Heinrich Edmund Naumann
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Edmund Naumann (September 11, 1854 – February 1, 1927) was a German
geologist
, regarded as the “father of Japanese geology” in Meiji period
Japan
.
by the Meiji government in 1875 to introduce the science of geology
to Japan, teaching at the Kaisei Gakkō, the forerunner to Tokyo Imperial University.
Naumann arrived in Japan just one month before his twenty-fifth birthday, receiving a yearly salary of 3600 yen. Overall, he spent ten years in Japan, and wrote numerous scientific papers, most of which remain untranslated from the original German
. During his early years in Japan, he both cooperated with, and competed against, fellow geologist John Milne
. Both were part of the European scientific community interested in exploring the origins of the earth and the fledgling science of vulcanology. In 1877, Naumann and Milne investigated a volcanic eruption on the island of Izu Ōshima
near Tokyo
. However, by the 1880s, Milne focused more on seismology
, whereas Naumann concentrated on his attempts to complete a geological map of the Japanese archipelago
.
Naumann conducted numerous geological survey
s, traveling over 10,000 kilometers within Japan, covering almost every province in Honshū
, Kyūshū
and Shikoku
. In 1879, Naumann began publishing his ideas of the geological origins of the Japanese archipelago
, which he speculated was created from three major foldings of the Earth’s crust, in the pre-Paleozoic
, late Paleozoic
and Miocene
era, and that Japan was composed of two major mountain systems, in the southwest and the northeast. The divide between these mountain systems, a great fault zone which vertically divides the main Japanese island of Honshū from the Izu peninsula
in the southwest to Toyama
in the northeast, he labeled the “Fossa Magna”.
Per Naumann's suggestions, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce
established a Geology Department in 1878, which began the process of systematically mapping
the Japanese archipelago. The foundation of the Geological Survey of Japan came a year before the foundation of the equivalent United States Geological Survey
in the United States.
Naumann was also interested in paleontology
. In 1881, he published a paper on his findings with regards to the findings of fossilized bones
remains of elephant
s in Japan. Elephants were known from the Tokugawa period through Buddhism
and as samples brought by Dutch embassies
, but were not previously known to have been native to Japan, so his findings received widespread popular publicity. One of the fossils Naumann examined from modern-day Tokyo proved to be a previously unknown extinct species, which was named in his honor: Palaeoloxodon
naumanni). Other specimens were found at Lake Nojiri
in Nagano Prefecture
, and have later been discovered in Kyūshū.
Naumann did not actually excavate any fossils, but examined samples unearthed by Japanese and Western antiquarians, including samples excavated by Dr Edward S. Morse
at the Omori
shell mounds several years previously. The main significance of Naumann’s report was his placement of the fossils in the Pliocene
era. Due to the quantity of fossils discovered (both of elephants and other animals as well as of plants), Naumann postulated that Japan was once connected to the Asian mainland via several land bridge
s through what is now the Korean Peninsula
, the Kurile Islands and the Ryukyu islands
, and that the climate at the time was tropical. This discovery, based by scientific evidence, that the Japanese archipelago was geologically an appendage to the Asian mainland, had geo-political implications which were not lost on the Meiji government, and geographical offices with often overlapping or conflicting jurisdictions were soon created within the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance
, Home Minister
, and Ministry of War
.
Naumann’s years in Japan were eventful. Known for his quick temper, Naumann was known occasionally beating his students, and also came to blows with a subordinate, fellow German topographer
, Otto Schmidt, whom he accused of having an affair with his wife. The brawl, which occurred in 1882, was highly public and was sensationalized in the foreign language newspapers in Japan. It resulted in Naumann’s arrest and trial before the German Consulate, at which he was fined 300 Reichsmarks, but he was able to keep his position.
After his return to Germany, Naumann continued his work in geology, making important contributions to geological understanding of Anatolia
and Mesopotamia
.
However, after his return to Germany, Naumann also made numerous public comments that were highly critical of Japanese modernization efforts, some of which were published in the Allgemeine Zeitung
newspaper. Naumann argued that Japan was a dirty, impoverished and backward country, plagued by infectious disease
s and barbarous customs. He lambasted the Japanese government for importing western culture and technologies indiscriminately, without any true understanding. Naumann stated that while there were many aspects of Japanese traditional culture that were admirable, the modern Japanese themselves had only contempt for their own history and traditions, and that this lack of respect for their own culture was a serious weakness. These statements were read by Mori Ogai
, who was studying western medicine in Berlin
at the time, leading to a heated newspaper debate. While Mori could easily refute some of Naumann’s statements regarding Japanese backwardness, he found it more difficult to refute Naumann’s criticism on Japanese westernization. On his return to Japan, Mori himself began to question and oppose efforts at shallow modernization and mimicry of all things Western, and to push for more respect for Japanese traditions. The arguments Naumann postulated were contemporary and similar with the writings of Japanese journalist Kuga Katsunan
.
The city of Itoigawa, Niigata
in Japan opened a museum in Naumann’s honor in 1973.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
, regarded as the “father of Japanese geology” in Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Biography
Heinrich Edmund Naumann was a foreign advisorO-yatoi gaikokujin
The Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese as oyatoi gaikokujin , were those foreign advisors hired by the Japanese government for their specialized knowledge to assist in the modernization of Japan at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji era. The term is sometimes...
by the Meiji government in 1875 to introduce the science of geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
to Japan, teaching at the Kaisei Gakkō, the forerunner to Tokyo Imperial University.
Naumann arrived in Japan just one month before his twenty-fifth birthday, receiving a yearly salary of 3600 yen. Overall, he spent ten years in Japan, and wrote numerous scientific papers, most of which remain untranslated from the original German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. During his early years in Japan, he both cooperated with, and competed against, fellow geologist John Milne
John Milne
For other uses, see John Milne .John Milne was the British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph.-Biography:...
. Both were part of the European scientific community interested in exploring the origins of the earth and the fledgling science of vulcanology. In 1877, Naumann and Milne investigated a volcanic eruption on the island of Izu Ōshima
Izu Oshima
is a volcanic island in the Izu Islands and administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, Japan, lies about 100 km south of Tokyo, 22 km east of the Izu Peninsula and 36 km southwest of Bōsō Peninsula. serves as the local government of the island...
near Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. However, by the 1880s, Milne focused more on seismology
Seismology
Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic,...
, whereas Naumann concentrated on his attempts to complete a geological map of the Japanese archipelago
Japanese Archipelago
The , which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean...
.
Naumann conducted numerous geological survey
Geological survey
The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information....
s, traveling over 10,000 kilometers within Japan, covering almost every province in Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
and Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
. In 1879, Naumann began publishing his ideas of the geological origins of the Japanese archipelago
Japanese Archipelago
The , which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean...
, which he speculated was created from three major foldings of the Earth’s crust, in the pre-Paleozoic
Neoproterozoic
The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1,000 to 542.0 ± 1.0 million years ago. The terminal Era of the formal Proterozoic Eon , it is further subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran Periods...
, late Paleozoic
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...
and Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
era, and that Japan was composed of two major mountain systems, in the southwest and the northeast. The divide between these mountain systems, a great fault zone which vertically divides the main Japanese island of Honshū from the Izu peninsula
Izu Peninsula
The is a large mountainous peninsula with deeply indented coasts to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshū, Japan. Formerly the eponymous Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture...
in the southwest to Toyama
Toyama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Hokuriku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Toyama.Toyama is the leading industrial prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, and has the industrial advantage of cheap electricity due to abundant water resources....
in the northeast, he labeled the “Fossa Magna”.
Per Naumann's suggestions, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)
The ' a cabinet ministry in the government of Japan responsible for oversight of the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Its acronym is MAFF.-History:...
established a Geology Department in 1878, which began the process of systematically mapping
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
the Japanese archipelago. The foundation of the Geological Survey of Japan came a year before the foundation of the equivalent United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
in the United States.
Naumann was also interested in paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
. In 1881, he published a paper on his findings with regards to the findings of fossilized bones
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
remains of elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s in Japan. Elephants were known from the Tokugawa period through Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and as samples brought by Dutch embassies
Dejima
was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
, but were not previously known to have been native to Japan, so his findings received widespread popular publicity. One of the fossils Naumann examined from modern-day Tokyo proved to be a previously unknown extinct species, which was named in his honor: Palaeoloxodon
Palaeoloxodon
Palaeoloxodon is an extinct subgenus of elephants, containing the various species of straight-tusked elephant. Its species' remains have been found in Bilzingsleben, Germany; Cyprus; Japan; Sicily; Malta; and recently in England during the excavation of the second Channel Tunnel. The English...
naumanni). Other specimens were found at Lake Nojiri
Lake Nojiri
is in the town of Shinano, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Second to Lake Suwa among lakes in Nagano Prefecture, Nojiri is a resort, the location of the first pumped-storage hydroelectricity in Japan, and the site of a paleolithic excavation....
in Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
, and have later been discovered in Kyūshū.
Naumann did not actually excavate any fossils, but examined samples unearthed by Japanese and Western antiquarians, including samples excavated by Dr Edward S. Morse
Edward S. Morse
Edward Sylvester Morse was an American zoologist and orientalist.-Early life:Morse was born in Portland, Maine as the son of a Congregationalist preacher. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences...
at the Omori
Omori
is a district located a few kilometres south of Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan accessed by rail via the Keihin Tohoku line, or by road via Dai Ichi Keihin. Ōmorikaigan, the eastern area of Ōmori, can be reached via the Keikyu line....
shell mounds several years previously. The main significance of Naumann’s report was his placement of the fossils in the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
era. Due to the quantity of fossils discovered (both of elephants and other animals as well as of plants), Naumann postulated that Japan was once connected to the Asian mainland via several land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...
s through what is now the Korean Peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...
, the Kurile Islands and the Ryukyu islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
, and that the climate at the time was tropical. This discovery, based by scientific evidence, that the Japanese archipelago was geologically an appendage to the Asian mainland, had geo-political implications which were not lost on the Meiji government, and geographical offices with often overlapping or conflicting jurisdictions were soon created within the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Finance (Japan)
The ' is one of cabinet-level ministries of the Japanese government. The ministry was once named Ōkura-shō . The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Finance , who is a member of the Cabinet and is typically chosen from members of the Diet by the Prime Minister.The Ministry's origin was back in...
, Home Minister
Home Ministry (Japan)
The ' was a Cabinet-level ministry established under the Meiji Constitution that managed the internal affairs of Empire of Japan from 1873-1947...
, and Ministry of War
Ministry of War of Japan
The , more popularly known as the Ministry of War of Japan, was cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army...
.
Naumann’s years in Japan were eventful. Known for his quick temper, Naumann was known occasionally beating his students, and also came to blows with a subordinate, fellow German topographer
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, Otto Schmidt, whom he accused of having an affair with his wife. The brawl, which occurred in 1882, was highly public and was sensationalized in the foreign language newspapers in Japan. It resulted in Naumann’s arrest and trial before the German Consulate, at which he was fined 300 Reichsmarks, but he was able to keep his position.
After his return to Germany, Naumann continued his work in geology, making important contributions to geological understanding of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
.
However, after his return to Germany, Naumann also made numerous public comments that were highly critical of Japanese modernization efforts, some of which were published in the Allgemeine Zeitung
Allgemeine Zeitung
The Allgemeine Zeitung was in the first part of the 19th century the leading political daily journal in Germany. It has been widely recognised as the first world class German journal and is a symbol of the German press abroad....
newspaper. Naumann argued that Japan was a dirty, impoverished and backward country, plagued by infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s and barbarous customs. He lambasted the Japanese government for importing western culture and technologies indiscriminately, without any true understanding. Naumann stated that while there were many aspects of Japanese traditional culture that were admirable, the modern Japanese themselves had only contempt for their own history and traditions, and that this lack of respect for their own culture was a serious weakness. These statements were read by Mori Ogai
Mori Ogai
was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...
, who was studying western medicine in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
at the time, leading to a heated newspaper debate. While Mori could easily refute some of Naumann’s statements regarding Japanese backwardness, he found it more difficult to refute Naumann’s criticism on Japanese westernization. On his return to Japan, Mori himself began to question and oppose efforts at shallow modernization and mimicry of all things Western, and to push for more respect for Japanese traditions. The arguments Naumann postulated were contemporary and similar with the writings of Japanese journalist Kuga Katsunan
Kuga Katsunan
-External links:*...
.
The city of Itoigawa, Niigata
Itoigawa, Niigata
is a city located in rustic southern Niigata Prefecture, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 48,653 and the density of 65.2 persons per km². The total area is 746.24 km².The city was founded on June 1, 1954...
in Japan opened a museum in Naumann’s honor in 1973.
Major works
- Vom Goldenen Horn zu den Quellen des Euphrat (1893)
- Geologische Arbeiten in Japan (1901)