{{short description|Japanese politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{family name hatnote|Kanda|lang=Japanese}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Baron | name = Kanda Takahira | native_name = {{nobold|神田 孝平}} | native_name_lang = ja | image = Kanda Takahira.jpg | caption = | office = Member of the House of Peers | term_start = 29 September 1890 | term_end = 10 February 1891 {{hanging indent|Nominated by the Emperor}} | office1 = Member of the Genrōin | term_start1 = 28 February 1880 | term_end1 = 20 October 1890 | term_start2 = 3 September 1876 | term_end2 = 6 February 1877 | office3 = Governor of Hyōgo Prefecture | monarch3 = Meiji | term_start3 = 20 November 1871 | term_end3 = 3 September 1879 | predecessor3 = Nakayama Nobuyoshi | successor3 = Morioka Masazumi | birth_date = {{birth date|1830|10|31|df=y}} | birth_place = Fuwa, Mino, Japan | death_date = {{death date and age|1898|07|05|1830|10|31|df=y}} | death_place = Awajichō, Tokyo, Japan }} {{nihongo|'''Kanda Takahira'''|神田 孝平||31 October 1830 – 5 July 1898; pen name '''Kanda Kōhei'''}} was a scholar and advisor on economics and governmental structure in Meiji period Japan. His translation of William Ellis's ''Outlines of Social Economy'' (1846), which he translated to Japanese from a Dutch edition in 1867, is regarded as Japan's earliest study of western economics.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ericson |first=Steven J. |date=2016 |title=Orthodox Finance and 'The Dictates of Practical Expediency': Influences on Matsukata Masayoshi and the Financial Reform of 1881–1885 |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=83–117 |doi=10.1353/mni.2016.0002 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref>
His many other works include ''An Outline of Natural Law'' (Seihō ryaku), a volume published in 1871 which he edited based on Nishi Amane's lecture notes which in turn drew from Dutch economist Simon Vissering.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Havens |first=Thomas R. H. |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/39027 |title=Nishi Amane and Modern Japanese Thought |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |chapter=3. Study Abroad and Service at Home}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howland |first=Douglas |date=2001 |title=Translating Liberty in Nineteenth-Century Japan |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=161–181 |doi=10.1353/jhi.2001.0005 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Kanda was born in the Fuwa District of Mino Province, (present-day Gifu Prefecture).{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} He studied ''rangaku'' and taught algebra.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Terrence |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/45695 |title=Network of Knowledge: Western Science and the Tokugawa Information Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |pages=138 |chapter=Chapter Seven. Politicizing the Network: Civil Society in the Meiji Period |via=Project MUSE}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Fukuoka |first=Maki |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/94496 |title=Antiquarians of Nineteenth-Century Japan: The Archaeology of Things in the Late Tokugawa and Early Meiji Periods |date=2022 |publisher=Getty Publications |pages=139 |chapter=4 Active Antiquarians |via=Project MUSE}}</ref> In 1855, he started meeting with Katsuragawa Hoshū II and Yanagawa Shunsan to work on the ''Collected Dutch Words'' (Oranda jii), a Dutch–Japanese dictionary.<ref name=":4" />
In 1862, he became a scholar at the Tokugawa shogunate's Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books (''Bansho Shirabesho''), researching western science and technology.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
== Career == After the Meiji Restoration, Kanda worked for the new Meiji government in many roles including general-affairs official of the Bureau of Institutional Investigation.<ref name=":2" /> He was appointed governor of Hyōgo Prefecture.<ref name=":2" />
In 1869, he proposed adoption of a Chinese-style civil service examination system which was rejected, although exams were later introduced for professional appointments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Choi |first=Jamyung |date=2018 |title=The Hegemony of Tokyo Imperial University and the Paradox of Meritocracy in Modern Japan. |journal=The Journal of Japanese Studies |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=89–116 |doi=10.1353/jjs.2018.0003 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref> In 1870, Kanda drew on the taxation section of ''Outlines of Social Economy'' to propose land tax reforms, which were later implemented during the Land Tax Reforms of 1873.<ref name=":0" /> He also established local administration structures.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} He was a charter member of the Meiji Six Society (''Meirokusha'') established in 1873.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
He served in the Council of Elders (''Genrōin''), and was afterwards appointed to the House of Peers in 1890. He was ennobled with the title of ''danshaku'' (baron) in the ''kazoku'' peerage system.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
In 1887, Kanda was appointed the first president of the Anthropological Society of Tokyo.<ref name=":2" /> An avid collector of ancient stone implements, he was the author of the illustrated catalog ''Notes on Ancient Stone Implements, &c., of Japan'' (1884)''.''<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Fukuoka |first=Maki |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/94496 |title=Antiquarians of Nineteenth-Century Japan: The Archaeology of Things in the Late Tokugawa and Early Meiji Periods |date=2022 |publisher=Getty Publications |pages=188,190 |chapter=5 Antiquarians in Nineteenth-Century Japan |via=Project MUSE}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == His adopted son was Kanda Naibu.<ref name=":3" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Kanda Takahira}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanda, Takahira}} Category:1830 births Category:1898 deaths Category:People of the Meiji Restoration Category:Politicians from Gifu Prefecture Category:Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Category:Kazoku
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