Edwin Dun (June 19, 1848 – May 15, 1931) was a rancher from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

who was employed as an ''

o-yatoi gaikokujin The foreign employees in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese as ''O-yatoi Gaikokujin'' ( Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: , "hired foreigners"), were hired by the Japanese government and municipalities for their specialized knowledge and skill to assist in the ...

'' in Hokkaidō by the Hokkaidō Development Commission (''Kaitakushi'') and advised the Japanese government on modernizing agricultural techniques during the Meiji modernization period. Dun was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio and had studied at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

. After he inherited his father's ranch, he raised

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

and

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

s, and wrote a number of papers on scientific methods in ranching.

Agricultural adviser

Dun was hired in 1873 by Albert Capron, son of former United States Commissioner of Agriculture Horace Capron, the chief foreign adviser to the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

's Hokkaidō Development Commission. Dun's task was to create a new cattle and

dairy industry A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

out of largely undeveloped island of

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

. When he came to Japan, he brought with him around 50 head of cattle, 100 head of sheep, and a number of agricultural implements to be used as samples to be copied by local Japanese artisans. He settled initially at an intermediary experimental farm in Tokyo, teaching up to seventy students assigned by the government in animal husbandry,

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

and basic techniques of

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

. Dun also married a Japanese woman, Tsuru, in 1875, which led him to extend his contract in Japan several times, despite difficulties such as the Hokkaidō Colonization Office Scandal of 1881. From 1876 until 1883, Dun lived in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

, where he engaged in a number of pursuits, including the establishment of farm horse and race horse ranches, including the first two thoroughbred stallions in Japan, a pig farm with 80 hogs brought in from the United States, and a dairy farm, together with factories for the production of butter and cheese. He also planted a number of experimental lots to research the types of crops most suited to Hokkaido's climate, and also built Hokkaido's first horse race track. With the assistance of Louis Boehmer, who discovered native hops in Hokkaidō, he established a successful beer brewery, the forerunner of modern

Sapporo Breweries is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo is the oldest brand of beer in Japan. It was first brewed in Sapporo, Japan, in 1876 by brewer Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Toky ...

. Dun is also deemed responsible for initiating government policies to eradicate

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

with strychnine and hunting for bounties, which drove the Hokkaidō wolf to extinction by 1895. He was a close friend, and eventually brother-in-law, of the explorer and naturalist Thomas Blakiston.

United States envoy to Japan

After a visit to the United States in 1883–84, Dun was appointed the Second Secretary of the American Legation in Tokyo. In October 1883, Mrs. Dun (Tsuru) died. Dun considered resigning but at the end of the year married again, to a woman named Yama Takahira. Dun was later promoted to First Secretary. Finally, in 1892, Dun was appointed as United States envoy to Japan, arriving back in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on July 14, 1893, serving in that post until July 2, 1897. US Embassy Tokyo During his tenure, the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

took place, and Dun made efforts to negotiate peace, using the American diplomatic service as a conduit for the Japanese and Chinese governments to send messages and conduct negotiations.

Oil company representative

After 1897, Dun was the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

representative of the Standard Oil company. Dun was notable for advocating involvement of Standard Oil in the Echigo oil fields, which eventually resulted in a failed investment of over 8 million yen. He died at his home in Tokyo in 1931. His grave is at Aoyama Cemetery in

. His former home in Hokkaidō is now preserved as a memorial museum.

Trivia

* Dun's great-great-great-grandson is musician

Josh Dun Joshua William Dun (born June 18, 1988) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside Tyler Joseph, and also contributes backing vocals and trumpet to the band's work. He has collabor ...

, best known as the drummer of

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots (stylized in all lowercase or as twenty øne piløts) are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who ...

. * Dun was featured as an episodic character in the Japanese manga ''

Golden Kamuy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Satoru Noda. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from August 2014 to April 2022, with its chapters collected in thirty-one ''tankōbon'' volumes. The s ...

''.

References

External links

Edwin Dun : reminiscences of nearly half a century in Japan, circa 1919
Dun's autobiography in which he describes life on a farm in central Ohio, the events that led to his journey to Japan, and his life in Japan.
Guide to the Dun family papers
housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Dun, Edwin 1848 births 1931 deaths 19th-century American diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Japan American expatriates in Japan Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan Foreign educators in Japan People from Chillicothe, Ohio Burials in Japan