Sapporo Agricultural College and modern Japanese geography, with particular reference to Prof. Cutter's Lecture on the Geography of Europe delivered in 1881.

Abstract

One of the characteristics of the history of Japanese geography in the modern period is the fact that the establishment of Chairs was rather late compared with other sciences. It was not until 1907 that the Chair of Geography was founded at Kyoto Imperial University, the first one at any Japanese University. Before 1907, a few geographical books were written by non-specialists of geography and they received a warm welcome. Sapporo Agricultural College, predecessor of the present Hokkaido University, is one of the birthplaces of modern Japanese geography. However, Sapporo Agricultural College had no department of geography. At the Library of Hokkaido University, there are various notebooks of the lectures delivered by American professors and recorded by Japanese students. Among them, there is a notebook under the title of 'Lecture on the Geography of Europe by Dr.J.C.Cutter, M.D., Notes by S.Ibuki, 1881'. Dr. Cutter was invited as a professor of physiology, comparative anatomy and English literature. In the introductory part of his lecture on English literature, he examined the geography of Europe, and this is considered to be one of the earliest lectures on geography delivered at a higher educational institution modern Japan.-from English summary