Ichiroku Iwaya

A Meiji politician and calligrapher. Born in Omi Province (Shiga Prefecture). His given name was Shu. He was known by the pseudonyms Ichiroku, Koume, Kyuka, Donta-takujin, and Kinzoku-dojin. His family had been court physicians in the Minakuchi Domain (Shiga Prefecture) for generations. After his father's death, he went to Kyoto with his mother, and at the age of 16, he studied medicine under Miura Toen. He later returned home and became a court physician for the domain, but after the Meiji Restoration, he served as a shoshi, cabinet secretary, and member of the Genroin (senate council). He was also appointed by imperial decree to the House of Peers, and played an active role as a politician. He excelled in academics such as Chinese classics and painting, as well as in the arts, but first learned calligraphy from Nakazawa Yukishiro in the Ryoko school, and then from Zhao Zi'ang (a calligrapher from the Yuan dynasty of China) and from Yang Shujing, who came to Japan in 1880 (Meiji 13), learning calligraphy from the Six Dynasties, and establishing his own fresh and original style of calligraphy. The novelist Iwaya Sazanami was his son.

[Hiroyuki Shimatani]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治の政治家、書家。近江(おうみ)国（滋賀県）生まれ。名は修(しゅう)。一六、古梅、噏霞(きゅうか)、呑沢山人(どんたくさんじん)、金粟(きんぞく)道人などと号す。家は代々水口(みなくち)藩（滋賀県）に仕えた侍医であった。父の没後母と京都に出て、16歳のとき三浦東園について医術を学んだ。のち帰郷して藩の侍医となるが、明治維新後は徴士をはじめに内閣書記官、元老院議官と役人生活を送った。さらに貴族院議員に勅選され政治家として活躍した。漢学、絵画など学問、諸芸にも優れたが、書は初め中沢雪城に菱湖(りょうこ)流を学び、さらに趙子昂(ちょうすごう)（中国元(げん)の能書）を、また1880年（明治13）来朝した楊守敬(ようしゅけい)に六朝(りくちょう)書法を学び、一六独自の清新で新奇な書風を確立した。小説家の巌谷小波(さざなみ)は子息。

［島谷弘幸］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例