Enomoto Takeaki

Enomoto Takeaki (榎本 武揚 Enomoto Takeaki, August 25, 1836–August 26, 1908) was a Japanese Navy admiral faithful to the Tokugawa Shogunate, who fought against the new Meiji government until the end of the Boshin War, but later served in the government.

Studies in Europe

Enomoto was born as a member of a retainer family of the Tokugawa clan. In the era of isolationist policy, Japan had strictly limited contacts with only a few foreign countries, like Korea, China and the Netherlands. Enomoto started learning Dutch in the 1850s, and after Japan?s ?opening? by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1855, he studied Dutch naval warfare in the Bakufu?s Naval Training Center in Nagasaki and at the Tsukiji Warship Training Center in Edo. By the age of 26, he was sent to the Netherlands, where he studied naval warfare, 1862-1867. He reportedly became fluent in both the Dutch and English languages.

Related Topics:
Tokugawa clan - Japan - Korea - China - Netherlands - Matthew Perry - Nagasaki

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He returned to Japan onboard the Kaiyō Maru, a state-of-the-art steam warship purchased from the Netherlands by the shogun government.

Related Topics:
Kaiyō Maru - Netherlands - Shogun

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Upon his return, Enomoto Takeaki was promoted to Kaigun Fukusosai (海軍副総裁), the second highest rank in the Tokugawa Shogunate Navy, at the age of 31.

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During his stay in Europe, Enomoto had realised that the telegraph would be an important means of communication in the future, and started planning a system to connect Edo and Yokohama when he returned to Japan in 1867 on board the Kaiyō Maru.

Related Topics:
Edo - Yokohama - Kaiyō Maru

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