Introduction
Tohoku University is one of the seven imperial universities in Japan and considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. Established on June 22, 1907, Tohoku University has been contributing to science and technology to the world especially Japan since then. The establishment of Tohoku University was not free of obstacles. Financial difficulties almost made the establishment of Tohoku would never happen. Donation and funding have been playing an essential role in Tohoku University history and supporting Tohoku University to keep contributing to societies.
Donation on Early Establishment of Tohoku University
In the 1900s, Japan faced financial difficulties due to the Russo-Japanese War(1904-05). Therefore, the process of the establishment was hampered because the budget for Tohoku University was cut drastically. However, the process of the establishment should continue. The Minister of Education at that time, Nobuaki Makino, visited the Home Minister Takahashi Hara to talk about this problem and try to find the solution. Knowing the issue that Furukawa Family would make a public donation, they considered having Furukawa family help Japan by supporting the financial to build the building for a new university. Takashi Hara succeeded to approach Furukawa Mining Company for donations and received 1 million yen for the establishment. Prior to the donation, a tragic incident was the reason behind this. The environmental disaster which caused by Ashio copper mining led to huge destruction. Critics and protest directed to Furukawa Corporation arose from the citizen and continued for some years. Unable to escape from public critics, Furukawa had been thinking for a long time to make a public donation so that at least, it could rehabilitate Furukawa Corporation’s reputation among public. That was the first time, national university received donation from private company. Since then, more and more national university received donation and funding from private company. Despite the tragic incident, this event became a major turning point for the establishment of Tohoku University.
Donation for The Establishment and Expansion of the Library
The library first was built in a room within the College of Science. At that time, one aspect which was considered to begin the starting period of the library was purchasing Kano Bunko (The Kano Collection). To purchase those books, the first president of Tohoku University, Masataro Sawayanagi asked a Sendai businessman for donation. From this, He got 30,000 yen which wasn’t a small amount of money at that time. From this donation, Tohoku University was able to purchase total books reaching 108,000 collections. And since then, the library keeps expanding and has more and more collection and nowadays the collection is reaching 4 million books.
Land Donation for The Establishment of The College of Medicine
The College of Medicine was established at the Seiryo area in July 1915. The Miyagi Prefectural Hospital had just been built before, also at the Seiryo area. As for donation, Tohoku University received the land and the new hospital from Miyagi prefecture in 1913. The land covered 130,000 square meter where at that time it was a huge public donation. And now, those areas become Tohoku University Hospital.
Funding for The Establishment of The Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Engineering was established in 1919 after Sendai Special Technical School had changed its name into Special Department of Engineering. The building and facility were built in Katahira Area, and the funding came from government (national budget). The total cost was about 200 million yen. After the establishment, this faculty has contributed a lot to society through its research. For example, the Yagi-Uda Antenna which is used as a multipurpose receiving antenna such as TV and Radio.
Research Funding for IPCR(Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), ISRI (Iron and Steel Research Institute and IMR(Institute for Material Research)
Basically, the first reason behind the establishment of this institute was to meet the demands for chemicals, iron and steel supplies during World War 1. Before the establishment, the 2nd president, Tokiyuki Hojo, had some negotiations with public companies. Finally, the chemistry department received 15,000 yen donations for research funding from Sankyo Co. Ltd. While the physics department received 21,000 yen donations from Kichizaemon Sumitomo. Those companies didn’t give the donation for nothing, they expected feedback from the research’s result. They wanted to keep monopoly on the research’s result and patents so that it would benefit their companies in the future. Later, this institute would develop into ISRI(Iron and Steel Research Institute) in 1919. The establishment was again funded by Sumitomo’s donations. This time, the donation was really huge, it reached 150,000 yen. In 1922, this institute changed its name into IMR (Institute for Materials Research) and finally, Tohoku University was able to establish research institute through government funding rather than public company donations.
Saito Foundation for Research Funding of Tohoku University
At that time, the funding for research which the university was able to receive were mainly public academic research funding such as the Ministry of Education and the others were from foundations such as Saito foundation. Saito foundation was established by Zenuemon Saito in 1923, he was the second largest landowner in Japan. While at that time, most of landowner would keep their money for their personal sake, he had a completely different way of thinking. He decided to donate his private funds to the public and established the Saito Foundation. He donated 3 million yen for the Saito Foundation. The main purpose of this foundation was to aid academic research within the Tohoku region. There wasn’t any other intention behind this donation unlike the other companies. It was simply because He was such a religious person(He was a Buddhist). He believed that the money He had got was basically a gift from God. Then those money should be used to help others people. Saito Foundation was continuously giving a large amount of donations and mainly focused on Tohoku University’s research.
Conclusion
Donation and funding, whether it comes from Government or public company, had been playing an important role in the establishment and the development of Tohoku University. Tohoku University was established and nurtured through donations. Despite the fact that behind some of the donations there were tragic incident and another intention to gain personal benefits, still those donations were really helpful even became the major turning point for Tohoku University. Since the first time the university was established, Tohoku University have been conducting research and contributing to the society in terms of science and technology.
References :
Nakagawa, M. The Foundation of Tohoku Imperial University. 2nd Lecture Hand Out.
Nakagawa, M. Development of University 1. 7th Lecture Hand Out.
Nakagawa, M. Development of University 2. 8th Lecture Hand Out.
Nakagawa, M. University and Student Life during the Depression. 9th Lecture Hand Out.
Ashio Copper Mine. Retrieved January 17, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashio_Copper_Mine
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