was a Dutch civil engineer and a foreign advisor to the Japanese government. He made significant contributions to the enhancement of Japan's river systems to improve drainage, flood prevention and navigation, as well as the development of its port facilities, which were important for the rapid economic development that took place in Imperial Japan beginning with the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He also undertook projects in the Netherlands along with significant work in China.
Arriving in Japan in 1873, de Rijke oversaw improvements to the Yodo River in Osaka and the Kiso River in Nagoya. He also played an integral role in civil engineering works at the Yokohama and Kobe ports, with improvements that enabled the ports to become significant hubs of international trade.
The impacts of de Rijke's work in Japan included the mitigation of flood risks, improvements to sewerage networks, enhanced navigational capabilities, and major port works which contributed to improvements in Japan's international trade and transportation. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures for his achievements.
Early life and background Johannis de Rijke was born in Colijnsplaat on the island of Noord-Beveland, Rijsbergen, Dennis. "Johannis de Rijke, Knight of the Rising Sun," Zeeland Blog, 27 August 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2013. the third of seven children of Pieter de Rijke, a farmer and part-time dike worker, and his wife, Anna Catharina Liefbroer. Lacking the means for formal education, he was mentored by Jacobus Lebret, the district engineer in Bevelanden.Lebret served in Zeeland from 1853 to 1860. Despite his excellent pedagogical skills, he suffered from poor health. In 1860, he accepted a professorship at the Royal Academy in Delft, having already provided De Rijke with substantial education.
In 1865, he became chief construction foreman for the Oranjesluizen, a lock complex near Amsterdam, designed to separate the IJ lagoon from the Zuiderzee at Schellingwoude, under the supervision of Cornelis Johannes van Doorn.
In 1873, de Rijke set off from Marseille aboard the steamship Iraouaddy to Shanghai, and then to Nagasaki, along with George Escher and Dick Arnst. De Rijke’s lack of a formal higher-level education was reflected in the status he and his companions were afforded on their voyage, with graduate engineer Escher travelling first class, whilst de Rijke and his family were in second class, and the foreman Arnst was in third class. De Rijke was accompanied by his pregnant wife and their two children, Anna Catharina and Johannes Laurens.
Shortly after arriving in Japan, his wife gave birth to their third child, a son whom they named Pieter. The couple had four more children after this: Eleazer, Els, Jacoba, and Adan. Eleazer died at a young age in Japan. De Rijke’s wife subsequently suffered from ill health, and he sought a qualified tutor for his young family. In 1880, upon Arnst's return to the Netherlands, de Rijke's children accompanied him. They were cared for in the Netherlands by de Rijke’s former mentor Lebret in Oosterbeek. De Rijke’s wife died as the result of cholera in 1881, and his employer granted him six months leave to return to the Netherlands. After his return to Japan, his next period of leave was four years later, when he travelled to the Netherlands via the United States and England.
It was during this period that he met Maria Suzanna Heck, a 25-year-old teacher and devout Calvinist, known for her correspondence with Abraham Kuyper. They married in Amsterdam and had five children: Hendrik, Santina Helenus, Stoffelina, and Wilhelmus. As a committed Calvinist who valued “hard work, honesty and simplicity”, de Rijke joined Kuyper's Anti-Revolutionary Party in 1899. In 1900, Maria and the children moved to the Netherlands. In 1891, De Rijke applied for a position in the Orange Free State (Transvaal) but was not accepted due to the absence of a suitable role.
Career Overview of de Rijke's time in Japan During the period of the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese Government employed western experts and advisors, known in Japanese as O-yatoi Gaikokujin (Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: , 'hired foreigners'), in order to modernise and improve the country's infrastructure. The experience of Dutch civil engineers in hydraulic engineering works was sought in order to improve drainage, sewerage, river, port and harbour works across the country, leading to the appointment of ten Dutch civil engineers in Japan between 1872 and 1903.
Cornelis van Doorn and Isaac Lindo were the first two Dutch civil engineers of the group to arrive in Japan, in 1872. Encouraged by van Doorn, de Rijke travelled to Japan to assist in the redesign of the port of Osaka, arriving in September 1873, along with George Arnold Escher. Over the next thirty years, these civil engineers, joined later by Isaac (Jack) Lindo, Anthonie Rouwenhorst Mulder and others, undertook numerous flood control and water management projects. They enhanced the ports of Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Ujina (Hiroshima), Hakata (Fukuoka), Mikuni (Sakai), and Niigata. De Rijke's breakwater at Yokkaichi has been recognised by the Japanese government as an Important Cultural Property.
De Rijke was instrumental in the improvement of the riparian zones of various Japanese rivers. His significant contributions included the separation of the Kiso River, Nagara River, and Ibi River near Nagoya, known as the .Karan, Pradyumna Prasad. (2005). The works here included the construction of a polder (known in Japan as a wajū). Elementary schools in Aichi Prefecture conduct a tour of the wajū for students, educating them about its history and the challenges faced in its construction. This programme aims to foster an appreciation of the effort and history behind the creation of the works, and to ensure its legacy is passed on to future generations.
He also supervised works at the Kurobe alluvial fan, located on the Japan Sea coast, and constructed a tunnel from Lake Biwa to Kyoto, where he replaced Escher after the latter returned to the Netherlands. He is credited with establishing the Kanda River sewer network in Tokyo.
In 1891, de Rijke was appointed an Imperial officer of the Meiji Home Ministry, subsequently rising to the position of Vice Minister. He frequently grappled with the challenges of Japanese bureaucracy and corruption, which he found conflicted with his Reformed principles.
As shown in the table below, there were a number of notable Dutch engineers working in Japan between 1872 and 1903, with de Rijke's almost unbroken thirty-year presence in the country (1873 to 1903) being the longest of all. De Rijke's prestigious position in Japan stood in contrast to the potential difficulties that his lack of a formal engineering title would have caused him in the Netherlands. +Notable Dutch civil engineers in Japan (1872 to 1903)NameYears active in JapanCornelis Johannes van Doorn1872-1880Isaac Anne Lindo1872-1875George Arnold Escher1873-1878Johannis de Rijke1873-1903Dick Arnst1873-1880Alphonse Th.J.H. Thissen1873-1877Johannes Nicolaas Westerwiel1873-1878Josinus Aderianus Kalis1875-1877Anthonie Rouwenhorst Mulder1879-1890Arie van Mastrigt1879-1881 In 2002, Dutch filmmaker Louis van Gasteren released (English: In Japanese Rapids) a documentary about de Rijke and Escher. That same year, van Gasteren edited a book of the same name. In 2005 he published (English: The Eternal Rice with Japanese Tea: Letters from Japan by Dutch Watermen, 1872–1903), a collection of letters by de Rijke and other Dutch engineers engaged on Japanese hydraulic engineering works at the time.
De Rijke's Japanese projects Tone River
De Rijke's inaugural undertaking in Japan involved the enhancement of the Tone River, which was affected by significant navigability issues arising from siltation.The root cause of this predicament was an escalated accumulation of silt due to deforestation in the vicinity. De Rijke consequently recommended that the government address deforestation and appoint forest rangers, as stated in his 1875 correspondence. Recognising that the project required detailed topographical survey data, which was not readily available in Japan at the time, de Rijke undertook an extensive levelling project in the area, after fellow Dutch engineer Isaac Lindo had established the Tokyo datum for this purpose.
Whilst levelling was a known concept in Japan, logistical challenges in procuring appropriate survey instruments hampered progress. In a letter dated 7 June 1884, de Rijke noted that "the Japanese still work astonishingly slowly. After a year of measurement, I still cannot even determine the gradient”. De Rijke commenced planning for the project in collaboration with Anthonie Rouwenhorst Mulder in 1887, and it commenced in 1888. With a peak workforce of over 3000 individuals, including penal labour, the work was completed in 1890.
Yodo River Regulation Another significant project de Rijke supervised with Escher was the regulation of the Yodo River with the aim of improving navigation between Osaka and Kyoto. The impetus for this project arose from the progressive shallowing of the river at its mouth, attributed to sediment accumulation. This sedimentation, a consequence of soil erosion in upstream mountainous regions, resulted in significant deposition of sediments in the lower stretches of the river and a corresponding delta. Consequently, a contemporary bank protection design was implemented at the points of severe erosion. De Rijke and Escher's solution involved the construction of groynes, drawing inspiration from similar brushwood groynes which had been used in the Netherlands. A Dutch foreman with experience of this type of construction, Johannes Westerwiel, oversaw the work.
A related challenge was deforestation at the summit of Mount Kabatayama, which led to pronounced surface erosion and additional sediment deposition in the river. As a remedial measure, the engineers recommended prohibiting logging activities on the mountain slopes and advocated for the reforestation of the mountain's apex. These interventions, recorded by de Rijke as "the mountain works", proved successful in mitigating the silting issues in the downstream sections of the river. The solution initially comprised the construction of fascine mattresses on the mountain slopes, which de Rijke later improved into hedge-like structures.
The main phase of de Rijke's work at the Yodo River took place between 1875 and 1876, and involved deepening the river channel along the 44 km stretch between Osaka and Kyoto. By installing groynes which altered the currents in the river, de Rijke and Escher ensured the maintenance of the riverbed in periods of low water. During periods of high discharge, the river received flows from nearby land drainage, effectively preventing flooding. The methods employed were similar to techniques which had been used on the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the Netherlands.
The riverbank and groyne construction works were based on the methods used in traditional Dutch fascine mattress designs, assembled and installed under Westerwiel's supervision. Similarly, for the embankment works, a Dutch method involving simpler fascines was employed, overseen by another Dutch foreman, Josinus Kalis. In the absence of traditional Dutch fascine materials such as willow wood and rye straw, locally available materials such as bamboo and rice straw were used. A key aspect of de Rijke's approach was addressing multiple objectives through each project, such as curbing soil erosion, preventing disease, and agricultural enhancement, all within an integrated framework that saw the river's catchment area as a cohesive system requiring balanced water distribution.
Mikuni Harbour Project