Hayashi Dōei

Calligraphy by Hayashi Dōei

Hayashi Dōei ( Japanese 林 道 榮 , * April 23, 1640 in Nagasaki , ( Japan ); † December 3, 1708 there) was a Japanese Chinese interpreter who also made a name for himself as a poet and calligrapher .

When the landing of Chinese ships was restricted to the port city of Nagasaki, which was directly subordinate to the central government in Edo , arose there from the middle of the 17th century. Gradually an organized form of language mediation by local interpreters who were subordinate to the local governor. Similar to the interpreters at the Dutch trading office Dejima , positions were set up for “training interpreters” ( keikotsūji 稽古 通 詞詞), “small interpreters” ( kotsūji 小 通 詞 ) and “large interpreters” ( ōtsūji 大通 詞 ). The offices were usually taken over by the first son when the father left the service, so that interpreting dynasties arose, some of which played a prominent role in Sino-Japanese exchange until the end of the Edo period . One of them was the Hayashi family.

Hayashi Dōei's father was a Chinese (Lín Gōngyǎn 林公琰 ) who moved from Fujian Province to Japan during the collapse of the Ming Dynasty . Here he married the daughter of a samurai family named Mori serving the liege lord of Ōmura and initiated the tradition of interpreting in his family as a servant of the Nagasaki governor .

The first son Dōei, born in the district of Hon-Furukawamachi, met the founder of the Ōbaku-Zen school Yin-Yüan ( 隠 元 , Japanese Ingen) and other Chinese emigrants in his childhood . His language skills and widely recognized intelligence were also recognized in the Nagasaki governorate. In 1663 he was named "Small Interpreter" and in 1674 as "Large Interpreter". In the course of his career he took on other functions as the chief “annual interpreter”, as “overseer of the Chinese interpreters” ( Tōtsūji metsuke 唐 通事 目 附 ) and in 1699 as “compiler of information obtained from Chinese ships” on the situation in China ( Tōsen fūsetsu-jōyaku 唐 船 風 説定 役 ).

Together with the somewhat older interpreter Sakaki Nizaemon no Fuyoshi ( 彭城 仁 左衛 門 宣 義 , 1633–1695), Hayashi Dōei also matured into a gifted poet and calligrapher. The famous Nagasaki governor Ushigome Chūzaemon ( 牛 込 忠 左衛 門 ) maintained close relations with both of them. Dōei died at the age of 69 and was buried in the Kōtai Temple ( Kōtai-ji 晧 臺 寺 ).

His relationships with the fiefdom Ōmura and the liege lord Ōmura Suminaga (大村 純 長, 1636-1706) were so close that a local stretch of coast was called "Dōei beach" ( Dōeigahama ) for a long time .

Fonts

• Kaigai ibunroku ( 海外 異 聞 録 , records of foreign messages from overseas)
• Edo kikō ( 江 戸 紀行 , diary of a trip to Edo)

literature

• Hayashi Rokurō: Nagasaki Tōtsūji - Hayashi Dōei to sono shūhen [The Chinese interpreters Nagasakis - The major interpreter Hayashi Dōei and his environment]. Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2000 ( 林 陸 朗 『長崎 唐 通事 - 大通 事 林 道 栄 と そ の 周 辺』 吉川弘 文 館 )

Individual references, comments

1. ↑ Japanese calendar : Kan'ei 17/3/3
2. ↑ Japanese calendar : Hōei 5/10/22
3. ↑ In Japan the character for Lín 林 was read as Hayashi
4. ↑ Hayashi (2000), pp. 11-35
5. ↑ Hayashi (2000), pp. 97-133.
6. ↑ Hayashi (2000), pp. 76-88, 178-185. The family's graves still exist today.
7. ↑ Hayashi (2000), pp. 89-92.

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