Naka Michiyo

Japanese: 那珂通世 - なか・みちよ

Year of death: March 2, 1908
Year of birth: 6 January 1851 (6 February 1851)
He is the founder of modern Japanese history in the late Edo and Meiji periods, and the creator of Oriental history. Born into the Fujimura family of Morioka feudal lords, Naka Michitaka, a professor of domain studies, recognized his talent and adopted him as his son. However, Michitaka's actions during the Meiji Restoration were suspected by the Meiji government, and he was sentenced to four years of imprisonment after the defeat in the Boshin War. While struggling with the humiliation of being the son of an enemy of the emperor and the poverty of having lost all his family, he switched from his traditional Chinese studies to English studies, and became a student at Fukuzawa Yukichi's residence, where he studied English for two years and two months, improving to the point where he could read English books from cover to cover. On Fukuzawa's recommendation, he was appointed principal of the newly established Chiba Middle School, and also the principal of Tokyo Women's School and Women's Normal School, where he compiled textbooks on mathematics, physics, chemistry, and history and geography, and even taught science experiments. With the great reform of the education system in 1886 (Meiji 19), he resigned from his position and decided to pursue the path of an academic. He published "Jose Nenki Ko," which set a huge stone on the chronology of Japanese history, and six volumes of "Shina Tong Shi," a detailed history of China including descriptions of culture and systems and color-printed maps. These were adopted as textbooks in the new schools of the Qing Dynasty. Later, his academic horizons expanded to include the Mongol Empire and Central Asia, and he began studying Manchu and Mongolian for his research, but he had to rely on grammar books and dictionaries in German, English, French, and Russian. After several years of mastering these foreign languages, he began translating "The Secret History of the Mongols," written in Mongolian, and completed "The Annals of Genghis Khan." Such intense study took a toll on his normally robust body, and he collapsed from angina pectoris. Naka, who had no hobbies other than studying, also enjoyed cycling, which was very popular in the Meiji era, and he traveled all over Japan, Korea, and Manchuria (northeastern China) on his beloved Pierce, earning him the nickname of "the bicycle doctor."

(Shoji Murakami)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治41.3.2(1908)
生年：嘉永4.1.6(1851.2.6)
幕末明治期の日本近代史学の祖,東洋史学の命名者。盛岡藩士藤村家の出だが,藩学教授那珂通高に俊才を見いだされ,養嗣子に迎えられた。だが,維新期の通高の行動が明治政府に疑われ,戊辰敗戦後,4年幽閉の刑に処せられた。朝敵の子という屈辱と家族一切を奪われた窮乏と戦いながら,従来の漢学から英学に切り換え,福沢諭吉邸の書生となって,2年2カ月英学の修業に努め,英書を読破できるまでに上達した。福沢の推薦で当時創設の千葉中学校長に,また東京女学校兼女子師範学校長に補せられ,自ら数学,物理,化学,歴史地理の教科書を編み,理科の実験まで教えた。明治19(1886)年学制の大改革を機に職を辞し,学者の道を歩もうと決意。日本史の紀年に巨石を投じた『上世年紀考』を始め,6冊の『支那通史』という,文化・制度の記述を含め,色刷りの地図を含んだ詳細な中国史を出版。これは清国の新式学校では教科書として採用された。のちに彼の学問的視野は拡大されて,モンゴル帝国や中央アジア地方におよび,その研究のため満州語・モンゴル語の研究を始めたが,それにはドイツ・英国・フランス・ロシア語の文法書や辞典に頼らざるを得ず,数年これら外国語を修得してから,モンゴル語で書かれた『元朝秘史』の翻訳に取りかかり,『成吉思汗実録』を完成させた。こうした極度の勉学が平生頑健な身体をむしばみ,狭心症に倒れた。勉強以外に趣味がなかったという那珂にも,明治時代大いに流行した自転車遊びがあり,愛輪ピアス号に乗って日本全土から朝鮮,満州(中国東北部)まで周遊して,世人から自転車博士といわれた。

(村上正二)

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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