San-ei Koseki

Japanese: 小関三英 - こせき・さんえい

Year of death: Tempo 10.5.17 (1839.6.27)
Year of birth: Tenmei 7.6.11 (1787.7.25)
A Dutch scholar in the late Edo period. His given name was Yoshiyoshi and his pen name was Tokusai. He was originally called San'ei and later changed his name to San'ei. He was the second son of Yagorobei Tomoyoshi, a member of the foot soldiers of the Shonai (Tsuruoka) domain. As a young man, he went to Edo and studied Dutch medicine and language under Yoshida Chosuku and Baba Sadayoshi. In 1823, he was invited by the Sendai domain to teach Dutch medicine at the medical school. In 1825, he resigned from his post and returned home for a while, but in 1826, he returned to Edo. He became a guest of Minato Choan and then Katsuragawa Hoken, and devoted himself to his studies. It was on April 16, 1831, that San'ei first visited Watanabe Kazan. Kazan's diary for that day reads, "Koseki San'ei has come. San'ei is from Shonai, Dewa, and reads Western books a lot. He works as a doctor, but does not like treatment. His only pleasures are reading and drinking." This gives us a good idea of his character. However, San'ei was, after all, a man of men. When he was appointed doctor of the Kishiwada Domain in the same year, he immediately reported this to his eldest brother in Shonai, who proudly announced that he had been given an exceptional salary. When Kazan began his research on Western affairs, he asked Takano Choei and San'ei to translate Dutch books, and the two men became close friends, regardless of their status. Of the works that San'ei translated for Kazan, the only ones that survive are Shinsen Chishi, a complete translation of Prinsen's Geography (1817), and Chujinsho, a translation of the first volume of Froeve's Educational Handbook (1807). In addition, his translation of part of Nieuwenhuys's Academic Dictionary is quoted in Kazan's Foreign Affairs Book. However, San'ei was academically inclined and had little interest in politics, so he never criticized the shogunate's foreign policy, as Kazan and Choei did. Therefore, when the Bansha no Goku incident occurred in May 1830, San'ei's name did not appear on the complaint filed by the metsuke Torii Yozo, who staged the scandal. Nevertheless, when San'ei learned that Kazan and Choei had been imprisoned, he believed that the law would sooner or later catch up with him, and committed suicide in the Kishiwada Domain residence in Tameike, Edo. In his prison notes, Choei wrote, "I was born too honest and timid, so I trusted public opinion and committed suicide in a hurry," and this is probably true. He was buried at Ryugonji Temple in Aoyama, Edo. <Works> "Western Medical History," "Western Internal Medicine Collection," "Nanbaretsuo Den" <References> Yamakawa Shotaro, "Koseki San'ei and His Letters" (Chugai Iji Shinpo), Sato Shosuke, "Essays on the History of Western Studies"

(Sato Shosuke)

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

Japanese:

没年：天保10.5.17(1839.6.27)
生年：天明7.6.11(1787.7.25)
江戸後期の蘭学者。名は好義,号は篤斎,はじめ三栄と称し,のちに三英に改めた。庄内(鶴岡)藩足軽組外れ弥五郎兵衛知義の次男。若いころ江戸に出て吉田長淑と馬場貞由に蘭医学と蘭語を学んだ。文政6(1823)年仙台藩に招かれ,医学館で蘭医学を教授した。同8年職を辞し,一時帰郷したが,同10年に再び出府。湊長安,次いで桂川甫賢の食客となり,勉学にいそしんだ。三英が渡辺崋山をはじめて訪ねたのは,天保2(1831)年4月16日のことである。この日の崋山の日記に「小関三英来たる。三英は出羽庄内の人,よく洋書を読み,医を業とするが,治療を好まず,唯一の楽しみは読書と飲酒である」とあり,その人柄がよくわかる。とはいえ三英も,所詮は人の子である。同3年に岸和田藩の藩医にあげられた際,早速庄内の長兄にこのことを報じ,破格の給人格に取り立てられた,と誇らしげに告げている。崋山が西洋事情の研究をはじめるに当たり,高野長英と三英に蘭書の翻訳を依頼して以来,彼らは身分を越えて親しく交わった。三英が崋山のために翻訳したもののうち訳書が伝存しているのは,プリンセンの地理書(1817)を全訳した『新撰地誌』およびフレーヴェの『教育ハンドブック』(1807)の第1篇を訳述した『鋳人書』である。ほかにニューエンホイスの『学芸辞典』の一部を翻訳したものが,崋山の『外国事情書』に引用されている。もっとも三英は学研肌で,政治的関心が乏しかったから,崋山や長英のように,幕府の対外政策を批判するようなことはなかった。だから天保10年5月に起こった蛮社の獄の際,この疑獄を演出した目付鳥居耀蔵の訴状には,三英の名は載っていない。それにもかかわらず崋山と長英の入獄を知った三英は,いずれ司直の手が身におよぶと信じて江戸溜池の岸和田藩邸内で自殺した。長英は獄中手記の中で「元来あまりに実直小胆な生まれつきなので,ひとえに世評を信用し,はやまって自殺した」と述べているが,おそらくその通りであろう。江戸青山の竜厳寺に葬られた。<著作>『西医原病略』『泰西内科集成』『那波列翁伝』<参考文献>山川章太郎「小関三英とその書簡」(『中外医事新報』),佐藤昌介『洋学史論考』

(佐藤昌介)

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