[Civil engineering education at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo: an analysis based on Ayahiko Ishibashi's memoirs].

Abstract

The Imperial College of Engineering (ICE or Kobu-Daigakko) in Tokyo, founded in 1873 under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works, was one of the most prominent modern institutions of engineering education in early Meiji Japan. Previous studies have revealed that the ICE offered large scale practical training programs at enterprises of the Ministry, which sometimes lasted several months, and praised their ideal combination of theory and practice. In reality, it has been difficult to evaluate the quality of education at the ICE mainly because of scarcity of sources. ICE students published a collection of memoirs for alumni members, commemorating the fiftieth-year of the history of the Tokyo Imperial University. Drawing on the previously neglected collection of students' memoires, this paper appraises the education of civil engineering offered by the ICE. The paper also compares this collection with other official records of the college, and confirms it as a reliable source, even though it contains some minor errors. The author particularly uses the memoirs by Ayahiko Ishibashi, one of the first graduates from its civil engineering course, who left sufficient reminiscences on education that he received. This paper, as a result, illustrates that the main practical training for the students of civil engineering was limited to designing process, including surveying. Furthermore, practical training that Ishibashi received at those enterprises often lacked a plan, and its effectiveness was questionable.