Suzuki Umetaro

Agricultural chemist and nutritional chemist. Born as the second son of a farming family in Horinoshinden village, Haibara county, Shizuoka prefecture (now Horinoshinden, Makinohara city). He moved to Tokyo in 1888 (Meiji 21), and entered Tokyo Agricultural and Forestry School (renamed Imperial University College of Agriculture in 1890) the following year. He graduated from the agricultural chemistry department of the College of Agriculture in 1896, and went on to graduate school, where he researched the cause of mulberry dwarf disease. During his time at the school, he studied under Kozai Yoshinao and Loeb. In 1900 (Meiji 33), he became an assistant professor at the College of Agriculture, and in 1901 he went to Europe to study protein chemistry under E. Fischer in Germany. He returned to Japan in 1906, and became a professor at Morioka Higher Agricultural and Forestry School in the same year, and a professor at the College of Agriculture of Tokyo Imperial University the following year (until 1934). During this time, he participated in the founding of the RIKEN Institute, becoming its chief researcher in 1917 (Taisho 6), and also served as president of the Mainland Science Academy of Manchukuo (1937-1941).

While studying abroad, he wondered if the poor physical build of the Japanese people was due to the rice diet, and after returning to Japan, he began researching rice protein. He also became interested in the theory that polished rice was the cause of beriberi, and began experimental research on the subject. He isolated a compound effective against beriberi from rice bran, named it averic acid (later oryzanin), and announced at a regular meeting of the Tokyo Chemical Society on December 13, 1910 that this was a new nutrient, becoming a pioneer in the discovery of vitamins (Suzuki's paper was published in February 1911. C. Frank of Germany independently isolated the same substance, named it vitamin, and published a paper on it in 1912). He also succeeded in industrially manufacturing medicines such as salvalic acid and salicylic acid, whose imports had been cut off during World War I, invented and mass-produced a rice-free synthetic sake called "Rikenshu," and manufactured vitamin supplements. In 1924, he received the Academy Prize for his "research on accessory nutrients," and in 1943 (Showa 18), he was awarded the Order of Culture. His wife was Sumako, the daughter of the architectural scholar Kingo Tatsuno. His books include "Plant Physiology and Chemistry" (1940), "Collection of Doctoral Dissertations of Suzuki Umetaro" (5 volumes in total, including Vol. 1 "Research on Plant Physiology" (1944)), and "Review of Research" (1943).

[Taoist Master]

"The Biography of Suzuki Umetaro Sensei" (edited by the Suzuki Umetaro Sensei Biography Publishing Committee) (1967, Asakura Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

農芸化学者、栄養化学者。静岡県榛原(はいばら)郡堀野新田村（現、牧之原(まきのはら)市堀野新田）に、農家の次男として生まれる。1888年（明治21）上京し、翌1889年東京農林学校（1890年帝国大学農科大学と改称）に入学、1896年農科大学農芸化学科を卒業、大学院に進み、クワの萎縮病(いしゅくびょう)の原因を研究。在学中に古在由直(こざいよしなお)、レーブらに学ぶ。1900年（明治33）農科大学助教授となり、1901年欧州に留学、ドイツのE・フィッシャーのもとでタンパク質化学を研究し、1906年帰国、同年盛岡高等農林学校教授、翌1907年東京帝国大学農科大学教授となる（～1934）。この間、理化学研究所創設に参加し、1917年（大正6）主任研究員となり、また満州国大陸科学院長を務めた（1937～1941）。

　留学中、日本人の体格が貧弱なのは米食が原因ではないかと考え、帰国後、米のタンパク質の研究を始め、また脚気(かっけ)の原因の白米説に興味をもち、その実験的研究を開始し、脚気に効く成分を米糠(こめぬか)から得てアベリ酸（のちオリザニン）と命名、これは新栄養素であろうと1910年12月13日の東京化学会例会で発表し、ビタミン発見の先駆をなした（鈴木の論文発表は1911年2月。ドイツのC・フランクは独立に同じ物質を得、ビタミンと命名して1912年に論文発表）。第一次世界大戦で輸入の途絶したサルバル酸、サリチル酸など医薬品の工業的製造、米を使わない合成清酒「理研酒」の発明と量産、ビタミン剤の製造にも成功した。1924年「副栄養素の研究」により学士院賞受賞、1943年（昭和18）文化勲章を受章。妻は建築学者辰野金吾(たつのきんご)の娘、須麿子(すまこ)である。著書に『植物生理化学』（1940）、『鈴木梅太郎博士論文集』（第1巻『植物生理の研究』〈1944〉など全5巻）、『研究の回顧』（1943）がある。

［道家達將］

『鈴木梅太郎先生伝刊行会編『鈴木梅太郎先生伝』（1967・朝倉書店）』

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