Kimura Kaishu

Japanese: 木村芥舟 - きむら・かいしゅう

Year of death: December 9, 1901 (Meiji 34)
Year of birth: Tempo 1.2.5 (1830.2.27)
A shogunate official in the late Edo period. His real name was Kiyoshi. He was the son of Kimura Yoshihiko, a low-ranking bannerman. In 1848, he passed the second course of the academic examination at the Shoheiko Academy, and in 1856, due to Abe Masahiro's personnel promotion policy, he became an inspector in order to supervise naval trainees in Nagasaki. In 1856, he became a warship magistrate, and the following year, in 1860, he boarded the Kanrin Maru as an admiral and crossed the Pacific Ocean accompanied by Katsu Kaishu, Ono Tomogorou, Akamatsu Daizaburou, and Fukuzawa Yukichi. It was at this time that he began his friendship with Yukichi. In September 1863, he proposed expanding the navy, but this was not accepted, leading to his resignation. The following year, he became head of the Kaiseisho, and then an inspector. In November 1865, he resigned in opposition to the strengthening of trade controls. The following year he was appointed as Commissioner of Naval Affairs, in February 1868 he became Director of the Navy, and in March of the same year he became Commissioner of Accounts, and was involved in the aftermath of the surrender of Edo Castle. He was invited to serve in the new government, but he did not accept, and submitted his resignation in June. In July he retired and took the name Kaishu. Since then he lived in the countryside, devoting himself to poetry and prose, and in 1892 he published Thirty Years of History, which covered politics and diplomacy at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. Fukuzawa wrote a preface, which he signed as "Fukuzawa Yukichi, servant of Kimura, former Commissioner of Naval Affairs." <References> "The Diary of Kimura Settsunokami Yoshitake"

(Inoue Isao)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治34.12.9(1901)
生年：天保1.2.5(1830.2.27)
幕末の幕府官僚。実名は喜毅。微禄の旗本木村喜彦の子。嘉永1(1848)年昌平黌の学問吟味に乙科及第,阿部正弘の人材登用政策により安政3(1856)年目付,長崎で海軍伝習生の監督に当たる。同6年軍艦奉行,翌万延1(1860)年,提督として咸臨丸に乗船,勝海舟,小野友五郎,赤松大三郎,福沢諭吉らを伴って太平洋を横断。諭吉との交友はこのときに始まる。文久3(1863)年9月,海軍の拡張を建議し容れられず辞職。翌年開成所頭取,次いで目付。慶応1(1865)年11月,貿易の取り締まり強化に反対して辞職。翌年軍艦奉行並,明治1(1868)年2月海軍所頭取,同年3月勘定奉行となり,江戸開城の善後処理に当たる。新政府に出仕を勧められたが応ぜず,6月辞表提出。7月隠居して芥舟と号した。以来,野にあって詩文に親しみ,同25年,幕末の政治,外交を内容とする『三十年史』を世に送る。福沢が序文を寄せ「木村旧軍艦奉行の従僕福沢諭吉」と自署した。<参考文献>『木村摂津守喜毅日記』

(井上勲)

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