William Elliot Griffis - Modernizer in Japan

Modernizer in Japan

In September 1870 Griffis was invited to Japan by Matsudaira Shungaku, for the purpose of organizing schools along modern lines. In 1871, he was Superintendent of Education in the province of Echizen. In recompense, he was provided with a salary of $2,400, a house in Fukui and a horse.

In 1872-74, Griffis taught chemistry and physics at Kaisei Gakkō (the forerunner of Tokyo Imperial University). He prepared the New Japan Series of Reading and Spelling Books, 5 vols. (1872). He also published primers for Japanese students of the English language; and he and contributed to the Japanese press and to newspapers and magazines in the United States numerous papers of importance on Japanese affairs.

Griffis was joined by his sister, Margaret Clark Griffis, who became a teacher at the Tokyo Government Girls' School (later to become the Peeresses' School). By the time they left Japan in 1874, Griffis had befriended many of Japan's future leaders.

Griffis was a member of the Asiatic Society of Japan, the Asiatic Society of Korea, the Historical Society of the Imperial University of Tokyo, and the Meirokusha.