Aoki Konyō

Portrait of Aoki Konyō. Kamishimo and sword indicate social status.

Momijiyama-bunko library building in Edo Castle

Aoki's tomb in Ryūsen Temple (Ryūsen-ji, Tokyo)

Memorial stone for the introduction of the sweet potato in the Koishikawa Botanical Garden (Tokyo)

Aoki Konyō ( Japanese 青木 昆陽 , born June 19, 1698 in Edo , Japan ; † November 9, 1769 in the village of Shimomeguro ( Musashi Province )) was a Confucian and minor vassal of the Tokugawa government, whose language studies paved the way for the development of the locals "Hollandkunde" ( Rangaku ) opened in the 18th century. He is also known for spreading the sweet potato ( Satsuma-imo ).

Educational path

Aoki Konyō was born in Edo (now Tokyo), in the Nihonbashi district, as the first son of the fishmonger Tsukudaya Han'emon ( 佃 屋 半 右衛門 ). Nothing is known about his childhood or early education. He later studied Confucianism in Kyoto with Itō Tōgai ( 伊藤 東 涯 ), the son and successor of the famous Confucian philosopher Itō Jinsai . Back in Edo he was given access to the court library ( Momijiyama-bunko 紅葉 山 文庫 ) in the castle through intercession and guarantees in 1733 .

Spread of the sweet potato

In Japan there were repeated famine as a result of bad harvests . So also in the years 1732/33. On the island of Ōmishima in the Seto Inland Sea, however, this catastrophe was avoided because in 1711 a comparatively weather-resistant earth fruit from the southern province of Satsuma was grown. It came to China from America via the Philippines in the 16th century . At the turn of the century it spread to Ryūkyū (now the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa ) and from there to Satsuma, which in 1609 had forced its southern neighbor into a relationship of dependency.

In 1635 Aoki put his "thoughts on the barbarian yams" ( Banshokō ) on paper , which attracted interest in government circles . The following year he was appointed "Satsuma turnip commissioner" ( Satsuma-imo goyōkakari ). With this position as minor vassal of the government he had risen from the class of merchants to that of the samurai. After successful cultivation in the government's Koishikawa herb garden and two villages called Makuwari and Fudōdō, the cultivation of sweet potatoes spread in the Kantō area , which proved to be extremely helpful in later famine epidemics. In today's Makuhari ( Chiba Prefecture ), where once stood the village Makuwari, was erected a Shinto - shrine for Aoki. There is a memorial stone in the area of ​​the former village of Fudōdō and in the Koishikawa Botanical Garden , which was once the Tokugawa herb garden.

Further career

1739 Aoki was entrusted with the acquisition of books and writings ( Goshomotsu goyōtatsu ). In this function he examined historical literature in the province of Kai , the province of Shinano and the province of Mikawa , etc., made copies and summarized these under the title "Ancient writings in some provinces" ( Shoshū komonjo ).

In 1740 he and the doctor and herb specialist Noro Genjō ( 野 呂 元 丈 , 1693–1761) were instructed to learn the Dutch language . Since the middle of the 17th century, language averaging between Japan and the trading office of the Dutch East India Company in Nagasaki ( Dejima ) has been the domain of a group of "Dutch interpreters" ( oranda-tsūji ) who, appointed and supervised by the local governor, bequeathed their office to one of their biological or adopted sons on leaving service. Under the 8th Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune of the Tokugawa dynasty one tried to use the knowledge of the Europeans more intensively and loosened u. a. the hitherto limited imports of western specialist literature . It is true that there were interpreting families in Nagasaki who had accumulated considerable knowledge and materials, especially on Western medicine, and passed them on in small private schools . But the aim was now an intensive and extensive development by specialists. Together with Noro, Aoki moved to Nagasaki for a short time and was instructed by interpreters. He then devoted himself to self-study of imported books and wrote introductions to the Dutch language and writing. Noro became similarly active and produced fragmentary translations from Dutch works on natural and herbalism. Both did not get beyond comparatively rudimentary language skills and rough translations, but they were two Confucian scholars who devote themselves to foreign science with the support of the court. They thus became a model for other scholars and, as a catalyst, initiated the study of Western scriptures outside Nagasaki.

In 1744 he was appointed fire guard of the library ( Momijiyama hi no ban 紅葉 山 日 番 ). Three years later he was transferred to the consultation office ( Hyōjōsho 評定 所 ) of the powerful imperial councils. His career peaked in 1767 when he was appointed administrator of the Momijiyama-bunko court library . In this function ( shomotsu-bugyō ) he was responsible for the expansion and review of the content together with four colleagues. They kept a service diary about this.

In 1769, he died at the age of 72 during a virus flu epidemic .

According to the age memoir "Beginning of the Dutch Studies " ( Rangakukoto hajime ) by the Dutch historian and doctor Sugita Gempaku , Aoki instructed the doctor Maeno Ryōtaku of the Nakatsu domain in his later years , who had developed a strong interest in language studies and later became the main translator of the " Anatomical Tables" of Johann Adam Kulmus earned historical merits.

Fonts (selection)

• Shoshū komonjo , 諸州 古 ​​文書
• Banshokō , 蕃薯 考
• Oranda bunyaku , 和 蘭 文 訳
• Sōro zatsudan , 1738 草 盧 雑 談
• Oranda moji ryakkō , 和 蘭 文字 略 考 (printed 1917)
• Keizai sanyō , 経 済 纂 要
• Kansho no ki , 1745 『甘藷 記』 延 享 2 年刊

literature

• Aoki, Nanao: Nenpu - Aoki Konyō-den . Private print Aoki Nanao, 2005 ( 青木 七 男 『年譜 青木 昆陽 伝』 )
• Aoki, Nanao: Aoki Konyō - denki, jiseki . Private print Aoki Nanao, 2012 ( 青木 七 男 『青木 昆陽 伝 記 、 事蹟』 平 成 24 年 )
• Hata, Yūhei: Imo-bugyō Aoki Konyō . Tōkyō: Kōbunsha, 1997 ( 羽 太 雄 平 『芋 奉行 青木 昆陽』 、 光 文 社 )
• Hirano, Genzaburō: Aoki Konyō-den . Tōkyō: Rinjinsha, 1968 ( 平野 元 三郎 『青木 昆陽 伝』 、 隣人 社 )

• Wolfgang Michel: Medicine, remedies and herbalism in the Euro-Japanese cultural exchange of the 17th century. In: Hōrin - Comparative Studies on Japanese Culture , No. 16, 2010, pp. 19–34. * Miyamoto, Tsuneichi: Kansho no rekishi . Tōkyō: Miraisha, 1962 (宮本常 一 『甘藷 の 歴 史』 未来 社 )

• Sugimoto, Tsutomu: Aoki Konyō to rango no gakushū. In: Sugimoto T .: Edojidai rangogaku no seiritsu to sono tenkai II. Tōkyō: Waseda Daigaku Shuppanbu, 1977, pp. 49–170 ( 杉 本 つ と む 『江 戸 時代 蘭 語 学 の 成立 と そ の 展開 部 大学 稲 稲 稲 )
• Yoneyama, Kazumasa: Aoki Konyō no komonjo saihō . In: Shinano , 8 (10) 1956, pp. 640–654 ( 米 山 一 政 「青木 昆陽 の 古 文書 採訪」 信 濃 史学 史学 会 編 『信 濃 [第 3 次]』 )

Web links

• Evidence of important writings by and about Aoki Konyō in the Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works ( National Institute of Japanese Literature )
• Ōtsuki Fumihiko: Aoki Konyō denki shiryō (materials by and about Aoki Konyō, Waseda University Library)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 瀧 泉 寺
2. ↑ In the Japanese calendar 12th day, 5th month, 11th year of the motto Genroku
3. ↑ In the Japanese calendar, the 12th day of the 10th month in the 6th year of the meiwa
4. ↑ Sugimoto Tsutomu offers a compact overview in Kokushidajiten， Vol. 1, 1979 ( 『国史 大 辞典』 吉川弘 文 館 ).
5. ↑ That in the first half of the 19th Jhs. The compiled historical work Tokugawa Jikki writes of 969,000 dead, modern estimates go from 12,000 to 17,000 dead.
6. ↑ Miyamoto (1962), Hirano (1968), Hata (1997), Aoki (2005, 2012)
7. ↑ Since the expulsion of the Portuguese and Spaniards and the ban on Christianity, attempts have been made to prevent the importation of Christian texts. Although medical, nautical and astronomical texts were exempted from this ban in 1641, for a long time such works only came into the country on request, mostly in the hands of high-ranking personalities. More in Michel (2010).
8. ↑ See above all Sugimoto (1977).
9. ↑ A total of 209 volumes of this information-rich Go-shomotsukata nikki ( 御書 物 方 日記 ) are kept in the National Archives ( Kokuritsu Kōbunshokan ).
10. ↑ Many of the flu epidemics ( kaze 風邪 ) were given names. This is the epidemic called Inabakaze ( 稲 葉風 , lit. Inaba flu) in the 6th year of the Meiwa motto.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Aoki is the family name, Konyō the first name.