Japan Remembers FG Sewer Sensei

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Telegraph: Japanese to honour Briton who saved them from cholera
If William Kinninmond Burton is remembered at all in Britain, it is as a childhood friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But in Japan he is revered as the foreign engineer who saved the country from cholera in the 19th century and built the country's first skyscraper [align=right]. In Shimonoseki, in southwestern Japan, the sand filtering system Burton built more than 100 years ago produces water so pure that today it is bottled and sold with his picture on the label. Now Japanese admirers are planning to remind Britons of Burton's achievements by erecting a monument to him in his native Edinburgh to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth...The Japanese believe Burton's tireless efforts on behalf of their country contributed to his early death aged 43, in 1899, as he was preparing to return home with his Japanese wife and young daughter...Japanese engineers pay annual tribute to Burton at his grave in Tokyo. Next weekend, they will play bagpipes while an American great-great-grandson of Burton will play the shamisen, a traditional Japanese string instrument...more...

[Mulboyne]

Scotsman.com: Memorial for pioneer who transformed Japan skyline

AN engineer who designed Japan's first skyscraper and helped transform the country into a leading industrial nation has had a plaque unveiled in his memory in his home town of Edinburgh. William Kinninmond Burton is still remembered at an annual ceremony in Tokyo, where people lay flowers and sing Scottish folk songs at his tomb at Aoyama Cemetery...On Saturday, a memorial was unveiled in his home city to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. Edinburgh Lord Provost Lesley Hinds unveiled a plaque at Burton's family home of Craig House, now part of the Craighouse Campus at Napier University...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Besides being a noted engineer, W.K. Burton was a recognized expert in the technical aspects of photography.

http://www.leopardmag.co.uk/feats/126/william-kinninmond-burton





Wrestlers and wrestling in Japan, (1947, Unknown Binding)
by William Kinninmond Burton Amazon.com

[Mulboyne]

No-Sword has a blog entry on Burton's skyscraper.

There are links to oldtokyo.com and Popular culture in modern Japan which are interesting sites in their own right. Also included in the entry is this account of the tower:

You step up to the top of the tower by spiral steppings and, in rooms of each story, various kinds of toys and other articles are sold, or fine pictures and photographs are hung against walls. In 1911, one winter night at about eleven, a young man jumped down over the balcony of the eleventh story of the tower and killed himself, crushing his body upon the ground. After this event the windows and balconies above ten story are entirely covered with wire-nets.

[Mulboyne]

Scotsman: The genius Scot hailed a hero in Japan but forgotten in his homeland – until now

GRATEFUL Japanese fans sing Scottish folk songs and lay flowers at his tomb on the anniversary of his death, yet he is barely known in his home nation. William Kinninmond Burton is lauded in Japan for transforming the country into a leading industrial nation by revolutionising sanitation and creating its first skyscraper. And now – 110 years after his death – the engineer is finally to be recognised in Scotland with a memorial in the garden of his childhood home, now part of Edinburgh Napier University's campus. Mr Burton, who was born in Edinburgh in 1856, designed clean water systems for the Far East nation's cities, as well as helping to create Japan's tallest building at the time. Ruou-un-kaku in Asakusa was 12 storeys high and contained the nation's first lift, but was destroyed by the great Kantou earthquake of 1923. However, Mr Burton's legacy lives on, as millions of lives were transformed by his expertise in sanitation, which helped to eradicate disease.

The expert in sanitary engineering was recommended to the Japanese envoy in the UK in the 19th century, who had been instructed to find an engineer to lead research in the field at Tokyo University. Mr Burton's work on hospitals and schools, including Eton College and St Thomas' Hospital in London, had brought him a great reputation at home. He was inspired to go by the words of his father, a well-known publisher and historiographer, who wrote: "Brave Scots should go abroad and help the weak. The nations of the earth will be united in one harmonious whole". Sadly, despite saving countless lives with his innovations in sanitation, he was struck down by dysentery and malaria while in Taiwan and died soon after returning to Tokyo. He was just 43. A memorial bench will be unveiled at the university's Craighouse garden today, as the Burtons' family home is now part of the campus.

Alan Wilson, a member of the Scottish committee behind the memorial, said Mr Burton was a great inspiration for Scots. He said: "Burton is honoured to this day in Japan for his role in its transformation from an inward-looking, relatively undeveloped country into a leading industrial nation. "He was a great Scottish engineer and pioneer in an age during which we excelled at producing both. "This memorial is a fitting reminder of the man in his birthplace, but it should also be an inspiration to young people at Edinburgh Napier University and stand as a mark of the friendship between Japan and Scotland." Jenny Rees, the vice-principal of the university, said: "William Burton's overall contributions to modern Japan are beyond measure, but he remains a figure more revered in his adopted homeland than here in Scotland." Rob Munn, Edinburgh's deputy Lord Provost, was due to attend today's ceremony alongside delegates from Japan. Mr Burton's great-great-grandson, Kevin Masaya Kmetz, will play the tsugaru-shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese lute.

Engineering genius loved the Orient

WILLIAM Burton was the son of well-known journalist and historiographer John Hill Burton. Regular visitors to his childhood home in Edinburgh's Craighouse included Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. On leaving school, William opted for an engineering apprenticeship rather than university, and came to prominence working on sanitation projects in London at a time when such work was revolutionising the world. After being headhunted by the Japanese, he arrived in Yokahama in 1887 and fell in love with the nation and his Japanese wife, Matuko, with whom he had a daughter. He was a keen photographer and his fascination with the nation led to his pictures helping the West to build links with Japan, which still reveres him.