Kiyotake Sekiya

Japan's first seismologist. Born in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture. In 1870 (Meiji 3), he entered Daigaku Nanko from Ogaki Domain and went on to study engineering at Kaisei School. In 1876, he studied in London to study mechanics, but returned to Japan the following year due to lung disease. In 1878, he became an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Science, and conducted observations at the Earthquake Laboratory under Ewing. After Ewing returned to Japan, he worked with Milne to establish a nationwide earthquake observation network, and created the original seismic intensity scale and the names of slight, weak, strong, and violent earthquakes. In 1886, he became a professor of seismology at Tokyo Imperial University. The earthquake motion model he created around 1887-1888 is famous. Immediately after the great Bandai eruption in 1888, he conducted a field survey with Kikuchi Yasushi (1862-1894), and the report he produced was a masterpiece. The following year, in 1889, he went on a business trip with a seismograph immediately after the Kumamoto earthquake, but his illness recurred and he was hospitalized. In 1892, the Earthquake Disaster Prevention Research Committee was established and he became a member of it, but his illness relapsed in 1894 and he passed away in 1896.

[Takeo Matsuzawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本最初の地震学者。岐阜・大垣の生まれ。1870年（明治3）大垣藩から大学南校入学、開成学校工学科に進み、1876年機械学研究のためロンドンに留学、翌年肺病となり帰国。1878年東京大学理学部機械工学科助教となり、ユーイングのもとで地震実験所において観測を行う。ユーイングの帰国後ミルンとともに日本全国の地震観測網を整備し、震度階の原型、微震、弱震、強震および烈震の名称をつくる。1886年東京帝国大学の地震学教授となる。1887～1888年ころつくった地震動模型は有名である。1888年磐梯(ばんだい)山大爆発直後、菊池安(きくちやすし)（1862―1894）とともに現地調査を行い、その報告書は力作である。翌1889年の熊本地震直後地震計を持って出張したが病気再発のため入院した。1892年震災予防調査会が創設され、その委員となったが、1894年病気再発し、明治29年死去した。

［松澤武雄］

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