Sano was born in Hayatsue,
Saga Domain (present-day
Saga city,
Saga Prefecture) as the fifth son of the low ranking
samurai Shimomura Saburōzaemon. In 1831 he was adopted by the physician Sano Tsuneyoshi and was allowed to study at the
domain academy Kōdōkan. He accompanied his step-father to
Edo in 1837, where he studied Confucianism, but returned to Saga in 1839 to continue his medical education. In 1846, he was sent by the
Nabeshima clan, rulers of Saga, to study
rangaku (western learning) in Kyoto under
Hirose Genkyō, and subsequently in Osaka under
Ogata Kōan. He then returned to Edo in 1849 to study under
Itō Gemboku,
Totsuka Seikai, and others. In 1851, he returned to Saga to establish his own academy, which received official recognition from
Nabeshima Naomasa, the
daimyō of Saga in 1853. Nabeshima Naomasa had a strong interest in western technology and with the opening of the
Nagasaki Naval Training Center in 1855. Sano was selected by the domain as one of its first students. The goal of Saga Domain was to build a western-style steam warship, which Sano helped complete in 1865. Sano accompanied the Japanese delegation to the
Paris Exposition of 1867, and while in
Paris learned of the
International Red Cross. He traveled on to the
Netherlands, where he ordered the , and stayed on to supervise its construction and to learn of western shipbuilding techniques, but the image of the Red Cross remained in his memory. After the
Meiji Restoration, Sano was called upon to assist in the formation of the
Imperial Japanese Navy and received a posting at the
Ministry of War in 1870. In 1873, he was sent to visit the
1873 Vienna World Exposition, with
Alexander von Siebold as his interpreter. In 1875, he was appointed to the
Genrōin. With the start of the
Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, Sano created the
Hakuaisha ('Philanthropic Society'), a relief organization to provide medical assistance to wounded soldiers from both sides of the conflict. This idea met with tremendous opposition and incomprehension by many members of the government, but Sano was able to enlist the support of
Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, nominal head of the
Imperial Japanese Army and
Prince Komatsu Akihito. Sano's organization became the Japanese Red Cross Society in 1887, with Sano as its first president. Sano also created the
Ryuchikai, the forerunner of the Japan Art Association in 1879, in an attempt to stem the outflow of Japanese important cultural properties to overseas collectors. From 1880 to 1881, he served in the
Ministry of Finance, and in 1882 as president of the
Genrōin. In 1886, he helped establish the first Red Cross Hospital in Japan. In 1887, Sano was recognized for his accomplishments with elevation to the
kazoku peerage with the title of
viscount (
shishaku) and was appointed a member of the
Privy Council in 1888. In 1892, during the
1st Matsukata administration, he was appointed as
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. In 1895, Sano was elevated to the title of count (
hakushaku). On his death at his home in Tokyo in 1902, he was posthumously awarded with the
Order of the Rising Sun (1st class with Paulownia Blossoms). His grave is at
Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo. In 1939, the Japanese government issued a series of four
commemorative postage stamps honoring the 75th anniversary of the Red Cross Treaty. A portrait of Sano Tsunetami appears on two of the stamps. ==References==