William Elliot Griffis

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William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.[1]

Griffis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a sea captain and later a coal trader. During the Civil War, he served three months in the 44th Pennsylvania Volunteers regiment after Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1863. After the war, he attended Rutgers University at New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1869.[1] At Rutgers, Griffis was an English and Latin tutor for Taro Kusakabe , a young samurai from the province of Echizen (part of modern Fukui).

After a year of travel in Europe, he studied at the Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Brunswick (known today as the New Brunswick Theological Seminary).[1]

Contents

[edit] 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.[2] In recompense, he was provided with a salary of $2,400, a house in Fukui and a horse.

Griffis with a group of his students.

In 1872-74, Griffis taught chemistry[1] and physics at Kaisei Gakko (forerunner of Tokyo Imperial University).[2] He prepared the New Japan Series of Reading and Spelling Books, 5 vols. (1872).[1] 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.

He 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 Society of the Sixth Year of Meiji.[2]

[edit] Education and ministry

Returning to the United States, Griffis attended Union Theological Seminary; and after finishing his studies in 1877, he was called to the ministry in a series of churches -- at the First Reformed Church, Schenectady, New York (1877-1886); at the Shawmut Congregational Church, Boston, Massachusetts (1886-1893); and at the First Congregational Church, Ithaca, New York (1893-1903). Concurrently, at Union College in 1884, he earned a higher degree, Doctor of Divinity (D.D.). Rutgers awarded him an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) in 1899.[2]

[edit] Writing and lectures

In 1903 he resigned from the active ministry to devote himself exclusively to writing and lectures. authorship and lecturing. His books on Japan and Japanese culture were complemented with extensive college and university lecture circuit itineraries. In addition to his own books and articles during this period, he also joined Inazo Nitobe in crafting what became his most well-known book, Bushido: The Soul of Japan.

The prolific writer was also a prolific traveller, making eleven trips to Europe -- primarily to visit the Netherlands. In 1898, he was at the enthronement of Queen Wilhelmina;[1] and he attended the Congress of Diplomatic History. He was amongst the group of Bostonians who wanted to commemorate the Pilgrim's roots in Holland; and the work was rewarded with the dedication of a memorial at Delfshaven and the placement of five other bronze historical tablets in 1909.[2] He was one of four Americans elected to the Netherlands Society of Letters in Leiden.[1]

In 1926, he was invited to return to Japan for the award of a second Order of the Rising Sun. A private rail car was provided by the Japanese government, and he visited several cities in the course of this return trip.[2]

Griffis was a founding member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (later to become the American Academy of Arts and Letters), the American Historical Association, and the U.S. Naval Institute. He died at his winter home in Florida in 1928.[2]

One of Griffis' two sons, Stanton Griffis, would become U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Egypt, Spain and Argentina under President Truman. Stanton Griffis was ambassador while Juan and Eva Peron were in power and wrote of his experiences in a book titled "Lying In State".

[edit] Honors

[edit] Time-line chronology

Griffis' life and publications are here organized chronologically.[3]

  • 1843 - Born September 17 in Philadelphia, the fourth child of seven and second son to John Limeburner Griffis and Anna Maria (Hess) Griffis.
  • 1850 - Observes the launching of the USS Susquehanna in Philadelphia. The Susquehanna, the largest steamship yet commissioned by the US Navy, was to be Commodore M C Perry's flagship on the 1853-1854 Naval Expedition to Japan.
  • 1860 - Sees the Shogun's Mission, the first Japanese Embassy to the US, when it visits Philadelphia.
  • 1863 - Serves in Pennsylvania's 44th Regiment in the Civil War.
  • 1869 - Graduates with AB (Bachelor of Arts degree) from Rutgers College. In the summer, tours Europe with his sister, Margaret Clark Griffis, and family friend, Edward Warren Clark.
  • 1870 - Sails for Japan to organize schools in Echizen.
  • 1871 - Named Superintendent of Education in Echizen.
  • 1872 - Awarded AM (Master of Arts degree) from Rutgers College. Publishes, in Yokohama, The New Japan Primer and The New Japan Pictorial Primer.
  • 1872-74 - Serves as Professor of Physics at the Imperial University, Tokyo. In 1872, Griffis's sister Margaret Clark Griffis joins him in Tokyo, and is appointed teacher, and then principal, of the first government school for girls (to become the Tokyo Female Normal School).
  • 1873 - Publishes The Tokio Guide and The Yokohama Guide (Yokohama).
  • 1874 - Griffis and Margaret Clark Griffis return to America.
  • 1877-86 - Serves as Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Schenectady, NY.
  • 1879 - Marries Katherine L. Stanton (1859-98).
  • 1880 - Publishes Japanese Fairy World: Thirty-five Stories from the Wonderlore of Japan.
  • 1882 - Publishes Corea: the Hermit Nation.
  • 1883 - Lillian Eyre Griffis (daughter) born in Schenectady.
  • 1885 - Publishes Corea: Without and Within.
  • 1886-93 - Serves as Pastor of the Shawmut Congregational Church in Boston, MA.
  • 1889 - Publishes The Lily Among Thorns: A Study of the Biblical Drama Entitled "The Song of Songs".
  • 1891 - Publishes Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations, and an edition of The Arabian Nights.
  • 1892 - Publishes Japan: In History, Folklore and Art.
  • 1893 - John Elliot Griffis (second son) born in Boston.
  • 1893-1903 - Serves as Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Ithaca, NY.
  • 1894 - Publishes Brave Little Holland and What She Taught Us.
  • 1897 - Publishes The Romance of Discovery: A Thousand Years of Exploration and the Unveiling of Continents.
  • 1899 - Publishes America in the East: A Glance at Our History, Prospects, Problems and Duties in the Pacific Ocean; The Romance of Conquest: The Story of American Expansion Through Arms and Diplomacy.
  • 1899 - Awarded LHD by Rutgers College.
  • 1900 - Marries Sarah Frances King (1868-1959). Publishes The American in Holland: Sentimental Rambles in the Eleven Provinces of the Netherlands; The Pathfinders of the Revolution: A Story of the Great March into the Wilderness and Lake George Region of New York in 1779; and Verbeck of Japan: A Citizen of No Country.
  • 1901 - Publishes In the Mikado's Service: A Story of Two Battle Summers in China.
  • 1902 - Publishes A Maker of the New Orient: Samuel Robbins Brown, Pioneer Educator in China, America, and Japan, the Story of his Life and Work, and Mighty England - Our Old Home.
  • 1903 - Resigns pastorate to write and lecture full time. Publishes John Chambers: Servant of Christ and Master of Hearts, and his Ministry in Philadelphia; Sunny Memories of Three Pastorates; and Young People's History of Holland.
  • 1904 - Publishes Dux Christus: An Outline Study of Japan.
  • 1907 - Decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, Fourth Class, by the Emperor of Japan. Publishes The Japanese Nation in Evolution: Steps in the Progress of a Great People, and Christ, the Creator of the New Japan.
  • 1908 - Publishes The Firefly's Lovers and Other Fairy Tales of Old Japan.
  • 1909 - Publishes The Story of the New Netherlands, the Dutch in America.
  • 1911 - Publishes China's Story in Myth, Legend, Art and Annals, and The Unmannerly Tiger and Other Korean Tales.
  • 1912 - Publishes A Modern Pioneer in Korea: The Life Story of Henry G Appenzeller; Might England: the Story of the English People; The Call of Jesus to Joy; Belgium, the Land of Art.
  • 1914 - Publishes The House We Live In, Architect and Tenant: Talks About the Body and the Right Use of It.
  • 1916 - Publishes Bonnie Scotland and What We Owe Her.
  • 1918 - Publishes Dutch Fairy Tales.
  • 1919 - Publishes Belgian Fairy Tales.
  • 1920 - Publishes Swiss Fairy Tales; Young People's History of the Pilgrims.
  • 1921 - Publishes Welsh Fairy Tales; The Dutch of the Netherlands in the Making of America.
  • 1922 - Publishes Korean Fairy Tales; Japanese Fairy Tales.
  • 1923 - Publishes The Story of the Walloons, at Home, in the Lands of Exile and in America.
  • 1924 - Publishes Proverbs of Japan: A Little Picture of the Japanese Philosophy of Life as Mirrored in Their Proverbs.
  • 1926 - Publishes The American Flag of Stripes and Stars: Mirror of the Nation's History, Symbol of Brotherhood and World Unity.
  • 1926-27 - With Frances King Griffis, journeys to Japan for the second time, stopping in Korea and Manchuria.
  • 1926 - Decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class.
  • 1928 - Dies in Florida, February 5.

[edit] Published works

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Brown, John Howard. (1904). "Griffis, William Elliot," The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Boston: The Biographical Society.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Dr. Griffis, Friend of Japan, Dies; Educator Who Helped Japanese Adapt Themselves to Western Civilization," New York Times. February 6, 1928.
  3. ^ a b Adam Mathew web.
  4. ^ William Elliot Griffis Collection, Alexander Library, Rutgers University.
  5. ^ "Art Notes," New York Times. December 24, 1890.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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