Bunjiro Koto

Geologist. Born to a samurai of Tsuwano Domain, Iwami Province (Shimane Prefecture). In 1870 (Meiji 3), he entered Tokyo Kaisei School as a tribute student, and in 1879 became one of the first graduates from the Department of Geology at the University of Tokyo. The following year, he studied in Germany from 1880 to 1884. On returning to Japan, he worked at the University of Tokyo and the Geological Survey of Japan, and published research on piebald schist in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt. In 1886, he became a professor at the Faculty of Science of the Imperial University, and even after retiring from the university in 1921 (Taisho 10), he continued to play a leading role in the Japanese geological community. He was involved in many pioneering research projects, including research on the Neodani Fault, which occurred in the Nobi earthquake of 1891 (Meiji 24), and volcano research, mobilizing his students. Another noteworthy achievement was his identification of a Tertiary tectonic belt along the Ryukyu Islands in 1916, distinguishing it from the geology of the old folded mountain ranges of southwestern Japan. Although he did not cooperate with Naumann, the leader of the Geological Survey of Japan in its early days, he was close to Naumann's theory on the structure of the Japanese archipelago. He also founded the Geological Society of Japan and the Geological Society of Tokyo (now the Geological Society of Japan), and contributed to related academic fields such as geography and seismology.

[Hiroshi Ishiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

地質学者。石見(いわみ)国（島根県）津和野藩士の子に生まれる。1870年（明治3）貢進(こうしん)生として東京開成学校に入学、1879年東京大学地質学科の第1期卒業生となる。翌1880年から1884年までドイツに留学した。帰国して東大と地質調査所に勤務し、三波川(さんばがわ)変成帯の紅簾片岩(こうれんへんがん)の研究を発表。1886年帝国大学理科大学教授に進み、1921年（大正10）の退官後も日本地質学界の指導的立場にあった。1891年（明治24）の濃尾(のうび)地震で生じた根尾谷断層の研究や、門下を動員しての火山研究など先駆的な研究が多い。1916年、琉球(りゅうきゅう)列島沿いに第三紀変動帯を指摘して西南日本の古い褶曲(しゅうきょく)山脈の地質と区別したことも注目すべき業績である。創業期地質調査所の指導者、ナウマンに協調しなかったが、日本列島構造論ではナウマン説に近かった。また地学会、東京地質学会（現、日本地質学会）を創立し、地理学、地震学など関連学界にも寄与した。

［石山　洋］

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