Daikokuya Kodayu - Daikokuya Kodayu

A castaway who returned from Russia in the late Edo period. Born into a merchant family in Minamiwakamatsu Village, Kawaga County, Ise Province (Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture). Also written as Kotayu, he is said to have been adopted by Kameya of the same village and took the name Hyozo. In December 1782 (Tenmei 2), he set sail from Shiroko Bay, Ise, as the captain of the Kamisho Maru, a boat owned by Hikobei, bound for Edo, but encountered a storm on the way and was washed ashore on Amchitka Island in the Aleutian Islands the following year. Rescued by Russians, he lived on Amchitka Island, Kamchatka, and Irkutsk, and in 1791 he had an audience with Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, where he pleaded to be allowed to return to Japan. In the following year, 1792 (Kansei 4), he returned to Japan accompanied by Adam Laxman, an envoy sent to Japan, and arrived at Nemuro in Ezo on September 3. The following year, he was sent to Edo, where he was interrogated and questioned, and then summoned to Fukiage Gyoen in Edo Castle, where he was questioned about the Russian situation in front of Shogun Ienari, senior councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu, and other ministers. The most famous collections of Kodayu's stories are Hokusa Ibun, written by Shinomoto Ren, and Hokusa Bunryaku and Hyomin Goran no Ki, compiled by Katsuragawa Hoshu, the Shogun's physician. Kodayu spent the latter half of his life in the Shogunate's Banchō Botanical Gardens, and died on April 15, 1828.

[Masato Kobayashi]

"Kamei Takataka's 'Daikokuya Kotafu' (1964, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアから帰国した江戸後期の漂流民。伊勢(いせ)国河曲(かわわ)郡南若松村（三重県鈴鹿(すずか)市）の商家に生まれる。幸太夫とも書き、同村の亀屋の養子となり兵蔵を名のったともいう。1782年（天明2）12月伊勢白子(しろこ)浦の彦兵衛持ち船神昌丸の船頭として同浦を出船し江戸に向かったが、途中暴風にあい、翌年アリューシャン列島のアムチトカ島に漂着した。ロシア人に救助され、アムチトカ島、カムチャツカ、イルクーツクで暮らし、1791年ペテルブルグでエカチェリーナ2世に拝謁し、帰国を嘆願した。翌92年（寛政4）遣日使節アダム・ラクスマンに伴われて帰国の途につき、9月3日蝦夷(えぞ)地根室(ねむろ)に入港した。翌年江戸に送られ、取調べや審問を受けたのち、江戸城内吹上御苑(ふきあげぎょえん)に召し出され、将軍家斉(いえなり)はじめ、老中松平定信(さだのぶ)以下諸臣列座のもとにロシア事情について質問された。光太夫の話をまとめたものとしては、篠本廉の筆録にかかる『北槎異聞(ほくさいぶん)』や将軍の侍医桂川甫周(かつらがわほしゅう)がまとめた『北槎聞略(ぶんりゃく)』『漂民御覧之記』が著名である。光太夫は幕府の番町薬園内で後半生を送り、文政(ぶんせい)11年4月15日に没した。

［小林真人］

『亀井高孝著『大黒屋光太夫』（1964・吉川弘文館）』

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