The historical relation between Enbujo of Sapporo Agricultural School and the original drill hall of Massachusetts Agricultural College

Abstract

In 1876 William Smith Clark, the president of Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC), visited Japan with William Wheeler and David P. Penhallow in order to direct the establishment of Sapporo Agricultural School (SAS) modelling after MAC where military drill was required by Morrill Act. Military drill in SAS, however, was not actualized until 1878. After Clark left SAS in 1877, Wheeler succeeded him and established the course of military sciences and Enbujo, which means drill hall (no/designated as a national important cultural property), in 1878. As no drill hall ever existed in Japan in the 19th century, drill hall of MAC is supposed to be the model of Enbujo. However, relations between two drill halls are not examined yet. The purpose of the present paper is to elucidate the fact that Enbujo modelled on the drill hall of MAC. According to a folder preserved in the University of Massachusetts, the first drill hall is indicated to be built in 1883, so there must be a older drill hall Which acted as the model of Enbujo. After identifying the original drill hall of MAC built in 1869, special features of original one and Enbujo were compared. The original drill hall (50 ft. by 97 ft. ) of MAC was on the third floor of the chemical laboratory enlarged in 1869, i.e., nine years prior to building Enbujo. However, the use for military drill ceased in the year Enbujo was built, because the structure of building was too weak for that purpose. In 1883 MAC erected a new building for the use of military drill exclusively. Wheeler's original plan of Enbujo was, like the new drill hall of MAC, a single story building for military drill only. He probably drew a lesson from the experience of MAC, but actually Enbujo was very similar to the chemical laboratory of MAC itself. The lesson was taken in ways of making the scale of the upper floor of Enbujo smaller (40 ft. by 84 ft.) and making the structure solider than the original drill hall of MAC. Although the floor area of Enbujo was smaller, the ratio of the area to the number of students was higher than that of the original one of MAC. It may be concluded that the model of Enbujo was the chemical laboratory of MAC enlarged in 1869 and that Clark et al. tried not only to bring the educational system and spirit of MAC to Sapporo together with agricultural technology but also to realize almost the same type of agricultural school as MAC including its drill hall.