Miyazaki Yasusada

Miyazaki Yasusada's study cave, located by a pond in Myōbaru, (Fukuoka)

Miyazaki Yasusada's grave near his study cell

Rice harvest in Nōgyō zensho , Volume 1

Tree and tree roots in Nōgyō zensho , Volume 9

Miyazaki Yasusada ( Japanese 宮 崎 安貞 ; * 1623 in Aki Province (now Hiroshima Prefecture ); † September 8, 1697 in Myobaru, Shima District, Chikuzen Province (now western district of Fukuoka City ); Japanese calendar : Genna 9 - Genroku 10 / 7/23) was a Japanese agricultural scholar who published the first local specialist book on agriculture. His nickname used in everyday life was Bundayū ( 文 太 夫 ). Miyazaki Yasusada is considered in Japan today with Ōkura Nagatsune (1768–1861) and Satō Nobuhiro (1769–1850) as one of the 'Three Great Agricultural Scholars' ( San dai nōgakusha ) of the Edo period.

Life

Miyazaki Yasusada was born in 1623 in the fiefdom ( han ) Hiroshima of the Asano clan of Aki Province (now Hiroshima Prefecture ) as the son of the samurai Miyazaki Giemon (der 崎 儀 右 ェ 門 ). The father, who was enfeoffed with a small piece of land, managed the han forests .

Since Yasusada had to seek his livelihood elsewhere as the second son, at the age of 25 he initially entered the service of Kuroda Tadayuki ( 黒 田 忠 之 ), the prince ( daimyō ) of the Fukuoka fief in Chikuzen Province (now Fukuoka Prefecture ). After a while, however, he gave up this position and moved through the western regions of the archipelago to investigate the situation and problems of agriculture. Eventually he returned to the Fukuoka fiefdom and took up residence in the village of Myōbaru, Shima District ( 志摩 郡 女 原 村 ).

At that time, the renowned neo-Confucian and naturalist Kaibara Ekiken lived in Fukuoka . a. dealt with the medicinal resources of Japan. In 1687 he arranged a mutual audience with his prince, and Miyazaki was enfeoffed again with a small estate at the age of 62. This gave a significant boost to his efforts to improve regional agriculture. Miyazaki opened up new territory, planted strips of forest to protect the wind and created ponds to irrigate the rice fields. A field area of ​​more than 6.5 hectares called ' Miyazaki development' ( Miyazaki-biraki ) still testifies to these activities . He died at the age of 75 - just before his seminal manuscript went to press. His study hermitage and grave are located in the still rural Myōbaru, now part of the Nishi-ku district of the city of Fukuoka.

plant

Thanks to the commitment of Kaibara Ekiken, the book was published in 1697 under the title Nōgyō zensho (, Compendium of Agriculture ' 農 政 全書 ). The foreword comes from Kaibara, the added eleventh part from his brother Rakuken ( 貝 原 楽 軒 ). Miyazaki was inspired by the Chinese book Nóng zhèng quán shū ( 農 政 全書 , 'Compendium of Agricultural Measures' ) published by Xú Guāngqǐ ( 徐光啟 ) in 1639 , but, like Kaibara Ekiken, was aware of the specific conditions in Japan and was also able to reach out Draw the treasure of his many years of research. He tried to give agriculture a scientific foundation and at the same time to remain legible in order to reach the rural population. The work deals with soil types, fertilization methods, cattle breeding, all sorts of rice, grain, vegetables, usable wild plants, trees, fruits, medicinal plants, etc. The 'Compendium of Agriculture' is an educational pamphlet - also because it makes it clear to the rural population that humans are To improve his living conditions, he has to study nature and the conditions it creates and adapt to them.

The illustrated 'Compendium of Agricultural Measures', published in woodblock print, was reprinted in the Edo period and had a strong influence on over a dozen other books on agriculture.

literature

• Tsukuba Hisaharu: Nihon no nōsho - nōgyō ga naze kinsei ni had shita ka (The Agriculture Books of Japan - Why Agriculture Developed in the Early Modern Period). Tokyo, Chūō-kōronsha, 1987 ( 筑波 常 治 『日本 の 農 書 ー 農業 は は ぜ ぜ 近世 に 発 展 し た か』 )

Remarks

1. ↑ Chiselled on the back of the tombstone.
2. ↑ With the unification of the empire and the establishment of rule of the Tokugawa in 1603, larger standing armies had become unnecessary. Many samurai were now used as sword-bearing officials to administer the fiefs.
3. ↑ Inoue Tadashi estimates that between 2,400 and 3,600 copies were in circulation before the Meiji reform ( http://www.lib.fukuoka-u.ac.jp/annai/kanpo/no017/1703.html  ( page no longer available , Search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. )  

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