314 A Positive Century (1815–1914)by the Institute of International Law in 1880. A team under Martin’s guid-
ance also translated Bluntschli’s treatise.
Japan’s introduction to Western international law diff ered from that of
China in that it involved going directly to the source of the new learning. In
1862, two Japa nese scholars were sent to the University of Leiden. One of
them, Nishi Amane, was already something of a specialist in Western ways,
having worked as a translator at the Nagasaki trading station, the sole port
where trade with the West (i.e., the Dutch) was carried on. In two years at
Leiden, Nishi and his companion attended lectures by Simon Vissering, a
professor of politics, who was also learned in economics and would later
serve as Dutch minister of fi nance. His teaching was primarily in the areas
of constitutional law and po liti cal theory, but it included jurisprudence and
international law as well. (Vissering was also the discoverer and publisher of
Grotius’s De Indis, published as A Commentary on the Law of Prize and
Booty). In the course of these studies, Nishi was infl uenced by Kant’s essay
on Perpetual Peace. He became acquainted, too, with the positivist and
utilitarian ideas that were prevalent in Eu rope at the time, particularly the
writings of Comte and Mill.
In 1866, aft er his return to Japan, Nishi published a four- volume work
entitled Bankoku kōhō (“International Law”) based on Vissering’s teaching.
His major contribution to his country’s modernization, however, would prove
to be in the area of military studies rather than law. In the meantime, Whea-
ton’s treatise had been imported into Japan, fi rst in 1865 by way of a transla-
tion of Martin’s Chinese version (as “Th e Public Law of the Ten Th ousand
Nations”), and then in a second translation (apparently at least in part from
the original) three years later.
Th is new knowledge proved welcome, as international-law issues were
facing the country. An early dilemma, in the wake of the Meiji Revolution of
1868, was the question of the country’s continued adherence to treaties that
had been concluded by the now- overthrown Tokugawa regime. Aft er an in-
tense debate within the government, it was announced, in February 1868,
that the treaties would continue to be honored. Two years later, the new
learning proved useful in the draft ing of a Japa nese declaration of neutrality
regarding the Franco- Prussian War.
In 1894, Japan found further use for international lawyers when war broke
out against China. Both the land and naval forces of Japan were provided with