Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933): agriculturalist, scholar, Quaker, philosopher, statesman, educator. Dr. Nitobe was educated at Sapporo Agricultural College and Johns Hopkins University. Early in his life he expressed the desire "to be a bridge over the Pacific” and he devoted much of his life to promoting trust and understanding between the United States and Japan.

Nitobe was born in Morioka, Mutsu Province (present-day Iwate Prefecture). His father was a retainer to the local daimyo of the Nambu clan. In 1869 Nitobe moved to Tokyo under the adoptive care of his uncle, Tokitoshi Ohta, and in 1871, becomes his uncle's heir.

In 1884, Nitobe traveled to the United States where he stayed for three years, and studied economics and political science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. While in Baltimore he became a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It was through a Quaker community in Philadelphia that he met Mary Patterson Elkinton, whom he eventually married.

While at Johns Hopkins, he was granted an assistant professorship at the Sapporo Agricultural College, but was ordered to first obtain doctorate in agricultural economics in Germany. He completed his degree after three years in Halle University and returned briefly to the United States before he assumed his teaching position in Sapporo in 1891. By the time he returned to Japan, he had published books in English and in German, and had received the first of his five doctorate degrees.

Nitobe and Hamilton Wright Mabie in 1911 were the first exchange professors between Japan and the United States under the auspices of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

When the League of Nations was established in 1920, Nitobe became one of the Under-Secretaries General of the League, and moved to Geneva, Switzerland. He became a founding director of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (which later became UNESCO under the United Nations' mandate).

In October 1933 on the way home from an international conference held in Banff, Alberta, Nitobe caught pneumonia, took a turn for the worst and was rushed to the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Following an operation he died on October 15, 1933. Morioka, Nitobe's birth place, and Victoria have been sister cities since 1985.

Mary Elkinton Nitobe lived in Japan until her death in 1938. Mary compiled and edited many of Nitobe's unpublished manuscripts, including his memoirs of early childhood, and contributed greatly to the preservation of his writings.

His portrait was featured on the Series D of ¥5000 banknote, printed from 1984 to 2004. A Second Nitobe Memorial Garden has been built at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia.

Professor Kannosuke Mori of Chiba University, a distinguished Japanese Landscape Architect, was appointed to design the garden at the recommendation of the government of Japan. He personally directed the placement of each tree, stone and shrub. The principles of harmony, balance, and tranquility were employed in the garden's design. Evergreen trees are placed in contrast to the well-tended shrubs, flowering plants, and footbridges.

A path that encircles the garden symbolizes the eternal cycle of life. This garden reflects an idealized conception of nature with its harmony among natural forms - waterfalls, rivers, forests, islands and seas - and its balance between the masculine and feminine forces traditionally attributed to natural elements.

The Urasenke Foundation of Vancouver hosts tea ceremonies at Nitobe Memorial Garden throughout the summer. Visitors attending the ceremony can witness the formal preparation of tea and participate as guests. Tea ceremonies take place on the last Saturday of the month throughout the summer, at 1:00, 1:50, 2:40, 3:30 and 4:20.

The fee for participation is 5 Canadian dollars. Reservations are encouraged (604-939-7749) as space is limited to eight people for each ceremony.

This cycle is made up of five units (water, wood, fire, earth, metal), each of 12 years. The earthly branches are used to count years within these 12-year periods. Nitobe was born in the penultimate year (dog) of the water part of the cycle and died in the year of the rooster. However, the 12 earthly branches have also been used to count the months of the year and the 12 double-hours of the day.

The Nitobe lantern has carved in it a lotus blossom (flower of paradise and symbol of purity) and a dog (Nitobe's birth sign). Also carved are the 12 zodiacal signs or “earthly branches” (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig). On the Nitobe lantern, the rat is aligned to the north, taking precedence as the first sign: as such it indicates the month of December and the first (midnight) double-hour of the day. As one goes around the base of the Nitobe lantern, the passage of time is marked.

The Nitobe lantern has been interpreted to symbolise the male principle or “Father figure” as well as memorialising Nitobe himself. This lantern predates the Nitobe Memorial Garden. It was installed in the UBC Botanical Garden (then situated in the centre of Campus) in 1939 by the Japan Society and by the Japanese Associations of British Columbia with the inscription: “I.M., Inazo Nitobe, 1861-1933, Apostle of Goodwill Among Nations, Erected by his friends”.

A Kasuga lantern typically has a cylindrical column surmounted by an annulet (small ring). Above this is the lantern box, generally hexagonal and topped by a hexagonal roof with pronounced scrolls at the points. The top is often in the form of a stylised lotus flower. The name “Kasuga” refers to a Shinto shrine. The Kasuga Grand Shrine in Nara was established in 768 AD and at

Good times to visit are April - May for the cherry trees and rhododendrons, June for the Irises and October - November for the Fall foliage. After a rare Vancouver snowfall as well.

Enjoy!

Newsletter # 174
Arthur Erickson House and Garden

5630 Dunbar St. at 41st Ave.
Vancouver, BC, V6N 1W7

Phone: 604-684-4613

e-mail: collect@direct.ca

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