Kojima Usui

Mountaineer and art researcher. His real name was Hisata. He was born in Takamatsu (Kagawa Prefecture). After graduating from Yokohama Commercial School, he worked at the Yokohama Specie Bank while publishing "Miss Ichiyo" and other critical essays in Bunko. He was recommended to be a reporter for the magazine by Teizaburo Yamagata, and his prolific literary criticism led to the heyday of the magazine. Influenced by Shigetaka Shiga's Theories of Japanese Landscapes, he climbed the Japanese Alps during the age of exploration, opening up new horizons in mountain travelogues and mountain research. In 1905 (Meiji 38), following the suggestion of British missionary W. Weston, he founded the Japan Alpine Club and served as its first president. After 1915, he was transferred to the west coast of the United States and left his mark on the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains for over 11 years. He played a pioneering role in the early mountaineering world, and made many achievements in art research on Hiroshige and Hokusai. His main works include "The Japanese Alps" in four volumes (1910-15), "Glaciers and Mountains of Eternal Snow" (1929), "Notes of an Alpinist" (1936), and "Ukiyo-e and Landscape Paintings" (1914).

[Nobuyuki Kondo]

"The Complete Works of Kojima Usui, Vol. 14 and Supplementary Volume 1 (1979-87, Taishukan Shoten)" ▽ "Kojima Usui - The Story of an Elegant Envoy of the Mountains, by Kondo Nobuyuki (1978, Sobunsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

登山家、美術研究家。本名久太。高松（香川県）に生まれる。横浜商業学校卒業後、横浜正金銀行に勤務するかたわら『文庫』に「一葉女史」その他の評論を発表、山県悌三郎(やまがたていざぶろう)により同誌の記者に推輓(すいばん)され、文芸批評に健筆を振るってその全盛時代を築く。志賀重昂(しげたか)の『日本風景論』の影響下にあって探検時代の日本アルプスに登り、山岳紀行、山岳研究に新生面を開いた。1905年（明治38）イギリス人宣教師W・ウェストンの示唆を得て日本山岳会を創立、初代会長を務めた。1915年以後11年余、転勤先のアメリカ西海岸にあってシエラ・ネバダ、カスケード山脈に足跡をしるした。黎明(れいめい)期の登山界において先駆的役割を果たし、広重(ひろしげ)、北斎(ほくさい)に関する美術研究にも多くの業績を残した。主著『日本アルプス』全4巻（1910～15）、『氷河と万年雪の山』（1929）、『アルピニストの手記』（1936）、『浮世絵と風景画』（1914）。

［近藤信行］

『『小島烏水全集』14巻・別巻1（1979～87・大修館書店）』▽『近藤信行著『小島烏水――山の風流使者伝』（1978・創文社）』

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