German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia

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OAG and German Cultural Center Tokyo

The German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (East Asia Society for short) was founded by scientists, business people and diplomats in Tokyo . Together with the Asiatic Society of Japan founded a year earlier , it is one of the oldest foreign scientific societies in Japan that is still active today.

1873-1914

The creation of the OAG is described in the following words:

“On March 22nd, J., the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor and King , Germans resident in Yedo and Yokohama came together to found a German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia. The purpose of the society was to create a common center for the endeavors of the individual, and in this way to stimulate research on the one hand, and to make the results of the same larger circles accessible on the other. "

The OAG had set out to research East Asia and was able to rely on the German scholars who, at the invitation of the Japanese government, were active as foreign experts ( o-yatoi gaikokujin ) in Japan. In the first decades the German envoy took over the chairmanship, which was helpful when it came to supporting the Japanese government, which took and takes status issues very seriously, e.g. B. in arranging or leasing rooms. Moreover, the first envoys showed an interest in Japan beyond the purely political.

In the OAG notifications , the contributions of natural scientists, doctors and lawyers initially predominated , but there was also an interest in folklore. They even put on a small museum, which was equipped with acquisitions by the members and gifts from the Japanese and for which rooms were rented in a side temple of the Zōjō-ji . For reasons of cost, however, it was given up in 1878, especially since the Japanese state founded museums itself. The holdings were donated to the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig - deliberately to promote a non-Prussian museum. When the club was able to operate its own house after changing club premises in 1885, the social part of club life with bowling and men's evenings also developed.

Since the language of the association was German, Japanese members are only gradually found in the register of associations, in prominent positions Prime Minister Katsura Taro and Ambassador Aoki Shūzō . In July 1874 B. Miyake published an article on Japanese obstetrics. The deceased honorary member of medicine Aoyama Tanemichi (1859-1917) was even erected a memorial on the site in Kōjimachi .

After 1900, the focus shifted to the humanities and social sciences. And when in 1907 the German ambassador showed no interest in the chairmanship, an amendment to the articles of association created the position of honorary chairmanship, which he then accepted. The connection with the embassy continued to be beneficial. So was z. B. Dietrich von Klitzing († 1940), who visited Tokyo with his wife, coming from Indonesia in 1912, was made aware of the OAG by the ambassador Count von Rex . Von Klitzings then donated 15,000 marks, which with additional donations was sufficient for a new club house in a prestigious location. In 1914, a piece of land near the embassy was purchased and plans for a large house were ready. But then the First World War broke out.

Personalities of the OAG in the early years

1914-1945

OAG house (planning 1914)

The outbreak of the First World War meant that the purchase of land and the use of the existing building remained. The club's activities were largely stopped, and the existing house was at least maintained until 1919, when the complex was confiscated as enemy property.

In 1920 the property was returned, with Ambassador Solf and Count Gotō Shimpei helping. The association was able to resume its activities, but volumes 14–16 of MOAG show how difficult it was to close the journalistic gaps of the last six years. After all, it was possible to add a first floor to the house in 1923 and build a fire-proof building for the valuable library. The O-yatoi system was long over, now Germans in “normal” positions as lecturers at Japanese universities determined the activities of the OAG. After 1933, like all German institutions abroad, the OAG was increasingly drawn into the pull of National Socialism. The air raids in World War II finally destroyed the club house.

Since 1945

After the end of the war, the property was retained by the Japanese. In addition, many Germans were repatriated, so that between 1945 (or 1948) and 1951 the OAG practically no longer existed.

After the property was returned in 1950, it was sold and a smaller one was acquired in Akasaka and a new clubhouse with a lecture hall and library was built, which was inaugurated on March 21, 1956. In 1977, the Federal Republic of Germany, which was looking for inexpensive accommodation for the Goethe-Institut, signed a contract with the OAG: The OAG made the valuable property available for a new building, with facilities on the ground floor, 1st and 2nd floors of the Federal is used. The OAG received the 3rd floor, on which it housed its office and library and rents out additional rooms. This “OAG House / German Cultural Center” started operations in 1979. - The OAG's scientific monopoly of the early years no longer exists, but as a private research institution, the OAG still makes an important contribution to understanding Japan.

Today there are different levels of OAG membership: Ordinary members are entitled to vote, supporting members are not entitled to vote. There is also a discounted membership for students. Since the events are usually held in German, knowledge of German is an (indirect) requirement. The current chairperson has been Karin Yamaguchi since 2010 , who is the first woman in the history of the OAG to lead the organization.

The ambassadors of the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland in Japan are honorary chairmen of the OAG.

Location of the German Embassy until 1945 (black rectangle), OAG 1914 (red rectangle) and Akasaka Mitsuke (black circle) on a map from 1884.

Club rooms and houses

On the search for clues to the club houses, the eventful history of a foreign club in the Meiji and Taishō period reveals itself:

  1. 1875–1878 rooms in the Tenkō-in ( 天光 院 ), a side temple of the Zōjō-ji
  2. 1878–1880 rooms on the grounds of Yushima Seidō ( 湯 島 聖堂 )
  3. 1880–1882 Ueno, Shikendera ( 四 軒 寺 ) No. 5
  4. 1882–1885 temporary use of rooms in the German Embassy ( 麹 町 区 永田 町 )
  5. 1885–1914 first own house: 1-8, Imagawa-koji, Kanda-ku ( 神 田 区 今 川 小路 )
  6. 1914–1950 second house: 5-18, Hirakawa-chō, Kōjimachi-ku ( 麹 町 区 平 河 町 )
  7. 1956–1978: third house: 7-5-56, Akasaka, Minato-ku, ( 港区 赤 坂 )
  8. 1979 – until today: fourth house, used together with the Federal Republic, on the same place.

The OAG house is located between the Aoyama Itchōme and Akasaka Mitsuke subway stations in the heart of Tokyo. The address is: OAG House, 7-5-56, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan. There is also a subgroup in the Kansai region ( Osaka - Kobe - Kyōto ), which has a house in Kobe.

Coming to terms with the past

Within the OAG, the committee for the history of the OAG has been dealing with the past of the company since 2003 , especially in the years 1933–1945. A critical overall presentation is intended and will appear in 2014.

Publications

Shortly after its creation, the OAG published the first issues of the OAG (MOAG) communications, which initially included minutes of the meetings, etc. In 1926 the news of the OAG (NOAG) was added.

Today the OAG publishes around one or two monographs and as many paperbacks every year. In addition, the OAG Notes , which contain articles, reviews and event information, appear ten times a year . The following publications, among others, provide an overview of the history of the OAG, which on the one hand are secondary literature and on the other hand contain additional information about the MOAG:

  • OAG, The Board of Directors (Ed.): Speeches on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the OAG on March 22nd. 1993, Tokyo, 1993 (p. 77).
  • OAG, The Board (Ed.): Festschrift. The new OAG house 1979, Tokyo, 1980 (p. 60).
  • OAG, The Board of Directors (ed.): History of the German Society for Natural and Ethnographic East Asia 1873-1933, Tokyo, 1933.
  • OAG, The Board of Directors (ed.): The history of the company, Tokyo, 1923.
  • OAG, The Board of Directors (ed.): Commemorative publication to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the foundation festival of the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia on October 29, 1898, in: MOAG, Suppl. VI, Tokyo, 1902, pp. 1-10.

literature

  • Eberhard Friese: "120 Years of OAG - A Society Makes Science History", in: Lutz Walter (Ed.), Japan seen through the eyes of the West. Printed European maps from the early 16th to the 19th century, Munich / NY, 1994, pp. 9–11.
  • Martin Ramming: "Japan Handbook". Steiniger-Verlag Berlin, 1941,
  • Ludwig Riess : “The first twenty-five years of the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia. 1873–1898 ”, in: Derselbe, Allerlei aus Japan, Berlin, 1906, pp. 126–136.
  • Robert Schinzinger and Carl von Weegmann : The history of the OAG 1873–1980, Tokyo, 1982.
  • Robert Schinzinger: "The relationship between OAG and the Asiatic Society in a hundred years", in: OAG (ed.), Six lectures in the anniversary year 1972–73, Tokyo, 1974, pp. 82–97.
  • Robert Schinzinger: “From my OAG portfolio, Christmas speeches in Tokyo”, Tokyo, 1971.
  • Christian W. Spang: "The wandering years of the OAG until the 'oyatoi bloom'", in: Reinold Ophüls-Kashima et al. (Ed.), Tokyo: Construction of a metropolis - social, political, cultural, historical, Munich: Iudicium, 2008, pp. 261–289.
  • Christian W. Spang: “Notes on the early history of the OAG until it was registered as a 'Japanese Association' (1904)”, in: NOAG, Vol. 179/180 (12/2006), pp. 67–91. Japanology / noag / noag 2006_4.pdf
  • Christian W. Spang: “The early days of NOAG 1926–1945: From the bulletin to the chronicle of the OAG history”, in: NOAG, vol. 179/180 (12/2006), pp. 55–65. 2006_3.pdf
  • Christian W. Spang: "The failed anniversary (margin notes 4)", in: OAG Notes, 1/2006, pp. 26–33.
  • Christian W. Spang: “The expansion of the OAG in Asia (1930–45) (margin notes 3)”, in: OAG Notes, 9/2005, pp. 35–44.
  • Christian W. Spang: "The failed museum project, Leipzig and the 'Berlin section' (margin notes 2)", in: OAG Notes, 2/2005, pp. 32–39.
  • Christian W. Spang: "The news of the OAG (NOAG): A magazine against your will (margin notes 1)", in: OAG Notes, 10/2004, pp. 35–41.
  • Christian W. Spang: "The first Japanese in the German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG)", in: Foreign Language Journal (Daitô Bunka Daigaku), Volume 42 (2013), pp. 81-107.
  • Rolf-Harald Wippich: "Max von Brandt and the founding of the OAG (Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia) - The first German scientific association in East Asia", in: Studies of the Institute for Culture of the German-Speaking Countries, 1993, No. 11, Pp. 64-77.
  • Rolf-Harald Wippich: "The OAG survey of 1957 (margin notes 5)", in: OAG Notes, 5/2007, pp. 46–50.

Web links

Remarks

  1. On the same day, members of the Iwakura mission , which also explored Germany on their world tour, took part in the emperor's birthday party in Berlin .
  2. During this time, an independent OAG (Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia) was founded in Hamburg, which is still active today and has taken over the publication of the OAG (NOAG) magazine, which was founded in Tokyo in 1926 .

Individual evidence

  1. MOAG Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 1
  2. Fig. In History of Society, 1923 , p. 14
  3. German prisoners of war could use the library.
  4. See district map ( kiriezu ): Tōto shitaya ezu . The address is not a temple, as the ending -dera suggests, but a path along which a number of Kan'ei-ji temples were located. In the Meiji period, the area fell to the Mombu-shō . Today the National Museum of Natural Sciences and the National Museum of Western Art are located there .
  5. Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.oag.jp