Nabeshima Naotsugu

Nabeshima stele in the Arita grove in Siebeneichen , Meißen

Nabeshima Naotsugu ( Japanese 鍋 島 直 紹 ; born May 19, 1912 in Kashima , Saga Prefecture in Japan ; † November 16, 1981 ) was the governor of Saga Prefecture, minister of state and researcher into the history of Japanese porcelain.

Life

The Nabeshima family is one of the ancient princely families of Japan and ruled over the saga - han through the Edo period . Nabeshima Naotsugu was born as the son of Nabeshima Naotada, who studied at the Tharandt Forestry Academy from 1911 to 1914 . Nabeshima Naotsugu studied at the Imperial University of Kyushu in Fukuoka agriculture, which he graduated in 1936. He then worked in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry , but in 1944 he resigned. After the war, he was a member of the Education Committee ( 教育 委員 , kyōiku-iin ) of Saga Prefecture, chairman of the Forest Cooperative Association ( 森林 組合 連 合 会 会長 , shinrin kumiai rengōkai kaichō ) of the prefecture and director of the agricultural cooperative of Kashima ( 協 町 農 , Kashima-chō nōkyō kumiaichō ). In 1951 he became the second elected governor of Saga Prefecture and remained so after re-election until 1959. In the Sangiin election in 1959 , he successfully stood for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Saga constituency. He was then re-elected three times. Within the LDP he belonged to the Miki faction . In 1967 he became head of the Japan Science and Technology Department and thus Minister of State in the first reorganized Satō II cabinet . When the cabinet was reorganized a year later, he lost this post.

Nabeshima building of the Technical University of Dresden

Nabeshima Naotsugu also made a name for himself outside of Japan with his work on the history of Japanese porcelain. He published numerous works on porcelain, such as the study of porcelains in the Nabeshima clan or porcelains in the Kakiemon style , and promoted the establishment of research institutes that dealt with the history of Japanese porcelain. In 1980, Nabeshima Naotsugu was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Technical University of Dresden for his cultural-historical work, which also dealt with the connection between Japanese Arita porcelain , whose subspecies include the Nabeshima style, and Meissen porcelain . Since 1982 the building of the water science department of the institute for groundwater management of the TU Dresden has been named Nabeshimas.

After his death in 1983 the TU Dresden received the so-called “Nabeshima present” from Nabeshima's widow. It consists of 20 valuable lacquer works, rare writing utensils and utensils such as a bronze mirror from 1750, books and personal items from Nabeshima. The “Nabeshima present”, which is part of the art collection of the TU Dresden, is now on permanent loan at the Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden .

literature

• Technical University of Dresden: Collections and art holdings of the Technical University of Dresden . Technical University of Dresden, Dresden 1996.
• Technical University of Dresden: buildings and names . Technical University of Dresden, Dresden 1997, p. 48f.

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