Kreitmann collection
Kreitmann as a military instructor

Kaoru BABA 馬場郁
Institut des Hautes Etudes Japonaise(IHEJ)
Collège de France (CdF), Paris

Some landmarks
1851 Birth of Louis Kreitmann at Strasbourg (-1914 at Paris)
1867 First French military mission to Japan (-68)
1868 Meiji Restoration
1870 Franco-Prussian War (-71)
1872 Second French military mission to Japan (-80)
1875 Begining of the courses in the Ichigaya Military
Academey for Amy ( 市ヶ谷陸軍士官学校 )1876 L.K. arrived in Japan (6 Feb.)
1877 Satsuma Rebellion ( 西南戦争 )1878 L.K. left Japan (20 May)********
1914 Birth of Pierre Kreitmann (grandson of L. K., -2003)
1994 P.K discovered photos, MSs etc. left by L.K.
2000 Exposition in Yokohama ( 横浜開港資料館 )2002 Donation of the collection by P.K to the CdF

Ichigaya Military Academy for Army
市ヶ谷陸軍士官学校• One of the main projects put in charge of the French
mission• The first courses start in 1785 with 158 students of the firstyear• Four departments– Infantry ( 歩兵科） , Cavalry ( 騎兵科） (2 years study)– Artillery ( 砲兵科） , Engineering ( 工兵科 ) (3 yearsstudy)• Director : Major general, Soga Sukenori ( 曽我祐準少将 ,1844-1935)• Around 50 japanese teachers including some civilians, and
15 French military teachers, on about 25 members of themission. 2 French civilian teachersNotebook « Voyage au Japon 1875-1876 »Letters to parents

25 Mar. 1876

22 Apr.1876

The « sketch » of the letter dated on 22 Apr.

Timetable of courses for the first division, 1876

Timetable of courses for the first division, 1876 (part 1)

Timetable of courses for the first division, 1876 (part 2)

First months of L.K. in Japan (1876) (1)• 6 Feb : Arrival in Yokohama• 14 Feb in the Notebook«First lecture hall in the Military School»• 19 Feb. in the Notebook« Now for three days I’ve been working for drafts ofmy lessons »• 1 Mar. The first lesson of fortification ?
• 6 Mar. The first lesson of topography ?
• Letter dated on 25 Mar« Now I do a week two lessons of topography, twopractical exercises of topography in the field, twolessons of fortification, and three conferences. In
addition, I must supervise the copy and the translationof my draft, the lithography of the text, figures, theinstruments of topography, sketches and drawings thatI have made by professors … ».

The last page of the MSs (79p.) of the topography,
dated on 8 May 1876 (21 x 32.7 cm)

The last page of the MSs (p.79) of thefortification, dated on May 1876

First 7 months of L.K. in Japan (1876) (2)• From 11 to 22 Apr. Journey to Hakone area
• 8 May Finishes 79p. MSs of topography• Before 16 May Finishes 79p. MSs of fortification.
• Letter dated on 16 May« I’ve finished writing the famous lessons oftopography and of fortification. The lessons willfinish in mid-June, but that does not mean I’ll be
short of work. They have already given me theresponsibility of about twenty lessons ofchemistry and of some complementary lessonsof mathematics.»• 17 Jun. The first lesson of chemistryFirst 7 months of L.K. in Japan (1876) (3)• Letter dated on 13 Jul. «Now, I’m working very hard for thelessons of permanent fortification, bridge and roads etc.,
which I must give after vacation. My chemistry course will
finish soon. Of all courses, it is certainly the most amusing.
I keep one copy of each translated textbook of my courses.
One day my colleagues will be interested in these copies.
In Europe, they wouldn’t believe that we must work with somuch care for the instruction of the Japanese who werebarbarians some time ago. »• 15 Jul. Finished the MSs of “Military transportation” (22p.)• From 31 Jul. to 9 Sep. Summer vacation• From 3 Aug. to 16 Aug. Journey to Kôbe, Shimonoseki,Nagasaki• 6 textbooks published during Aug.

Textbook on the « Military transportation » (« Communications militaires » in French,『軍路学教程講本』 ) (Aug. 1 ８ 76), 58 p. 52 fig. MSs, dated on 15 July 1876, are 22 p.
The figures are on the «Pontoon bridge » (« pont de bateaux »; 舟橋 )

Front cover of two textbooks, (18.5 x 12.6 cm)

Textbooks and MSs
in the Kreitmann Collection•

18 textbooks published during L.K’s 2 years stay inJapan. L.K. is a author of 17, and a supervisor of all (esp.
for the figures).
–––•8 textbooks of L.K. are publshed in Aug. or Sep. 1876. Thesepresent 942 p. and 386 fig. in total. The MSs identified of 7 ofthese 8 are 321 p. in total.
1 trans.(50p.) from a French textbook ,appears in Oct. 1876
The others 9, all about the permanent fortification, are without
date of publication, but certainly published in 1877. Thesetextbooks present 196 p. and 330 fig. in total. MSs with title« Permanent fortification », all dated on 1877, classified in 5 parts
are 362 p. in total.

The whole documents hold in the collection : 813 p. ofMSs for lessons, 90 sheets of figures, 90 sheets ofdiverse notes.

Example of figures (1); MS and textbook (« Topography »)Example of figures (2); figure of a level (« Topography »)Lithograpy and photograpy• Artist-painter, Yokoyama Matsusaburô ( 横山松三郎 , 1838-83), worked in theAcademy from 1876 to 81, to improve anduse these new technologies, which he hadlearned from Shimooka Renjô ( 下岡蓮杖 ,1823-1914).
• L.K.’s Photo album « Italie, Suède,
Japon » contains pictures of buildings of
the Academy taken by Yokoyama.

First 7 months of L.K. in Japan (1876) (4)• In the letter dated on 10 Oct., part written on 15 Sep.
«Sometimes I ask myself if it’s really I who make made suchworks as survey, drawing of fortification etc. in a natural grandscale, because that is exactly what I was doing myself in asmall scale a little time ago as student. It’s true that a officer ofmy grade has many things to gain and nothing to lose, working
alone for some time. Here in Japan, I have to take the initiativein a way that a simple lieutenant would never take in France.
When the captain Vieillard was there, I had less things to dothan now, what is normal because I’d just arrived. But now, byconfidence or by indifference, the captain Jourdan let me doeverything. I make orders of instruments, reconstructions of theoffice of topography, relief maps of fortification, absolutely as Ilike. And here the other colleagues work similarly, each one inhis speciality.»• 20 Sep. Finished the MSs of “Permanent fortification” (28p.)• 2 textbooks published during Sep.

Some resource addresses of theCdF• Opac : http://bude.college-de-france.fr/• E-resource :http://bude.college-de-france.fr:8331/• Digitized documents :http://bude.college-de-france.fr:8881/