was a Japanese engineer who studied and worked in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

during the 1880s. He was one of the first Japanese engineers who came to study in the UK. He is best known for his work with Sir John Fowler and

Sir Benjamin Baker Sir Benjamin Baker (31 March 1840 – 19 May 1907) was an eminent English civil engineer who worked in mid to late Victorian era. He helped develop the early underground railways in London with Sir John Fowler, but he is best known for his wo ...

in cantilever bridge construction, notably on the Forth Bridge. Watanabe studied under

Henry Dyer Henry Dyer (23 August 1848 – 25 September 1918) was a Scottish engineer who contributed much to founding Western-style technical education in Japan and Scottish-Japanese relations. Early life Henry Dyer was born on 16 August 1848, ...

, the Scottish engineer associated with

technical education in Japan Technical education in Japan occurs at both secondary, further and tertiary education levels. The initial nine-years of education is compulsory and uniform in coursework. Secondary education Entry to Kōsen Colleges of Technology and technical hi ...

. After obtaining a degree from the Faculty of Technology of the University of Tokyo, he studied at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1885 and graduated with a Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Science degree, and worked as a construction foreman on the Forth Bridge, which crossed the Firth of Forth in eastern Scotland in 1890. Cantilever bridge human model

Watanabe's image became well known in the 1887 photograph illustrating the

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

principle, in which he poses with Fowler and Baker, suspended between the engineers who form a cantilever structure with their arms. Conductor

Takashi Asahina was a Japanese conductor. Person Asahina was born in Tokyo as an illegitimate child of Kaichi Watanabe.中丸美繪オーケストラ、それは我なり(in Japanese) Bungeishunjū pp.35-49, 2008 He founded the ''Kansai Symphonic Orches ...

was the

illegitimate son Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

of Watanabe.中丸美繪 AKAMARU Yoshieオーケストラ、それは我なり rchestra, that is mein Japanese) Bungeishunjū pp.35-49, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Kaichi 1858 births 1932 deaths Bridge engineers Alumni of the University of Glasgow University of Tokyo alumni People from Nagano Prefecture