Carl Köppen (23 August 1833 - 28 June 1907) was a German military advisor active in Japan at the start of the

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

Biography

A member of the

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

Jäger Battalion who rose rapidly through the ranks, Köppen was invited to teach in Japan as a foreign advisor providing training to troops loyal to the

Kishū Domain , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...

. Based at

Wakayama Castle 260px, Layout of the ''tenshu'' is a Japanese castle located in the city Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. For most of the Edo Period, it was the administrative center of Kishū Domain, which was controlled by a cadet branch of the Tokugawa ...

between 1869 and 1871, Köppen specialized in Prussian Army drills and the use of the Doersch and von Baumgarten

Needle gun A needle gun (or needle rifle for varieties with rifling) is a firearm that has a needle-like firing pin, which can pass through the paper cartridge case to strike a percussion cap at the bullet base. Types Pauly A diagram of a needle-gun ...

References

1833 births 1907 deaths People from Bückeburg German expatriates in Japan Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan Foreign educators in Japan {{Japan-bio-stub