Johannes Justus Rein

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Johannes Justus Rein (1906). Photo by Aura Hertwig

Johannes Justus Rein (born January 27, 1835 in Raunheim , † January 23, 1918 in Bonn ) was a German geographer , initiator for his own regional research in Japan and a valued Japaneseologist .

Life and professional development

Johannes Justus Rein was born on January 27, 1835, the son of border guard Kaspar Rein and his wife Margarethe, née Schlapp, in Raunheim near Frankfurt am Main. He attended the general education school in Giessen and completed his education at the Realgymnasium Giessen in 1853. He then started studying mathematics, mineralogy, geology, botany and physics at the University of Giessen. In 1854 he switched to a teacher training college in Friedberg , which he attended until 1856. From the end of this year he worked as a teacher at the Scheib-Geisow'schen Institute in Frankfurt am Main. From 1858 to 1860 he worked as a teacher at the Knight and Cathedral School in Reval. During this time he passed his state examination as a teacher in 1859 at the University of Dorpat , now Tartu in Estonia . Already in this year he was keen to travel and was open to the regional characteristics in the different countries or regions. During his work in Dorpat he traveled to the countries of the Baltic Sea region and Russia . On April 9, 1861, he received his doctorate from the University of Rostock on the subject of climate, soil and vegetation in Estonia. phil.

After successfully completing his doctorate, Rein was briefly employed as a teacher in Reval and from there went on a longer stay abroad, which was due to professional reasons, but which he combined very intensively to continue his scientific studies through geographical, regional and natural science studies. In 1861, for example, he took advantage of an offer from the then British Governor to work as a tutor for his children in Bermuda. In addition, Johannes Justus Rein lived and worked as a private tutor in London and Hamilton (England). He did not return to Germany until 1863, and from 1863 to 1868 he taught chemistry and English at the higher commercial school in Frankfurt am Main. In the same year he accepted an offer for a position as senior teacher for mathematics and natural sciences at the model school in Frankfurt am Main. At the same time, he was director of the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft until 1870 , where, in addition to his own research topics, he was particularly committed to financing research trips. He himself made several study trips to Europe, Asia and North Africa until 1873. Here he mainly traveled and explored the Alpine countries of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. With the geologist Karl von Fritsch (1838-1906) he went on research trips to the Canary Islands in 1872. He also explored certain regions in Spain, Scandinavia, England, and North America, and on his return published numerous publications. In 1873 he was again director of the Senckenberg natural research society.

Johannes Justus Rein was married to Marie Elisabeth Caroline. The marriage resulted in 2 sons and 4 daughters.

Scientific actor and source of inspiration in Japan

In 1873 the Prussian Ministry of Commerce was looking for a “technically highly educated expert” who would be willing to travel to Japan for several years and examine traditional Japanese industry. The main aim was to research how technology such as enamelling, dyeing fabrics, lacquering, porcelain, but also the techniques of bronze processing and the production of leather paper are used in Japan in the manufacture of certain products. When deciding on the mission, the choice fell on the Frankfurt trade teacher Johannes Justus Rein. He was already familiar with many fundamental topics in chemistry and physics, was essentially informed about the state of industrial development in Germany and, through his varied travel activities, had experience and necessary behavior abroad.

In October 1873 Johannes Justus Rein began his trip to Japan. During his stay in Japan, he undertook a total of eight research trips, each lasting an average of two months. At the beginning he gained first impressions of the Japanese economy, which at that time was still in a pre-industrial state, the trade with its customs and traditions as well as the traditional handicrafts. In doing so, he was able to develop the actually desired topics to such an extent that after his return he was considered a specialist in technological and manufacturing processes in Japan. He had acquired a solid knowledge of the respective production technologies and documented common recipes and work steps. During his travels to the various regions of Japan, he collected and worked on geographic and cultural topics at the same time. During his stay, Rein was also active for the Berlin Cloissonné factory (production of traditional decorative arts) by Ravené & Süssmann in Berlin and recruited Japanese workers with special manufacturing experience. On his return trip in 1875, in addition to the various records and documentation, he also had seeds from the Japanese mulberry tree and the lacquer tree ( Lacksumach ) in his luggage. With it he made experiments in Germany, under the changed climatic conditions, to cultivate mulberry trees (for paper production) and lacquer trees.

Rein wrote extensive reports about his stay and the individual research areas. He also provided the first detailed account of the Japanese paint industry by a western scientist. He then summarized the final report of his stay in Japan in two volumes under the title Japan after trips and studies on behalf of the Royal Prussian Government . The first volume appeared in 1881 and the second volume in German in 1886. Translations into English, intended primarily for those interested in Great Britain and the USA, were available in 1883/84 and 1889, respectively. The German version of the first volume was even reissued in 1905 because of the steady demand. The importance of Rein's work can be gauged very well from the fact that until the 1920s, half a century after Rein's expedition, it was still considered the standard literature on traditional Japanese technologies. All in all, with these publications from 1881 a scientific work on the geography of Japan was available, which also included all Japanese islands. This view of a scientist on Japan made it possible to clearly support the opening of Japan which had just begun since the reign of the 122nd Meiji Tenno in 1868. His elaborations came just in time to dissolve the centuries-long isolation of Japan from other countries. His description of pre-industrial Japan was thus an invaluable source for the time. On this basis, important trade relations between Japan and Prussia developed on this basis, but above all the targeted exchange of scientific knowledge, of people with special knowledge required by the respective partner, for the benefit of both countries. In Japan itself, however, Johannes Justus Rein, with his work on site and the documentation developed, encouraged the start of his own regional research.

Continuation of the scientific work in Germany

After his return in 1876, Johannes Julius Rein was appointed to the chair of geography at the University of Marburg . Just two years later, in 1878, he became dean of the Philosophical Faculty and then moved to the University of Bonn in 1883 as the successor to the China expert Ferdinand von Richthofen , who was also on several research trips to Japan . In 1880 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In the same year Rein published the article "The Nakasnedo in Japan" in the collected work "Petermann's Geography". A great honor for him was his election as honorary member of the Royal Geographical Soc in 1888. in London and membership in Japan Soc. of London.

Further publications and elections to international bodies followed. Rein published his own article about Finland in the non-fiction book "Our knowledge of the earth" in 1889. In 1892 he wrote an article about "Columbus and his four journeys to the west" which was printed in the specialist book "Nature and Excellent Products from Spain". He acted twice as a judge at the world fairs in Chicago in 1893 and in Paris in 1900. As chairman of the "Niederrheinische Gesellschaft für Natur- und Heilkunde" (Lower Rhine Society for Natural Science and Medicine), he promoted the regional implementation of scientific findings and from 1900 onwards he held lectures in the field of commodity science at the Cologne School of Commerce. After a rich professional life, with the endowment as a Privy Councilor, he retired in 1910 and took his well-deserved retirement.

Johannes Justus Rein died in Bonn on January 24, 1918. His grave is in the Kessenicher Bergfriedhof .

  • Gravestone of the Rein family in the Kessenich mountain cemetery

Works

2nd edition of the 1st volume, Engelmann, Leipzig 1905.
  • Johannes Justus Rein: The Nakasendō in Japan according to own observations and studies following E. Knipping's itinerary recording and using his notes; with three cards . Perthes, Gotha 1880, p. 38 .
  • Finland in: Our Knowledge of the Earth, 1890
  • The Nakasendo in Japan in: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, 1880, Supplement No. 59
  • Columbus and his four voyages to the west , in: Nature and the Great Products of Spain, 1892
  • Contributions to the knowledge of the Spanish Sierra Nevada , in: Abhandlungen der Geographie, Vienna 1899

Appreciation

In 1980 a memorial stone with the inscription and the image of Rein was erected in honor of Johannes Justus Rein in the Kuwajima district (at that time in the Shiramine village, each). A year later on July 18, the monument was officially inaugurated. German ministers from the Tokyo embassy, ​​Dr. Georg Massion and the National MP, Keiwa OKuda and others. The Frankfurter Rundschau reported on this on July 20, 1981 and Main Spitze on July 22, 1981. The Rein-Gesellschaft was founded on July 12, 1883 in the Shiramine village on the occasion. Since then, this society has published an annual magazine.

literature

  • Ursula von den Driesch:  Rein, Johannes Justus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 341 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Matthias Koch and Sebastian Conrad (as editors), Johannes Julius Rein. Letters from a German geographer from Japan 1873 - 1875, monograph by the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Indicum Verlag, 2006
  • Wilhelm Lauer, Contributions to Geographical Japan Research: Lecture on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Johannes Justus Rein (1835–1918), 1969, Colloquium Geographicum, issue 10
  • Johannes Julius Rein (biographical sketch) writings of the Heimatverein Raunheim, issue 1, 1982
  • Festschrift for the celebration of the 70th birthday of Johannes Julius Rein, published by the Geografisches Verein Bonn

Web links

Wikisource: Johannes Justus Rein  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rein, Johann Justus. Hessian biography. (As of April 19, 2017). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ↑ a b Ursula von den Driesch:  Rein, Johannes Justus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 341 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Japan after traveling and studying on behalf of the Royal Prussian Government. 2 volumes. Engelmann, Leipzig 1881/86. ( Digitized and full text in the German Text Archive, Vol. 1, digitized and full text in the German Text Archive, Vol. 2): 2nd edition of the 1st volume, Engelmann, Leipzig 1905
personal data
SURNAME Rein, Johannes Justus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Raunheim
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1918
Place of death Bonn