Teaching - Titchingh, Isaac

Japanese: ティチング - Ｔｉｔｓｉｎｇｈ，Ｉｓａａｃ

Year of death: 1812.2.2 (1812.2.2)
Born: January 10, 1745
He was the head of the Dutch trading post at Dejima in Nagasaki during the mid-Edo period. He was the first Japanese scholar in the Netherlands. He was born into a family of doctors in Amsterdam and became a surgeon. He received his doctorate in law from Leiden University. In 1765 he left for Batavia as a junior commercial officer for the Dutch East India Company, and in 1773 he became assistant manager of the grain warehouses in Batavia. He visited Japan three times as the head of the trading post (periods of stay: August 15, 1779 - November 6, 1780, August 12, 1781 - November 6, 1783, August 18, 1784 - November 26, 1784). During this time he made two visits to Edo, and had audiences with Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu on March 1, 1780 (An'ei 9) and March 1, 1782 (Tenmei 2). While conducting research to improve trade between Japan and the Netherlands, he also collected a wide range of materials for Japanese studies through his friendships with Dutch-loving feudal lords (Kutsuki Masatsuna, lord of Fukuchiyama; Shimazu Shigehide, lord of Satsuma; Matsuura Seizan, lord of Hirado), Nagasaki magistrate Kuze Hirotami, Nagasaki town elder Goto Sozaemon, chief medicine official Ogino Genkai, Dutch scholars Katsuragawa Hoshu and Nakagawa Junan. With the help of interpreters (Yoshio Kosaku, Motoki Ryoei, Horimon Juro, etc.), he worked to translate the materials accurately in preparation for writing after returning to Japan. After returning to Batavia, he maintained correspondence with Kutsuki and the interpreters while reviving the East India Company's trading post as Commissioner of Bengal (1785-92), and continued his Japanese studies while accompanying the East India Company's mission to Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1795-96). He arrived in London in 1796 amid the political and economic turmoil caused by the French Revolution, and died in Paris as a pessimistic scholar. His posthumous work, "Illustrated Manners and Customs of Japan," was published in London ten years later, and a part of it was translated into Japanese as "A List of the Kings of Japan" in 1834.

(Matsuda Kiyoshi)

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

Japanese:

没年：1812.2.2(1812.2.2)
生年：1745.1.10
江戸中期の長崎出島オランダ商館長。オランダ最初の日本学者。アムステルダムの医者の家系に生まれ,外科医となる。ライデン大学で法学博士号を得た。1765年にオランダ東インド会社の下級商務員としてバタビアに出発,73年バタビアの穀物倉庫副支配人。商館長として3度来日(滞在期間は1779.8.15～1780.11.6,1781.8.12～1783.11.6,1784.8.18～1784.11.26)。この間2度江戸参府を行い,安永9(1780)年3月1日と天明2(1782)年3月1日に将軍徳川家治に謁見した。日蘭貿易改善のために調査する一方,蘭癖大名(福知山藩主朽木昌綱,薩摩藩主島津重豪,平戸藩主松浦静山),長崎奉行久世広民,長崎町年寄後藤惣左衛門,典薬大允荻野元凱,蘭学者の桂川甫周,中川淳庵らとの親交を通じて,広範な日本研究資料を収集。通詞(吉雄幸作,本木良永,堀門十郎ら)の協力を得て資料の正確な翻訳に努め,帰国後の著作に備えた。バタビア帰着後,東インド会社ベンガル長官として商館を再興中(1785～92)も朽木や通詞との文通を維持し,清国乾隆帝への東インド会社派遣使節に随行中(1795～96)も日本研究を続けた。フランス革命による政治的経済的混乱のなか1796年ロンドンにたどり着き,厭世的な学究としてパリに死す。遺著の『日本風俗図誌』はロンドンで10年後に刊行され,その一部は『日本王代一覧』として天保5(1834)年に翻訳された。<著作>沼田次郎訳『ティチング日本風俗図誌』

(松田清)

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