Katsuragawa Hosan

Japanese: 桂川甫粲 - かつらがわ・ほさん

Year of death: Bunka 7.12.4 (1810.12.29)
Year of birth: 1756
A Dutch scholar, comic writer, and Dutch medicine doctor in the mid-Edo period. His real name was Abushin, and he was commonly known as Morishima Churyo. His comic pen names included Shinra Bansho and other pen names, and he was born in Edo as the son of Katsuragawa Hozo and the younger brother of Hoshu. He collaborated on several plays, including Hiraga Gennai's "Aragoryo Shinden Shintoku" (first performed in 1779), a posthumous work written in his later years. As a comic writer, he made an epoch with his humorous story "Inaka Shibai" (Inaka plays), published in 1787 (Tenmei 7). He also wrote "Bansho-tei Gisaku Ransho" in yellow-covered books, as well as other kyoka and kyobun works. He also had a deep interest in Chinese novels, adapting them to write the reading books "Katsusoshi" and "Gekka Seidan". His range of activities was wide, and he wrote many books on historical research, such as "Kairin Manroku," and he had a wide circle of friends, including Matsudaira Sadanobu, Otsuki Gentaku, and other Dutch scholars. Works such as Koumo Zatsuwa (1787) and Bankoku Shinwa (1789) played an enlightening role in learning about overseas conditions during the period of national isolation. Furthermore, Ryukyu Dan (1790) was a pioneering work in Ryukyu studies, and his edited work Kaigai Ibun (Overseas Ibun) is also highly valuable as a resource. As a Dutch linguist, he compiled dictionaries such as Ruiju Koumo Goyaku and Ruseiya Yigo. He was also interested in Chinese colloquialism and attempted to revise the vernacular Chinese dictionary Zonggo Kai (Collected Words of Vernacular Language), but it is believed that his plan for the largest Chinese-Japanese dictionary was not realized at his death. In this way, he demonstrated his rich talents in many areas and showed a wide range of education, but he was also noticeably a jack of all trades, master of none. This is because while he had reached a certain level of ability in fiction, his academic studies only reached an enlightening stage. In particular, he was interested in many languages, but did not reach a deep level in either Chinese or Western languages. However, he was aware that one of the achievements of his research meant compiling a dictionary, and he grasped the essence of Western studies, showing his side as an enlightened thinker who appeared before the Meiji era. Therefore, if we are to define the thought of the mid-to-late Edo period as soft and gentle, without emphasizing ideological aspects, he is a character who could play a central role along with Gentaku and others. He is said to have served the Maeda clan of Kaga for a time, and in 1792 (Kansei 4) he was employed by Matsudaira Sadanobu along with Ishii Shosuke as a stipend, and served as a doctor until his death in the 9th year of the same year. There are differing theories about his birth and death years. <References> Imaizumi Genkichi, "The House of Dutch Studies: The People of Katsura River" (continuation); Okada Kesao, "The Translation Space of Edo", "Exploring Morishima Churyo's Later Years" (Nihon Bungaku, January 1979 issue), and "A Brief View of the Different Cultures Seen by Morishima Churyo" (Gakuto, February 1992 issue)

(Kesao Okada)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：文化7.12.4(1810.12.29)
生年：宝暦6?(1756)
江戸中期の蘭学者,戯作者,蘭方医。本名は虞臣,通称は森島中良。戯号は森羅万象ほか,雅号には桂林など。桂川甫三の子,甫周の弟として江戸に生まれる。平賀源内の晩年の院本『荒御霊新田神徳』(1779年初演)など数本に執筆協力。戯作者としては天明7(1787)年刊行の洒落本『田舎芝居』でエポックを画した。黄表紙に『万象亭戯作濫觴』ほか狂歌狂文もあり,中国小説への関心も深く,翻案して読本『凩草紙』『月下清談』などを書いた。活動範囲は広範にわたり『桂林漫録』などの考証学的な著書も多数著し,交友も多彩で松平定信をはじめ大槻玄沢ほかの蘭学者と交流した。『紅毛雑話』(1787),『万国新話』(1789)などは鎖国時代の海外事情を知る上での啓蒙的役割を果たした。また『琉球談』(1790)は琉球学の先駆的な仕事であり,編著『海外異聞』は資料的にも価値が高い。蘭語学者としては『類聚紅毛語訳』『魯西亜寄語』のような辞書を編纂。中国の口語にも関心を寄せ白話辞書『俗語解』の改編を企てたが,最大の中日辞典の構想は実現せず死に至ったものとみられる。こうして多方面にわたる豊かな才能を発揮し広い教養を示したが,器用貧乏な面も目立つ。戯作ではある程度までに達した力量も学問的な方面では啓蒙的な段階にとどまったからである。とりわけ多数の語学に関心を持ったが漢洋ともに深い段階に達していない。しかし研究のひとつの到達が辞書編纂を意味することを自覚している点をはじめ,西洋学の本質は捉えていて明治以前に現れた啓蒙的思想家としての側面を持っている。したがってイデオロギー面を強調しない柔らかな江戸中後期の思想を設定するとすれば,玄沢などと共に中核を担い得るキャラクターである。一時期加賀前田氏に仕えたとされ,寛政4(1792)年石井庄助と共に松平定信に禄仕,医員を勤めて同9年致仕。生没年には異説がある。<参考文献>今泉源吉『蘭学の家桂川の人々』続編,岡田袈裟男『江戸の翻訳空間』,同「森島中良晩年探索」(『日本文学』1979年1月号),同「森島中良の見た異文化簡見」(『学燈』1992年2月号)

(岡田袈裟男)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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