Leroy Lansing Janes

Who was Leroy Lansing Janes?

Leroy Lansing Janes was an American educator, hired by Kumamoto Domain in early Meiji period Japan.

A native of Ohio, Janes was a veteran of the Civil War, where he served in the artillery with the rank of captain after graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1871, he was approached by the Hosokawa clan, feudal lords of Kumamoto to teach at the Kumamoto Yōgakkō, a domainal school that promoted western studies. Janes established a curriculum entirely in English, covering mathematics, history, geography and natural sciences. He also worked as a Protestant missionary for the Reformed Church of America, but very carefully, as the prohibition against Christianity in Japan was still in force, and any Japanese converts to Christianity faced a possible death sentence. Janes lectured on western morals, and waited for three years to broach the subject of Christianity with his students, when he felt that he had gained their trust and that their English abilities were sufficient to understand the relationship between Christianity and western civilization.

Some 30 of his pupils converted to Christianity under his influence, including Ebina Danjō and Ukita Kazutami.