Introduction

Abstract

In 1884 a 28-year-old Japanese physicist and student of music theory, Shohé/Shōhei Tanaka, received a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education to study acoustics and electromagnetism with Helmholtz at the University of Berlin. Two years earlier he had graduated from the Imperial University in Tokyo with a major in physics with additional studies in music theory and foreign languages. The avid cultivation of music since the time of his youth, the acquisition of expertise in the field of acoustics, and the study of music theory and foreign languages at the University gave Tanaka’s life the intellectual shape and form and the compelling drive to pursue the science of music as a profession. At the graduation ceremonies in Tokyo in1882 the Japanese Emperor awarded Tanaka a silver medal for academic distinction. Before going to Berlin Tanaka completed a 1-year assistant professorship at Tokyo University’s Preparatory School. Taken together, Tanaka’s various studies in physics, music theory, and foreign languages, in addition to the teaching experiences, embodied a well-selected and appropriate preparation for what was to come in Berlin.