Shuho Takashima - Shuho Takashima

Japanese: 高島秋帆 - たかしま・しゅうはん

Year of death: 14th January 1866 (28th February 1866)
Year of birth: 1798
A gunner and Western military scholar from the end of the Edo period. The founder of Takashima-ryu gunnery. His given name was Shigeatsu. His pen names were Shunshin and Koatsu. He was commonly known as Kyonojo and Shirotayū. His pen name was Akiho. He was born in Nagasaki as the third son of Shirobei Shigenori, who was in charge of the Dejima Battery while serving as a Nagasaki town elder. He learned Ogino-ryu and Tenzan-ryu gunnery from his father, but realized that there was a huge gap between Western gunnery, which was making great strides, and Western gunnery, which was making great strides, he acquired knowledge of European military technology by asking an interpreter to translate Dutch military books and directly questioning Dutch people about questions, as he was in charge of the Dejima Battery. He also purchased various firearms and Dutch military science books through sideline trade, a privilege of the town elder, and by around 1834 (Tenpo 5), he began teaching Takashima-ryu gunnery and Western gun battery based on the results of these efforts. He was deeply shocked by information about the Opium Wars (1839), and in 1841 he submitted a letter of opinion to the Edo Shogunate stating that Western-style gunnery should be adopted to defend Japan against the invasion of Asia by the Western powers. The following year, he went to Edo by order of the Shogunate, and on May 9th he held Japan's first Western-style gunnery exercise at Tokumaru-ga-hara (Itabashi Ward, Tokyo). As a result, the Shogunate decided to adopt Takashima-ryu gunnery, and he transmitted the Takashima-ryu to two Shogunate officials, Egawa Tarozaemon and Shimozone Kinzaburo, before returning to Nagasaki. However, in 1842, he was framed for treason by the Shogunate's town magistrate Torii Yozo, who had long hated Dutch studies as much as the plague, and was imprisoned. Later, due to major changes in the social situation, such as the arrival of Perry, he was pardoned in 1853 (Kaei 6) after 10 years of imprisonment, and took refuge with Egawa Tarozaemon, changing his nickname to Kihei. In 1855, he was appointed to the Ministry of Public Works and was ordered to be the head of the Gun Department and the instructor of the artillery. In 1858, he served as the Fujimi Treasure House guard and the gunnery instructor at the Military Academy, and died in this position. He was praised as the "founder of the Western military and artillery revival in Japan," and left a significant mark on the modernization of Japan's military.

(Tokoro Shokichi)

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

Japanese:

没年：慶応2.1.14(1866.2.28)
生年：寛政10(1798)
幕末の砲術家,洋式兵学者。高島流砲術の創始者。諱を茂敦。字は舜臣,子厚。通称は糾之丞,四郎太夫。秋帆は号。長崎町年寄を勤める傍ら出島砲台を受け持った四郎兵衛茂紀の3男として長崎に生まれる。父から荻野流,天山流砲術を学んだが,長足の進歩を遂げつつある洋式砲術とは隔絶した差のあることを知り,通詞(通訳)にオランダ語兵書の翻訳を依頼したり,出島砲台の責任者であったことから,オランダ人に疑問を直接問いただすなどしてヨーロッパの軍事技術に関する知識を修得した。また町年寄の特権である脇荷貿易によって各種の火器やオランダ兵学書を買い求め,天保5(1834)年ごろにはこれらの成果を基に高島流砲術,洋式銃陣を教授するようになった。アヘン戦争(1839)に関する情報に大きな衝撃を受け,天保11年西欧列強のアジア侵略から日本を防衛するために洋式砲術を採用すべきだとする意見書を江戸幕府に提出した。翌年幕命により江戸に出て,5月9日徳丸ケ原(東京都板橋区)で日本最初の洋式砲術演習を行った。これにより幕府の高島流砲術採用が決まり幕臣江川太郎左衛門,下曾根金三郎のふたりに高島流を皆伝して長崎に帰ったところが,かねてから蘭学を蛇蝎のごとく嫌っていた幕府町奉行鳥居耀蔵によって天保13年謀反の罪を着せられ,投獄される。その後ペリーの来航など世情も大きく変化したこともあって,幽囚10年の嘉永6(1853)年に赦免となり,江川太郎左衛門の許に身を寄せ,通称を喜平と改める。安政2(1855)年には普請役に任ぜられ,鉄砲方手付教授方頭取を命じられ,次いで安政4年富士見御宝蔵番兼講武所砲術師範役を勤め,現職にあって没す。「火技中興洋兵開基」と称えられ,日本の軍事近代化に大きな足跡を残した。

(所荘吉)

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