Takamine Jokichi

Japanese: 高峰譲吉 - たかみね・じょうきち

Year of death: July 22, 1922
Year of birth: November 3, 1854 (December 22, 1854)
A chemist from the Meiji and Taisho periods. Known as one of the earliest modern chemists in Japan. Son of Takamine Seiichi, a doctor from Takaoka, Etchu Province (Toyama Prefecture). At the age of 11, he went to Nagasaki to study Dutch and English, and later studied medicine in Kyoto and Osaka. He then studied chemistry at the Osaka School of Chemistry, and his future goal was decided. After the Meiji Restoration, he moved to Tokyo and entered the Engineering School in 1872, graduating from the College of Engineering in 1879. From 1880, he studied in England for three years, continuing his research and studies mainly in Glasgow. After returning to Japan in 1881, he did not stay at university, but instead took a job at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, aiming to study practical subjects. In 1882, he went on a business trip to the World's Fair in New Orleans, and noticed phosphate fertilizer. Aiming to produce it domestically, he founded the Tokyo Artificial Fertilizer Company with Shibusawa Eiichi, Okura Kihachiro, and others. He also became interested in patent affairs in America, and as Deputy Director of the Patent and Trademark Office, he devoted himself to promoting inventions. During his stay in America, he met Caroline, whom he married in 1947. This was also the foundation for him spending the latter half of his life in America. In 1948, he obtained a patent for an improvement to the koji mold used in sake brewing, and traveled to America to develop technology applicable to whiskey brewing. He succeeded in extracting moto-koji from wheat bran, but the business did not come to fruition due to opposition from manufacturers. However, as a by-product of this research, in 1952, he succeeded in extracting Takadiastase, an enzyme complex, which was sold by Parke-Davis as a powerful digestive drug. In Japan, Sankyo Pharmaceutical was founded in 1913 (Taisho 2) and was given exclusive rights to sell it. In 1900, he also succeeded in crystallizing a hormone extracted from bovine adrenal glands, giving it the name adrenaline. In his later years, he became a naturalized American citizen, but he also paid attention to the development of science and technology in Japan, and was involved in the establishment of the National Science Institute (later the RIKEN Institute), and was elected a member of the Japanese Academy. He died in New York. <References> "Mr. Takamine Jokichi" by Yamashina Shosaku (Chemistry, Vol. 17)

(Yoichiro Murakami)

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

Japanese:

没年：大正11.7.22(1922)
生年：安政1.11.3(1854.12.22)
明治大正期の化学者。日本で最初期の近代的化学者として知られる。越中国(富山県)高岡の医者高峰精一の息子。11歳で長崎に留学し,オランダ語,英語を学び,のち京都,大坂で医学を修め,次いで大坂の舎密学校で化学を勉強するにおよんで,将来の目的が定まった。維新後上京して工学寮に明治5(1872)年入学,12年工部大学校を卒業。翌13年から3年間イギリス留学,グラスゴーを中心に調査・研究を続け,16年帰国後,実学を目指して,大学に残らず,農商務省に就職。翌17年ニューオーリンズの万国工業博覧会に出張してリン酸肥料に注目し,その国産化を目指して,渋沢栄一,大倉喜八郎らと東京人造肥料会社を設立するとともに,アメリカでは特許業務にも関心を寄せ専売特許局次長として発明の推進にも力を注ぐことになる。なおこのときのアメリカ滞在中にキャロラインと知り合い,20年に結婚している。後半生をアメリカで過ごすことになる下地はそこにもあった。 23年清酒の醸造における麹菌の改良で特許を取り,アメリカのウイスキー醸造への応用技術開発のために渡米,小麦のフスマから元麹を得ることに成功したが,事業は業者の反対もあって実らなかった。しかし,この研究の副産物として27年に酵素の複合体であるタカジアスターゼの抽出に成功しパーク・ディビス社から強力消化薬として発売,日本では三共製薬を大正2(1913)年に創設してそこから独占販売することになった。また,明治33年ウシの副腎から抽出されるホルモンの結晶化にも成功し,これにアドレナリンの名称を与えた。晩年はアメリカに帰化したが,日本の科学技術の発展にも意を払い,国民科学研究所(のちの理化学研究所)の設立にも関与,日本の学士院会員にも選ばれた。ニューヨークで没する。<参考文献>山科樵作「高峰譲吉先生」(『化学』17巻)

(村上陽一郎)

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