Junan Nakagawa

Japanese: 中川淳庵 - なかがわ・じゅんあん

Year of death: Tenmei 6.6.7 (1786.7.2)
Year of birth: 1739
A Dutch medicine doctor and botanist of the mid-Edo period. His childhood names were Jun'an and Juntei, given names Genrin and Rin, and his pen name was Pankyo. He was the eldest son of Sen'an (Ryumin), a doctor of Obama Domain in Wakasa Province (Fukui Prefecture). He was born in Edo. He exhibited at every trade fair and pharmaceutical exhibition held from 1758 (Horeki 8). He proofread the Kaiyakufu and Butsuruihinsetsu compiled by Hiraga Gennai, and in 1764 (Meiwa 1) he worked with Gennai to successfully produce fire-resistant cloth. He learned the Dutch alphabet from Yasutomi Yoseki, a doctor of the Yamagata Domain stationed in Edo, and when the head of the Dutch trading post and his entourage on a court visit to Edo and an interpreter visited Nagasakiya, their regular lodging, in Fuchu, and made an effort to absorb Dutch studies intellectually. In the same year, he obtained Krums's anatomy book "Tabulae Anatomicae" at Nagasakiya and mediated between him and Sugita Genpaku, a doctor of the Obama domain. He then went to Kozukahara in Edo with Maeno Ryotaku, who had already obtained the book during his study in Nagasaki, and others to observe the anatomical diagrams. Impressed by the accuracy of the Western anatomical diagrams, he began translating them the next day. In 1773 (Anei 2), he published "Kaitai Yakuzu" (Anatomy Charts), and the following year "Kaitai Shinsho" (New Anatomy). In the same year, he became the Obama domain's personal physician. He was close friends with Thunberg and Tiching, who were doctors attached to the Dutch trading post in Edo, and exchanged academic knowledge with them. From Thunberg, he learned how to prepare specimens using Linnaeus's plant classification system. He also assisted Thunberg in his research on Japan, and was later introduced in "Flora Japonica" and "Nihon Kikkou" (Travels in Japan), making him well known overseas. His works included medical books such as "Oranda Kakuho", "Oranda Yakofu" (Dutch Pharmaceutical Book), and "Goyue Jingyao" (Five Liquids Essential), which became the source of the Japanese Pharmacopoeia, as well as a Japanese translation of "Chūsan" (Calculations) by Mei Wending of the Ming dynasty. <References> Shinjiro Wada, "Mr. Junan Nakagawa"

(Atsuko Yoshida)

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

Japanese:

没年：天明6.6.7(1786.7.2)
生年：元文4(1739)
江戸中期の蘭方医,本草学者。幼名は純安,純亭,名は玄鱗,鱗,字は攀卿。若狭国(福井県)小浜藩医仙安(竜眠)の長男。江戸の生まれ。宝暦8(1758)年から物産会,薬品会が開催されるごとに出品。平賀源内編纂の『会薬譜』『物類品隲』を校閲し,明和1(1764)年源内と共に火浣布(不燃布)の製作に成功。江戸詰の山形藩医安富寄碩にオランダ文字を習い,江戸参府のオランダ商館長一行と通詞が在府中,定宿の長崎屋を訪問し,蘭学の知的吸収に努めた。同8年長崎屋でクルムスの解剖書『ターヘル・アナトミア』を入手して小浜藩医杉田玄白に仲介し,すでに同書を長崎遊学の際に入手していた前野良沢らと江戸小塚原で観臓。西洋解剖図の正確さに感動して翌日から翻訳に着手。安永2(1773)年『解体約図』,翌年『解体新書』を玄白らと出版。同7年小浜藩奥医師。江戸へ来たオランダ商館付医師のツンベリーやティチングとの親交が厚く,学術知識の交換をした。ツンベリーからはリンネの植物分類方式による標本作成法を学んだ。またツンベリーの日本研究を助け,のち『日本植物誌』『日本紀行』に紹介され海外にも名を知られた。著書は日本薬局方の源流となった『和蘭局方』『和蘭薬譜』『五液精要』などの医薬書のほか,明の梅文鼎著『籌算』を訓訳した。<参考文献>和田信二郎『中川淳庵先生』

(吉田厚子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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