Kin'ichiro Koga

A progressive Confucian scholar and diplomat in the late Edo period. Born in Edo. His given name was Masaru and his pen name was Yoshikawa. He was known by the names Kindou or Chakei. His grandfather Seiri and father Doan were both Chinese scholars but also proponents of opening the country to the outside world, and he too looked overseas. He compiled the stories of Jirokichi, a drifter who had traveled from Hawaii to Alaska, in "Pandan" (1849), and in 1853 (Kaei 6) when the Russian envoy Putyatin arrived, he was dispatched to Nagasaki as a foreign reception officer to handle the negotiations. He worked hard to establish the Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for the Study of Western Languages), an institute for the study of Western languages, and became its first president (1855-62). He made a great contribution as an institute for the establishment of Western studies in the official academic field. He left behind 25 volumes of "Doujikangen," a collection of Chinese translations of Dutch magazine articles, as well as collections of poems and prose (both unpublished).

[Hiroshi Ishiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

幕末の進歩的儒官、外交官。江戸に生まれる。名は増(まさる)、字(あざな)は如川。謹堂または茶渓と号した。祖父の精里、父の侗庵(どうあん)は漢学者ながら開国論者であり、彼も海外に目を向けた。ハワイからアラスカを見聞した漂民の次郎吉の談話をまとめて『蕃談(ぱんだん)』（1849）を著し、1853年（嘉永6）ロシア使節プチャーチンが来航したおりには異国応接掛として長崎に派遣され交渉にあたった。洋学研究機関蕃書調所(ばんしょしらべしょ)の創設に尽力し、初代頭取となり（1855～62）、西洋研究の官学における確立者として功績が大きい。オランダの雑誌記事の漢訳文集『度日閑言』25巻、そのほか詩集、文集（いずれも未刊）を残している。

［石山　洋］

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