, presenting the strong connection between UCL and Japan.

Japanese Garden at UCL

The Japan Monument in the UCL’s Japanese Garden

Front (Engraved in Japanese)

一八六三年及び一八六五年にUCLを
訪れ、帰国後近代日本の基礎を築いた
先駆者達を讃える

一八六三年・文久三年

伊藤博文　井上　勝

井上　馨　遠藤謹助

山尾庸三

一八六五年・慶應元年

新納久脩　村橋久成

寺島宗則　名越時成

五代友厚　高見弥一

町田久成　東郷愛之進

畠山義成　町田申四郎

鮫島尚信　町田清蔵

松村淳蔵　朝倉盛明

森　有礼　中村博愛

吉田清成　堀孝之

長沢　鼎

Back (Engraved in English)

1863

KAORU INOUE   HIROBUMI ITO   YOZO YAMAO

MASARU INOUE   KINSUKE ENDO

1865

HISANOBU NIIRO   MUNENORI TERASHIMA   TOMOATSU GODAI

HISANARI MACHIDA   YOSHINARI HATAKEYAMA   NAONOBU SAMESHIMA

JUNZO MATSUMURA   ARINORI MORI   KIYONARI YOSHIDA

KANAE NAGASAWA   HISANARI MURAHASHI   TOKINARI NAGOYA

YAICHI TAKAMI   AINOSHIN TOGO   SHINSHIRO MACHIDA

SEIZO MACHIDA   MORIAKI ASAKURA   TAKAYUKI HORI

HAKUAI NAKAMURA

THESE WERE THE PIONEERS WHO CAME TO UCL IN 1863 AND 1865
AND RETURNED TO LAY THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN JAPAN

End face (Engraved in Japanese)

はるばるとこころ
つどいてはなさかる

Plaque

記念碑

一八六三年及び一八六五年にUCLを

訪れ学んだ、日本の先駆者達を称えて

日英友好協会

日英文化記念クラブ

その他有志の

努力と貴重な寄付により建立がなされ

一九九三年九月二日

駐英日本大使、北村汎氏が除幕された

THE MONUMENT TO THOSE WHO CAME

FROM JAPAN TO UCL IN 1863 AND 1865,

ERECTED WITH THE AID OF

GENEROUS DONATIONS FROM

THE ANGLO-JAPANESE FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY

AND THE JAPANESE-BRITISH CULTURE MEMORIAL CLUB

WAS UNVEILED BY

HIS EXCELLENCY MR HIROSHI KITAMURA,

AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN

ON 2ND SEPTEMBER 1993

‘Fragments of Memory’ by Bouke de Vries

Commissioned by the Public Art programme at UCL, Dutch artist Bouke de Vries’ two-metre-high bronze sculpture ‘Fragments of Memory’ celebrates vulnerability, fragility and the power of resilience.

This public artwork represents Kintsugi, Japanese technique of mending broken pottery.

Japanese poster in the South Cloisters